Doublewide. How bad are they?

[Whiskey]

Terry:

Your getting a lot of good advice here and you said this was for camp property but, could also become you perm. resident let me give you a little twist on thinking here.

1st:
Would I like to live in a 3 bedroom /2 bath block home w/2car garage, you bet your sweet bippy I would, do I want to pay the taxes on it, not on your life. I'm tired of paying for Tampa to be the next great city and a new football stadium that seats less for more money.

2nd:
Will a twister or hurcaine level my home, yes it will although they tell me it will stand 130 mph winds I ain't about to find out like the tooth less masses that say there going to ride it out in there trailer, you know who I'm talking about we've all seen them on T.V.

3rd:
Do I look at my home as an investment, well, I'm very differant that most on this subject, The land under my trailer I see as an investment the home I don't. I see it this way I can have more of my money in my pocket and less in the goverments hands. My lower cost allows me to invest and save for my future and yes I can say I will be able to aford to keep my home when I'm retired, unlike so many of my friends.

4th:
My trailer, carboard box with doors and windows, mobile home or what ever folks like to call them these days works well for me. As for how its built, 2X6 16" oc exterior walls / 2x4 16"oc interior walls / osb sheathing / vinyl siding / 3/4" t/g plywood flooring / tape and texture on drywall / doubble paine windows, one thing I don't like is no solid truss being it comes in two halfs but, all an all it's as close as I could get to a stick built home and still bring it in on wheels with trun singles /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

My investments stay free and clear of my home (meaning I don't have to sell my home to get at my cash) and if it blows away I could still build or just buy another one /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif hope this helps a little, it's just a differant way to look at it.

Whiskey

 

[Whiskey]

Terry:

One thing I read after I was finnished typing all that out is you said "snow" being I live in the south I don't worry that one much but snow load on a trailer roof is something I would worry about a little.

Whiskey

 

[Docsknotinn]

All good points but the one I like best was that it was paid for in the first year. The true secret to building wealth is not to keep paying interest by amortizeing WAYYYYY to many years to get that payment low. I recently looked at one with sheet rock walls, cedar log sideing, 2x6 etc 2,000 sq' for the mid 60's. I don't care how you slice it that is a bargain. Take a look at the cost of a class c winabago ouch, just as much for a 30 footer /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a link to a manufactured home site and it shows some of their construction techniques.

 

[B7500]

I have read many post on a whole gamut of subjects but I do believe this one has been the best. Absolutely excellent pro AND con viewpoints. Both sides have very valid arguments.
Man, I love this group.
Thanks all,
-Terry

 

[fivestring]

Terry, just sit back and relax.... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif.

We'll live your life for you!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

How's that for friends????

 

[Docsknotinn]

Yeah, buy that camp and invite all of your new BEST FRIENDS !!

 

[B7500]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Terry, just sit back and relax.... .

We'll live your life for you!!!!

How's that for friends???? )</font>

Cool!!
Now, you got $100,000 you don't want???
I sure could use it............... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[fivestring]

Alright now,
you got that retirement pension fund kicking in!!!!

 

[Briarwood]

My attorney's pat answer for everything is: "It depends!"

It depends on your preferences, how you want to live, how much you want to spend, etc., etc.

Here's what we did. My wife and I have been very fortunate and lived quite well in a suburban environment in a 2800 sq ft ranch. Before our retirement, we bought a small 90 acre farm about an hour and a half from home. We bought it for a getaway and also for hunting, especially deer and turkey. My inlaws had a trailer (mobile home) for years in Florida as a vacation home that served them well and we decided that would also work for us in this situtation. We bought a used 14x70 mobile home much, much cheaper that any other option. It served us well for five years. After we retired, we sold our 2800 sq ft home and moved to the farm and into the trailer for a year. We stored our furniture in a new barn that we built on the farm until we could have a new home built. Then we donated the trailer (oops, I mean mobile home) to the local fair board. After living in a very nice conventionally built brick house with a basement for so many years, makes life in a "trailer" seem very cramped and spartan. Yet, it worked great for just the two of us. Generally, everything in the trailer seemed to be built much more cheaply or should I say not as substantial as a conventially built house. Lower price = less quality, but then we understood that. It just a matter of how you treat it. Some people can wear a pair of shoes for years and they always look nice, others can buy the same shoes and they are worn out in a few months.

