Inspecting the Mobile Home

Inspect the mobile home to determine its condition and level of maintenance. If you don’t feel confident in your inspection skills, bring a knowledgeable friend with you.

• Don’t buy a home built before 1977 as it will most likely have aluminum wiring which can be a fire hazard. Mobile homes from that period can also be difficult to finance and insure. You’d be wise not to consider a mobile home over 15 years old.

• Check for wavy walls and door frames that are crooked, a clear indication that the mobile home is settling.

• Check ceilings for evidence of roof leaks. Find out if and when repairs were made, and check that the roof has no rotted wood.

• Check for spongy floors. Bounce your weight on the floors to test this. Pay special attention to the bathroom.

• Ensure that there is a working smoke alarm in each bedroom.

• Check any steps to ensure they are solid with no tripping hazards.

• Check that stair railings are secure and that balusters are spaced at 4 inches or less.

• Check that the water heater is working properly and is up to code.

• Have the furnace and central air conditioner checked out by a professional.

• Turn on all faucets and check under all sinks and bathroom fixtures for leaks.

• Have an electrician check out the electrical system to ensure it is safe an up to code.

• Check the roof for leaks and sagging. Get proof of the roof’s age.

• Check for termites, and check to see if management has an insurance contract with any pest control company.

Checking Out the Mobile Home Park

The park will be your neighborhood for a long time if you purchase the mobile home. Check it out thoroughly to ensure that it’s a neighborhood that you really want to live in.

• If you’re securing a loan to purchase the mobile home, check with the lender to be sure that the park is approved by the lender before you commit.

• Check to see if the park has any problems with security. Is there a security company patrolling regularly? Check with the local police for a record of crime in the area.

• If you have a dog or cat, check to be sure that the park allows pets, particularly your breed. Some dogs, considered dangerous, are not permitted. Some parks permit no dogs at all.

• Talk to a few of the neighbors to get a feel about them and their impressions of their life in the park. Ask them about the park’s managers to find out what level of commitment they have for the community’s well being.

• Drive around the park looking for trash, old cars, rusty appliances, any refuse that would indicate poor management rules. You don’t want to live in a dump.

If you’ve been thorough in your investigations and inspections, you’ll feel more relaxed when you make your final decision about whether or not to buy. Knowledge is power for making correct decisions, and you don’t want to be mistaken about the place and the home in which you may be living.
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Most decorating improvements to the inside of your home can be accomplished by the prudent use of paint and wallpaper. The older style wall paneling reeks of the 1960s and screams out for change. Disguising the paneling with a fresh coat of paint or bright wallpaper will do wonders for your décor. To ensure a fresh and modern professional look it will be necessary to fill all of the vertical grooves in the paneling with putty or a suitable caulking. Make sure you sand the filler smooth and flush with the panel surface, and then coat the paneling with a good primer and either paint or paper it. Consider using lighter colors as they tend to make any room look larger.

Kitchen cabinets and drawers are another area where small changes can reap great results. Lightly sand the cabinet surfaces, prime them, and paint them with a light colored gloss. If you’re particularly talented, you might try simulating a new wood finish using one of the faux painting kits. Replacing all of the cabinet and drawer handles will also help to modernize the overall look of the kitchen. If you have enough in the budget, replacing the stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher can also make a big difference. Replacing the kitchen sink could be very expensive, but replacing the faucets with an updated set will make a positive statement.

Don’t forget the bathrooms, which are often overlooked. Consider new faucets. Replace the old towel hangers, toilet paper holders, and cabinet hardware. Repaint the cabinets if they need it, much as you did in the kitchen. Check the tile. Some may need re-grouting or simply a good cleaning. Replace any cracked tiles. Add new curtains and a fresh bright shower curtain to complete the effect.

The outside of the mobile home presents special challenges, especially on the single-wide units. Their size, shape, and certain other characteristics seem to shout “Trailer.” Hiding or disguising many of these characteristics is easy and inexpensive. One characteristic that can be improved greatly is the vinyl material that is often used to simulate a brick foundation. It fools no one, and begins to look a bit seedy after a few years in the elements. If you can afford to, remove the vinyl and replace it with real brick.

