I’m looking to do an expansion on a community, most of the trailers in the park are older single wide trailers 16ft wide or smaller. We have a few 18ft wide but not many. Target market is blue collar community.
We are debating between 35 vs 40 ft wide lots. Industry standard is 40ft, I am thinking a 16 ft wide trialer, 16 ft wide driveway and 3 ft buffer space between the driveway and neighbors trailer is sufficient. They will all accommodate 76 ft in length. From my experience tenants would appreciate another tandem parking space than a yard they rarely use. Demand is good in the area and inventory is low. With the value of lots nowadays max density is the goal but within reason. My target market will be older trailers as well. Thoughts?
I do not know where you got the idea that 40ft is an industry standard.
I’ve been in the business 20 years and have thought for years that 50ft is pretty standard on newer lots/parks.
50x100 is a nice lot. I would never think to do new lots at 35 ft wide. Add a 16 wide home and 10 feet for a deck and shed, and you less than 10 feet of breathing room. I imagine it would be likely that the state or local authorities would not like things that tight.
Best wishes
I have spoken to a few people in the industry and a few developers 40ft seems to be the norm. Evidently each market it different, I came across this project which has 30ft lots with a small patio. I believe in the high demand/ high barriers to entry markets people will go lower than 40 ft, just need to find the sweet spot.
Yeah I am sure different areas differ. Specifically places with high land and living cost. In Indiana land prices have historically been cheap. Growing up I remember farm land was 2k-4k or so per acre. So it was not that expensive to give people some space.
Most of the newer parks (built in 90s or newer) in NE Indiana have more like 40-50 feet width.
In my area old parks have 25-40 wide lots and newer parks are 40 or more.
I own 4 parks that where built 1980 or newer all with 45-50 wide lots. And one park built in the 60s with 35 wide lots.
That setup doesn’t look to bad tho. I imagine neighbor noise complaints and general tenant conflict would be higher in a tight park like that, compared to a park with more space. Parking can be an issue also, some people will want visitor parking or the chance to have a 3rd vehicle parked on site. Something to think about.
Good luck!
It is unfortunate that developers are essentially providing a concrete parking lot for home owners to live in. Doubtful it is a enjoyable living environment. Majority of home owners likely spend all their time inside the home. Scary to think what the effect of a house fire would be.
I am thankful that my community has 50`lots where residents can enjoy outside living spaces.
I’m developing a few lots in my community. I’ve decided that 25’ between homes is the minimum with the ideal being 30’. So with 16’ wide homes, lots are 46’. In the section I am developing, if I squeeze to add 1 more home it shrinks home spacing to 22’ which is too close - I can’t imagine bringing in a new 16x76 home and selling it for $60,000+ with 22 feet between homes. I have an older section where older homes are closer but those homes ell for $20,000.
Larger is better. Some parking, a yard, some fencing between lots will make selling your homes easier to better clients. Stacking them in like cord wood is letting greed overcome common sense. Give good people something worth buying vs bad people something they can afford.