When we "built" our house we chose a 2350 sq ft modular. As far as I am concerned, you really end up with the same product once the house is finished with either stick built or modular. As someone already pointed out, the modular is just built in sections in a factory environment and then transported to the site on flatbed trucks (not with wheels on its own metal frame). We chose a modular constructed house because the construction was much higher quality than the locally stick built homes here. Our home sits on a concrete foundation with a full basement and has an attached conventionally built porch, garage and sun room. Also, we are in a county that does not have a building code and therefore no local building inspections for anything. As long as you can get a permit for a septic system from the health department, you can build anything. One of my reasons for choosing the modular was because it was built in a factory with quality control conditions and it had to be built to conform to state building codes that are pretty strict. The modular we chose was built as good or better than a stick built home. I would do it again.

The only drawback that I found to the modular is that you are somewhat limited to the design parameters of the models available from any given manufaturer. However, they are coming out with more and more designs and options all the time.

Now, let me point out that there is a range of quality among mobile home manufaturers as there is a range of quality among stick builders as well as modular companies. You usually get what you pay for so you need to shop around no matter if you go mobile, modular or stick built. Is this going to be a temporary "camp" or a permanent home? What is your life style? How much room do you need? How rough are you on a house?

If you decide on a mobile, make sure you get one that is built for the local climate (amount of insulation, snow load, etc.) I think there is a sticker on the inside somewhere that tells when the trailer was manufactured and shows the temperature zone it is made for. I wouldn't want to buy a mobile home made for Florida and use it in Upper Michigan!

Good luck with whatever you decide. Life is an interesting adventure. Enjoy.

Briarwood

 

[Slamfire]

For reasons too complicated to go into, we bought a "Double Wide" supposedly from one of the "best" makers. It sure is nice, but too big for two old people. Then I discovered there ain't much wood in the danged thing. Even the door frames are made of paper. The hinges had to be replaced on the pantry door cause the spice rack was pulling the stock ones out of shape. When I put in the chimney, I had to add solid blocking to the 2x2 truss work that makes up the roof. I'm sure it is gonna outlive me, and my wife, but the heirs aren't gonna get any value out of it.
My Dad on the other hand got a modular home, Mother recently sold it to one of her granddaughters, who will probably leave it to hers.

 

[Docsknotinn]

I noticed yesterday that one of my neighbors got a single or traditional trailer delivered for deer camp. It looks pretty darn noce and I bet they dont cost much. Dave

 

[Slamfire]

I've seen several repo's that would make excellent deer camps.

 

[heehaw]

doesn't matter how inexpensive the double wide is, compared to building something...you will still lose more money with the double wide when and if you ever sell..don't care if you sell 2 years after buying, you will still lose lots of money with a double wide...
heehaw

 

[Docsknotinn]

Would you mind elaborateing on that a bit please ? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif In my area a 800 sq' stick built with a 2 car garage is 150k +. A modular is about 60k Tax, tag, title, delivery, set up. Add 5k for blocks and 15k for a garage and I've got 2,000 sq' vs 800 with a disparity of 70k. Even if the Modular has zero value at sale, which I rather doubt, It seems to me I would break even. Secondary homes and cabins are definately not going to appreciate like primary residential areas. When the economy gets hit Cottage country is the first thing to go. I would appreciate it greatly if there are oppossing views that you might please share your mathamatical hypothesis as I am seriously considering one of theese as a camp and dont want to overlook any thing. Dave

 

[fivestring]

Doc, if your gonna do a deer camp, the cheapest way is a mobile home. Just don't expect to get your money back if you sell. It's just like an automobile... it depreciates every year.
Modulars and stick-built do build equity. I do not live in a modular but if I ever move, a modular will be the first thing I will look at.