Mask the foundation with bushes and plants. Place gardening timbers around the trailer to define the planting area. Plant clusters of flowers in the front yard to provide a pleasant welcoming image for visitors. Pink flamingos are definitely out, but a small simple bird bath would add a nice touch. Redecorating your mobile home is a challenge, but it can be fun. With time and patience and a little innovation, you can create a warm pleasant home of which you can be proud.

Insurance companies charge higher premiums for trailer homes as they are much more prone to extensive damage from various hazards that would present much smaller damage in traditional homes. This makes trailer home owners a liability of sorts, and the costs reflect this. Risk factors are directly proportional to the insurance costs, which is why insurance companies ask for higher premiums from trailer home owners.

A trailer home insurance plan will offer two types of coverage, physical damage coverage and liability coverage. A trailer home insurance quote will provide coverage against: any damage to the home or its contents, including any extra construction or add-on; liability coverage which protects the homeowner against any legal proceedings; protection from burglary; transportation insurance; emergency removal; and a replacement cost if the home is lost or damaged beyond repair.

You can qualify for an insurance premium discount if:

• Your trailer home is on a permanent foundation
• You have a basement beneath your home
• The roof is shingled
• There is skirting along the bottom
• There are smoke and fire detectors in the home
• Your trailer home is new
• You are over 50 years old

It is better to get your insurance policy from a specialty company rather than from a regular home insurance company. The specialty insurance companies provide coverage that is specific to trailer home owners and don’t compete with the larger home insurance companies. Also, it can be hard to find insurance policies for trailer homes in traditional insurance companies. And, if they do cover them, it could possibly be not the right coverage.

Do your homework before choosing an insurance policy to ensure you end up with a plan that works for you.

New mobile homes are an excellent choice for young newly married couples who can’t come up with a large enough down payment. It is possible to buy a new single wide mobile home for under $50,000, which is a far cry from the cost of an equivalently sized stick-built home. For that price you’ll expect to get three bedrooms, one full bath and one half bath, a nice kitchen, living room, and even a laundry room. These new models come nicely decorated and include curtains, a stove, and a refrigerator.

There is also the ongoing argument about depreciation and how much money you will lose when you decide to sell the mobile home. There is no question that mobile home values depreciate over time, but consider the level of investment made. A new mobile home can be financed for ten years and leave you with a monthly payment that will be less than what it would cost you to rent equivalent accommodations. In addition when you do decide to sell, you will get some of your investment returned. No matter how much you get, it will be significantly larger that the nothing you will receive when leaving a rental property. If you compare your mobile home investment with a 30-year mortgage on a stick-built home you’ll find that in ten years the mobile home will be paid for, but the principal on the stick built will have been reduced by less than one third.

Maintenance is another area where the mobile home owner can save money. Maintaining the siding and the roof are much easier and less expensive to than maintaining the equivalent components of a stick-built house. The roof is a perfect example. It can be re-tarred by the owner at much less cost than that incurred for replacing a shingled room on a stick built home, and he can access the roof from a small ladder.

That dreaded curse of devaluation can be a blessing at tax time. Property taxes are based on assessed value. As your mobile home depreciates, you taxes will decrease. Homeowner’s insurance may also be a place where you can save money.

One final consideration that can increase your return on investment is where your mobile home is situated: in a trailer park or one your own property. Many mobile home owners with their homes located on their own land see the appreciation in the land value exceeding the amount of depreciation on the mobile home, leaving them with a net gain in equity.

Whether you’re a newly married couple looking for a first home, or a retired couple looking for a vacation home or a new home in a warmer climate, seriously consider the economic benefits of selecting a mobile home.

Trailer homes are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site like a normal home, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied and used. Many of these homes can then be moved later (so called mobile homes). Trailer homes are usually moved by tractor-trailers (hence the name) over public roads to sites that are usually in rural areas or high-density developments. In some countries, these homes are used for temporary accommodation on campsites since they are inexpensive. While trailer homes are usually placed in one location and left there, they do retain the ability to be moved on a trailer again if needed. Behind the cosmetic work fitted at installation to hide the base of the house in the ground, there are strong trailer frames, axles, wheels and tow-hitches that are also hidden.

