http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/mobile-homes-more-than-just-a-box-on-wheels/enjoy
I’ve looked into a slightly higher up scale mobile homes and don’t really see an investors market. They look neat though
You’re correct – “they look neat” is about all you can say about them. I have not seen one of these homes in actual use anywhere in the U.S., only in pictures (and I drive around a lot). The problem you’re going to have with these is that they cost only about 20% less than a traditional stick-built home, yet clearly do not hold their value like the traditional home. Since wealthy people are not stupid on this topic, I can’t see any great market for a $150,000 mobile home when you can buy a real house for $180,000. I asked this question to a salesman at the Louisville Mobile Home Show, and he told me that the mobile home offered “greater precision of the way the wood is cut, since it’s in a factory, and you don’t have to wait as long to get it” which are not very compelling arguments for a house (maybe for a sandwich when deciding between Subway and McDonald’s). All I could think was “is that the best spin you’ve got” and had no further question as to the fact that upscale mobile homes are doomed to failure.This industry is all about affordability. Not luxury.Â
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I saw a recent story on CBS Sunday morning about mobile home communities . The park was in CA and a cross for the beach, far different than what most of us are looking for.
The CBS segment featured,at the end, the two parks in Malibu: Point Dume and Paradise Cove. But those parks are predominantly standard mobile home units. The ones shown in the photos during the story are architectural models sold by fabricators such as Rocio Romero at www.rocioromero.com, and are not what those look like at all. Here’s the link to one of the Point Dume homes for sale, by comparison:http://manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/saws-betsy-russells-2-million-dollar-manufactured-home-a-bargain-but-tmzmedia-dont-get-it/Look at this slideshow, and take note of the exterior photo. Note that all of the photos are being taken with a fish-eye lense to make everything look at least twice as big as it really is. But note the outside photo – this is just a flat-roof single-wide with some additions on it. Sure, it’s had some tricky interior cosmetic upgrades like stone on some interior walls, but it’s really nothing more than a single-wide with a couple add-ons – no different than you can find in many parks in the U.S. The price is $2.1 million. The same basic home in Oklahoma might bring $5,000. But note that it looks nothing like the really cool new mobile homes that Rocio Romero is building.I also saw some photos of Pam Anderson’s double-wide in the same park, that I think sold for $500,000. It looked identical to some double-wides in our parks that sell for $50,000.It’s said that location, location, location is the key to real estate, but an you make sense of a $2 million mobile home in a park in Malibu, in which you have no rights to the land? Only a supreme idiot would buy this stuff, and it is mind boggling that they can find enough suckers to pull this off.By comparison, the units that Rocio Romero sells go on land, and not in parks, and really become real property upon arrival, I assume (permanently affixed).
Frank your pictures of the vacant storefronts in your newsletter are so true. I was out today and so many retail spaces for rent in strip malls,
Yes as MHP owners we are spoiled with little problem (hope it stays like this) renting out homes when available and waiting lists to move in.
Now for the million dollar discovery - and I know you have gone over before - but please discover a way to get people to move in their own homes!
Thanks for all the advice you give!
The secret to getting people to move their own homes in is in the hands of the government and their supposed initiatives on helping people to qualify for mobile home loans as they do single-family. There’s been a lot of talk and rumors about it happening, but I’ve seen nothing tangible. If they could actually close loans on people with 550+ credit scores and 5% to 10% down, then it’s possible that chattel lending could come back to life.Â