 

[Bird]

Rick, you're generally right, but that's not always the case. About 7 years ago, a fellow bought the 27 acres next to me with a 1972 double-wide on it for less than $40k. He paid me to help remodel the interior, used the place this past 7 years and a couple of months ago sold the doublewide and 2 acres for $59k. And this month, he sold the remaining 25 acres for $1150 an acre. You can bet that doublewide sold for a lot less than that when it was new.

And of course I bought my 10 acres the end of '94, put a new custom built double wide on it in '97 (paid a premium price to get it built the way I wanted it), lived in it a little over 5 years and sold the place for almost exactly what I paid for it.

Admittedly, I have no doubt it would have sold for more if there had been a stick built house on the property, but that stick built house would have also cost more to build, and an important factor for me at the time was the fact that a stick built house (or even a modular) would have taken a lot more time to build, and I just didn't have the time then.

Also, as with any home or property, much depends on location and whether you own the land. We just bought a pretty nice little single wide, in a mobile home park, for $17k and the lady who bought it new in '97 paid $32k for it, so yes, she took a considerable depreciation.

 

[Docsknotinn]

There cetainly are a LOT of variables. I do not believe stick built or modular will appreciate one red cent as a camp. It would be nice and I could be wrong but as a camp I really doubt it. The real appreaciation with acerage is the land. Unlike in a neighborhood where land almost never appreciates as it is the home. The only way I have seen sub divided LAND appreciate is when a adjacent vacant lot the same size sells for more. Most are spending roughly 25k and stick building their own 20 x 20. for the money mobile has got my attention. Modular is not even a option. If I am going to spend that much and deal with contractors any how I personally will have a log cabin built. I am really considering one of the cedar panel concept buildings as they are even less than mobil. Dave

 

[PhilNH5]

Dave,
I think you will have sticker shock when you look at log cabins. I live in a log cabin and I love it. So when we started to look at a new structure for our camp we, of course looked at log cabins.

For a 1200 sq ft log cabin we were looking at 60K for just the weather tight shell. That means with roofing, doors etc. The inside is completely unfinished. AND it is a kit. That price is just for the materials delivered to the site. Someone has to put it together. This info price was from 2 different manufacturers but they all seem to have very similar models.

We quickly rethought our options. We stopped by the nearest modular house dealer. For the same 60K we get a finished house. Carpet, bath fixtures, cabinetry etc. They install it on your foundation so the foundation work is an additional cost but it was for the cabin as well. Once you have a foundation the install of the modular structure takes less than a week (according to testimonials at the dealer)

For now we'll leave the two cottages we have but as we get closer to putting up a year round structure I am certain it will be a modular.

Phil

 

[Docsknotinn]

Log cabins are not nearly that much here for a standard log cabin. If you buy a cadillac sure, like the cypress logs etc. either way I personally wouldn't spend any time or money on a modular, thats just personal choice but I can tell you you cant touch any sort of quality in a modular here for that price. Mobil, yes. Modular no. I think you really have to look at the whoe price includeing the foundation delivery, hardware etc etc. If you are chooseing to overlook the cost of concrete on a modular that is a major expense to the total. I can get a Panel concepts 800 sq', contractor bulit with all fixtures for around 80k with a 12/10 pitch and a loft, deck etc for the mid 80's. A modular is about the same but weather its modular or mobil it still has the same "stigma" to most buyers and thats really where the loss is. I dont want to be on the market for several years when its time to sell. With a mobil the loss is actually trivial after the use and initial saveings. But then its all in your location etc. a log cabin on recreational property is almost assureadly going to hold value better and sell quicker in that setting. Dave