The two main sizes for trailer homes are single-wides and double-wides. Single-wides are eighteen feet or less in width and 90 feet or less in length and can be towed to their site as a single unit. They are much smaller and easier to transport in the future. Double-wides are twenty feet or more wide and are 90 feet in length or less and are towed to their site in two separate units, which are then joined together. Sometimes there are even triple-wides and even homes with four, five, or more units that are built, although they are not very common.

Trailer homes also are different from site built homes in that it is not uncommon for owners to “Trade up”, like with a car. While site-built homes are rarely moved, mobile home owners often “trade”, or sell their home to a dealer in the form of the reduction of the purchase of a new home. These “used” homes are either re-sold to new owners or to trailer park operators who then rent them out. Single wides are more likely to be traded than double wides since removing them from the site is much easier.

Trailer homes are often thought of as the homes of rednecks, Katrina victims, and poor people in the south. We often think of “Trailer Park” trash when we think of trailer homes. However, people from all walks of life and all over the country live in trailer or mobile homes. They are a much more affordable means of housing than a traditional home. While it is true that most of the occupants are of lower income, it is because these homes are simply more affordable. they make better economic sense for people with low wage jobs who might not be able to afford a mortgage.

Yet trailer homes offer another benefit for people- they are cheaper to keep and help you get rid of consumerist lifestyle. Since trailer homes are smaller than regular homes, they cost less to heat and cool and can lead to lower utility costs saving money and helping to save the environment. Moreover, the small space ensures that you only have room for what you need. You can’t have as much stuff in a trailer home so you are a less of a consumer. That’s a good thing in my opinion.

There are many different types of mobile and trailer homes on the market and many things you need to consider when buying a trailer homes. Make sure you do your research when looking for a mobile or trailer home so you don’t end up with one of those FEMA trailers! It’s important to consider everything before you purchase a home and I hope this website helps!

One thing to consider when purchasing a trailer home is the rapid depreciation often of these homes. Unlike normal homes, these properties lose value over time not gain. Early homes, even those that were well-maintained, tended to depreciate in value over time, much like motor vehicles, rather than appreciate in value, as with site-built homes. Your trailer home is cheap but a depreciating asset.

A combination of factors has caused most jurisdictions to place zoning regulations on the areas in which factory built homes are placed, and limitations on the number and density of homes permitted on any given site. Many areas have strongly limited or forbidden all single-wide models, which tend to depreciate in value more rapidly than modern double-wide models. Lots of trailer homes can cause the value of the town to go down and might attract a bad crowd.

Moreover, there is also the constant discussion about legal fixture and the legal status of a trailer is, or could be, affected by its incorporation to the land. This sometimes involves whether or not the wheels have been removed or not.

In regions not considered “high-wind” zones, over-the-top tie-downs have not historically been used for single-wide manufactured homes. Piers or pilings comprised concrete and/or wooden blocks, placed on-grade at intervals beneath the trailer frame, have historically been accepted as the norm in most parts of Canada.

Tie-downs consisting of spun steel cable, wrapped around the trailer frame and fastened to driven or screw anchors are typical in most locales, although not necessarily consistent among all manufactured homes.
The mounting and tie-down methods typically employed may, or may not comply with the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Under some circumstances (leased land, for example) a lender or insurer may want some assurance that a mobile home is still transportable. In this case, the wheels of the home must always be on the home in case it needs to be moved.

The actual process of moving a mobile home as a vehicle is a point of interest which a home inspector cannot address or confirm, and involves considerations which only the selected mover could evaluate. It is however reasonable to believe that if axles could not be installed for any reason, or if the unit is found to be not roadworthy as a vehicle in its original configuration, it could possibly be moved by other means, much the same as any small house.

There are many legal issues tied to mobile homes, most of which have to deal with their status tied to the land, what rights the homeowner has versus which rights the landowner has (if the two are different), zoning rules of the county the home is placed in, and the value of the home. Before you buy a trailer or mobile home, make sure you consult a lawyer and read the rules of the area in order to ensure minimal future legal complications if a problem were to arise. In many parts of the country, mobile homes are encouraged and the law is clear. However, in other parts, the law is used to reduce trailer homes and if you get into trouble, you might have many legal problems.

Before you purchase a trailer home, look up the legal issues that might arise and the town’s laws on these times of home. You can also consult a laywer or real estate broker who might be able to help you.

