5 Reasons You Should Buy a Mobile Home:
When deciding whether to purchase a mobile home or a site-built home,it is essential to weigh the pros and cons. While there may sometimes be some bias regarding mobile home ownership, there are many good reasons as to why they may prove to be an excellent option for many.
1. Usually Better Than Renting: Many purchase a mobile home as their retirement home because they can’t afford a “regular” house and it makes more sense than renting. Because of a less expensive mortgage payment combined with property taxes, insurance and maintenance, it is likely you will end up spending much less than what it is to rent a decent apartment. This is also contingent upon whether you buy or rent the lot upon which your mobile home sits.
2. Mobile Homes on Land Appreciate Similar to Other Homes: As many discovered a decade ago, real estate does not always increase in value! But when home prices are rising in a given area, mobile home values go up with them. You may want to consider purchasing an older mobile home, because most depreciation on the structure itself will have passed.
3. House Crashing Insurance: Proportionality of gains is true of losses in value as well. Basically, a 15% drop in value is $45,000 on a $300,000 home and only $9,000 on a $60,000 mobile home. Additionally, because people always have to live somewhere, lower-priced homes generally fall less in value. If you suspect housing prices are topping out, it may make more sense financially to purchase a mobile home just to keep your real estate investments at a minimum.
4. They Make Excellent Retirement/Vacation Homes: A mobile home can make a great retirement or vacation home for many because of lower prices, smaller mortgage loans, lower maintenance costs and are less of a financial risk. Furthermore, if you want to move into a site-built home eventually, you can always keep your mobile home and take in rental income!
5. Fire Safety: A study issued by the National Fire Protection Association in July of 2011 shows both the occurrence of fire and fire-related injury rate is lower in manufactured homes than site-built homes. The superior fire safety is due to the requirements of the Health and Safety provisions of the HUD code which are more stringent than those set by the IRC code