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[punchnpie]

Out here in the cornfields, there are a number of mobile home parks with differing levels of appeal and residents. For example, some have working or retired folks with decent incomes, fitness centers, sidewalks, lawn care, etc. and some are on gravel roads, no amenities, and the residents are lower income.

Punch jr., who has never spent a penny when he can get someone else to do it for him, has thousands in the bank. He used to date a girl who had a mobile home and who now wishes to sell it as she's getting married (obviously not to punch jr. he dodged a bullet there...). Because of their relationship, he's been in the park during the day, at night, and on weekends and didn't find anything terribly wrong with it or the residents.

He is thinking of buying the home in order to have somewhere, to put it kindly, to get away from me. He doesn't plan to live there full time (no, why should he do that when I'm busy cooking and cleaning on this end, but I digress...), but it would give him a place to hang with his buds and bring chicks.  Apparently my basement has lost its appeal.

She's asking $12,500 (2 bed, 2 bath). Punch jr figures that he can rent it if he can't sell it after he finishes school.

So far, I'm not entirely against this, but a mobile home is a mobile home. Our town has condos selling around 75-95K and townhouses for 115K. He really doesn't want to be in an apartment condo, so that's a hard sell, doesn't want a roommate, and isn't sure if he can swing the townhouse expenses on his GAship of $1600 a month. I think he can, but no one wants to feel stretched. 

He has an excellent credit rating, little debt (see sentence #2), and low student loans. He is 34. Before someone suggests it, he thought about renting a room from one of his friends, but he doesn't want to live his personal life on top of someone else, so that is probably out.

Is this crazy? Comments welcome.

[norvell]

I know a lot of people who have done this as grad students. They spend $10-20K on a mobile home, live in it for a few years, then sell it. They always come out a lot further ahead financially over renting. The thing to remember is that mobile homes typically DEPRECIATE. In that regard they are more like vehicles than frame homes.

[prof_smartypants]

Um, have him buy it for sure, but only with the caveat that he actually move out of your basement and live there for real.

[prytania3]

First, mobile homes are dangerous during storms.

Second, she wants 12,500 for the mobile home alone? What year is it? What model? How many bedrooms? Amenities? Furniture?

I don't know about your area, but in Virginia, you can do way better than that.

If he wants a mobile home, why not get one on a piece of land? Later down the line, he can always resell it and build on the land.

[punchnpie]

First, mobile homes are dangerous during storms.

Second, she wants 12,500 for the mobile home alone? What year is it? What model? How many bedrooms? Amenities? Furniture?

I don't know about your area, but in Virginia, you can do way better than that.

If he wants a mobile home, why not get one on a piece of land? Later down the line, he can always resell it and build on the land.

He's going to have to look into prices and see if this is a good one or not for what he's getting. A lot of homes sell for 40-80K, so 12K seems like a good price, if it isn't too old.  Also, even though we are in the cornfields, this is one of the more expensive cities in the state because of the university. Our housing prices, though cheap by national standards, are pretty high compared to the rest of the state.

He has furniture and we've been saving household items for him in case he ever leaves the basement, so none of that is a real issue. If he got a bare place, that would be OK.

Getting a home on a piece of land is problematic because of the weather. It snows so much, and the back roads are last to get plowed and/or he'd have to hire someone to plow a long drive if he were set far back on the land. I hear you, but this ain't Virginia. He needs to be able to get to class and work. Most of the parks here actually have bus service to campus and downtown, so that's important.

Yeah about the storms. I would have to know if the park has its own storm shelter is before I could give it my OK, but since we've been in the cornfields, it hasn't been tornadoes, but flooding, that have taken out mobile home parks.

[aandsdean]

First, mobile homes are dangerous during storms.

Second, she wants 12,500 for the mobile home alone? What year is it? What model? How many bedrooms? Amenities? Furniture?

I don't know about your area, but in Virginia, you can do way better than that.

If he wants a mobile home, why not get one on a piece of land? Later down the line, he can always resell it and build on the land.

He's going to have to look into prices and see if this is a good one or not for what he's getting. A lot of homes sell for 40-80K, so 12K seems like a good price, if it isn't too old.  Also, even though we are in the cornfields, this is one of the more expensive cities in the state because of the university. Our housing prices, though cheap by national standards, are pretty high compared to the rest of the state.

He has furniture and we've been saving household items for him in case he ever leaves the basement, so none of that is a real issue. If he got a bare place, that would be OK.

Getting a home on a piece of land is problematic because of the weather. It snows so much, and the back roads are last to get plowed and/or he'd have to hire someone to plow a long drive if he were set far back on the land. I hear you, but this ain't Virginia. He needs to be able to get to class and work. Most of the parks here actually have bus service to campus and downtown, so that's important.

Yeah about the storms. I would have to know if the park has its own storm shelter is before I could give it my OK, but since we've been in the cornfields, it hasn't been tornadoes, but flooding, that have taken out mobile home parks.

In another part of cornfield state, there have been very serious tornadoes this year.  Just sayin'.