There are two major sizes for trailer homes: single-wide and double-wides. Single-wides are eighteen feet or less in width and 90 feet or less in length and can be towed to their site as a single unit. Double-wides are twenty feet or more wide and are 90 feet in length or less and are towed to their site in two parts and then put together on site. Then there are even big homes that can be built, though they rarely are. This does not happen a lot and only under expensive circumstances.

While homes like modular homes aren’t often moved, trailer home owners often “trade”, or sell their home to a dealer in the form of the reduction of the purchase of a new home. Sometimes when people move, they transport their home with them as it could be cheaper than buying a new trailer home. These “used” homes are either re-sold to new owners, or to park owners who use them as inexpensive rental units.

The trailer home form of housing goes back to the early years of cars and motorized highway travel. It was derived from the travel trailer, a small unit with wheels attached, that were often used for camping. Larger units intended to be used as dwellings for several months or more in one location came to be known as house trailers.

In the beginning, these homes were initially marketed primarily to people whose lifestyle required them to be on the move. However, in the 1950s, the homes began to be marketed as an inexpensive form of housing designed to be set up and left in a location for long periods of time. During the 60s and 70s, the homes were made even longer and wider, which made them more likely to be kept in one location and not moved around. They became less mobile and more like regular homes. Nowadays, when a factory-built home is moved to a location, it is usually kept there. Mobility of trailer homes as greatly decreased over the years and very few real “trailer” homes exist.

Many people who could not afford a traditional homes or did not want to commit to spending a large sum of money on housing began to see trailer homes as a great alternative. The units were often marketed as an alternative to apartment rental.

However, financing for manufactured homes can be very difficult to arrange. Most banks won’t finance manufactured homes if there is no land included. But there are many companies that specialize in financing just mobile and trailer homes and can meet the needs of owners that don’t have land. The United States Department of Agriculture has rural development guaranteed loan and direct loan programs for low-income individuals living in small towns and rural areas.

Trailer homes have a long and unique history- they are not simply homes for the poor. While they are not for everybody, they offer a lot of benefits to people around the country and are something that should be considered by people looking for an inexpensive home.

1. Check crawl space venting, and look for evidence of mildew, rot, rust, etc. under the unit - especially in exposed, retrofitted plumbing, electrical and duct work. These are costly things to fix.

2. Are the supply and waste piping adequately insulated, and heated for winter conditions? Is any exposed?

3. Is there adequate combustion air for a standard gas or oil furnace? Most of the furnaces we observe are standard gas or oil, forced-air, down-flow style. The make-up (combustion) air source is usually from under the trailer, excepting newer installations of direct-vent furnaces.Is there adequate ductwork? In some mobile homes the original configuration provided for supply and return air only at the furnace closet door. Much of the retrofit ducting is flex-duct, and may be damaged or deteriorated under the unit. Everything under the unit is also susceptible to rodents so you need to make sure everything is sealed properly.

4. In cold-weather regions, uninsulated oil tanks (outdoors) are subject to condensation and rust, especially at their bottoms. You need to make sure your tank is insulated properly.

5. Depending on the soils under the trailer, the unit may heave and shift under heavy frost conditions, unless the pilings are mounted below frost level.

6. Many units are insulated with Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation (UFFI). This might, or might not be a consideration – depending upon history and attitudes in your local area. Polyurethane foam and other insulation are sometimes mistakenly identified as UFFI.

7. Mobiles are generally quite air-tight and (in cold-weather regions) retained moisture will cause excessive condensation on windows, especially metal-framed and/or single-pane units. Many mobile home in colder areas are re-fitted with wooden or vinyl, double-pane windows.

8. Older mobiles had 50 or 60 amp electric capacity, and newer models most often have 100 amps. However, depending on the mobile home park, they may be connected to a pole-mounted shut-off, of less than 100 amps.

9. In many mobile home parks, water and sewage are private or communal – not municipal. It is important to know how your sewage is managed, who is responsible and who pays for maintenance and repairs to private or communal systems.

10. Beware of owner-installed porches and additions. These demand diligent inspection. There is frequently wood-earth contact, and poor ventilation underneath – and frequently unorthodox framing methods. The porch roof-to-wall flashings are frequently substandard and problematic.

If you think about these things before you purchase your home, you’ll be in a much better situation!