[anthroid]

I'm not sure a mobile home is the best use of Punchjr's money.  As AandSDean says, tornadoes are a very real problem and storm shelter or no, Junior is going to be in a heap of pain if he doesn't get there soon enough.  If he has that nice nest egg AND he'll be earning some coin, why doesn't he just find himself a nice one-bedroom apartment in a good complex and think about buying something more substantial once he's done with school and knows where he might be landing (if not in Punchtown)?  Being tied to a property, even a mobile home, is not a smart idea until he is graduated and has a job offer in hand.

[hegemony]

Yes, if he has the money for payments on a mobile home, why not just get a one-bedroom apartment?  One thing he might want to think about is the extra payments for the mobile home.  Property taxes, maintenance (which will go up and up as the place gets older) -- and does it include the land too, or is it, like many places, an owned home sitting on a rental spot of land?  He may be able to rent it, for a while, but eventually the maintenance costs will eat up a lot of the rent.  It will be a time sink as well as a money sink.

And is she going to sell him the furnishings too?  Or would he have to buy those?

If I had a stash of money in the bank, a mobile home is the last real estate purchase I would make.  They don't hold value.  He needs to do some research on this.  And because he's buying it from someone he knows, he probably thinks he's getting a better price than market, but he may well be getting a worse price.

[punchnpie]

The apartment rents here aren't cheap. Punch jr gets a below market rental rate from me that is about half the cost of an apartment (y'all didn't think I was doing all this cooking and cleaning for free, did you?). Plus, an apartment means living with students all around, which he doesn't want to do. We're on a cul-de-sac at the edge of town - it's very quiet with mostly regular people and a few med & dental students. He's not going back to living in a student ghetto.

He is a cheap son of a gun and while he might stretch a bit to buy a townhouse (trust me, he understands depreciation and appreciation), he's not going to spend his nest egg on an apartment. And, a 1 bedroom leaves no room for the rabbit, who needs her space. If punch jr. goes, that rabbit's going, too.

I think we'll have to talk some more - an inexpensive condo or townhouse in a development with med/dental students might be the way to go, and something he could rent out for decent money if he moved away.

[anon99]

Find out what the life expectancy is on a mobile home in the area and how old it is.  I was told 30 years is the normal life span.  Also what is the rent for the pad that the home is on?

[punchnpie]

Find out what the life expectancy is on a mobile home in the area and how old it is.  I was told 30 years is the normal life span.  Also what is the rent for the pad that the home is on?

I just happened to find the home listed on Craigslist. It is a 1996 home (which, even with my rudimentary searching, makes me think that the price is too high) with a lot rent of $275. Another park has lot rents at $320, so the rent seems OK.  No pics of the inside, though. The outside looks alright.

Punch jr pays me $300 a month. Many 1 bedrooms here are $600, and 2 bedrooms easily hit $900. So, if he can get a lower price on the home, he will end up paying just a bit more than he pays me - BUT, he hasn't figured food, phone, etc. which is more than I think he's planning to pay, but less than he'd pay for a 1 bedroom, plus cable, food, etc.  I saw a notice that there were other homes for sale at the park, so if this person won't move on her price, he might be able to find something cheaper.

If the prices for other homes are similar, however, I'm thinking he stays with me, pretends like he's paying $600 on the open market, paying me $300 and putting $300 a month into a savings account. Then he has a down payment for a 'real' house when he finishes the masters or if he goes for the PhD (which is the plan). Many parents/adult students here buy a house while the student is in a long program like the PhD or med school, so that may make more sense than rushing to buy something now - even though I can see the dreams of time away from mom dancing in his eyes.

[_touchedbyanoodle_]

It sounds like he wants to buy a club house, not a home, which is a pretty wasteful move for an adult.

[aandsdean]

Punch,

I happen to know that in your area there are small towns (not far away) where your kid can do a lot better.  Some of them even have rental shortages so he could rent his place out if he left, for instance (I refer you to SLACville about 20 miles north).

He couldn't buy a house for $300/month, but he could do better than a 15-year-old "manufactured home" (this reminds me of the Martin Cadillac commercials back in L.A., where they called their used cars "previously owned Cadillacs."  Respectfully, Martin Cadillac.)

It's not worth it.  

[punchnpie]

Punch,

I happen to know that in your area there are small towns (not far away) where your kid can do a lot better.  
It's not worth it.  

Thanks for this. I know you are familiar with the area. As I stated above, I just don't think he's going to go anywhere where he'll feel hemmed in by the snow, or where he can't take a bus should he need to. I'll bring it up, however, and see what he thinks. I think a 15 yr old mobile home is scraping the bottom of the barrel as well.

I need to con convince him to take a place in the neighborhood. Out of the basement is one thing, out of sight is another. Laugh though you all may, he's still my baby and the only one. At least I'm not emailing his professors. I have my limits.

[glowdart]

I may have missed this upthread, but how much does it cost to heat a mobile home in a place that gets enough snow that you're factoring that into the discussion? 

Is he ever going to be able to sell it?  What happens when he needs to leave the area and the park wants the pad back and he can't sell it?  How much does disposal of a mobile home cost?

A mobile home on a piece of land at least leaves you with a piece of land. 

If he really needs a place away from you, then are there places where he can rent an office?  Or buy one of those little sheds that minimalists live in and put it in the backyard (if you have a yard)?