Over the last couple of years, the real estate market has expanded noticeably. Before, buyers were significantly more content purchasing a home in a fixed location, settling down, and doing business there. Today, the world has evolved, and people are noticeably interested in moving across the world without getting a new apartment in every city they enter. With many people investing in mobile homes, the big question remains; Are mobile homes a good investment?
Mobile homes satisfy a core need of nomads and put a fair amount of money in the hands of real estate investors. Plus, it’s affordable and practical in more ways than one for both the buyer and the seller.Â
But, like every other investment, it’s important to gauge its profitability before jumping right into it. Are they a good investment, or will they crash and burn your finances? In this article, we’ll be answering those questions and helping you make the best decision.
What's Ahead...
What Are Mobile Homes?
You might have seen tons of manufactured housing schemes around you, typically referred to as trailers or park homes. If not seen, you must have heard terms like mobile homes or manufactured homes for sure.Â
Factories manufacture mobile homes and transport them to the site where they’ll place them.
Unlike site-built homes, these mobile or manufactured homes are not built on a permanent foundation. This foundation is built from concrete, thus accounting for the word permanent foundation. Mobile homes have been around for decades, but manufacturing design has come a long way. There are excellent single-family homes that are available at lower prices.
Today, daily travelers or families or friends who want to spend their vacations traveling use them the most. According to Housing and Urban Development, mobile homes are characterized as homes manufactured in factories before June 15th,1976.Â
All mobile homes manufactured post this date have a name change to manufactured homes. In other words, mobile home is an old name for manufactured homes.
Difference Between Mobile, Manufactured, and Modular Homes
Suppose you are thinking of making your dream home but have doubts about different aspects such as investments, finance, and the type of house. Here are the differences in the common houses you can get.
Essentially there are three types, i.e., manufactured homes, mobile homes, and modular homes. Each of them varies in terms of cost, the housing market, and maintenance, and it would be beneficial for you to know which one you want on your land.
Mobile Home
A type of manufactured home built before 1976 is a mobile home. At that time, the government came up with the mobile home construction and safety act according to their structure.
The structure is based on certain standards, such as the size of the house, the ceiling height, the number of windows and doors, etc. The lifespan of a mobile home is relatively long, so you can expect its maintenance costs to be low.
Manufactured Home
Following the Housing and Urban Development Plan, all mobile homes are manufactured homes. Factories manufacture and customize them according to your likes and dislikes. After their manufacturing in the factory, the company delivers them to you on your land.
Since these homes do not have a permanent foundation, a concrete or limestone pad is the best place to settle them. Most modern manufactured homes have a strong infrastructure, so you don’t have to worry about their strength and safety. An equivalent manufactured home delivery might be available at a lower cost than other homes.
Modular Home
A modular home is also built in the factory. Modular and manufactured homes might look similar, but the main difference is that modular homes are actually built in pieces and then assembled on the property.
In comparison, manufactured homes are made and then placed on your land. Another difference to note is that you can move the manufactured homes, but you can’t do the same to a modular home after assembling it.
Another important thing to understand is that many of today’s mobile homes stay on the buyer’s private land while the rest go to the parks. The manufactured homes on privately owned land can turn into legit properties like site-built houses. Therefore, you can follow similar investment approaches as in the case of site-built homes.Â
Are Mobile Homes a Good Investment?
Now that we have walked you through some basic insight about mobile homes let us dive into weighing the pros and cons of mobile or manufactured homes. That way, you’ll know if mobile homes or manufactured homes are a better option.Â
Benefits of Mobile Homes
Manufactured or mobile homes are an amazing option, especially for beginners in the real estate market. Following are some pros of home mobiles.Â
Low Costs
The preferred choice of most people remains mobile or manufactured homes because of lower costs, which are way less expensive than a custom-built, stick-built house. With a small amount of money in your pocket, you can achieve a dream house for your family.
Additionally, mobile homes have lower costs per square foot than site-built houses; you can ultimately get a more spacious area in your house. The equivalent manufactured home delivers a much better option than other manufactured homes.
Thus, modern manufactured houses can easily be a good option for single-family residences. Going for a larger double-wide model is better if you have a family to fit. You can easily acquire two or three bedrooms at an affordable rate with equivalent amenities.Â
Environment FriendlyÂ
Unlike conventional homes, manufactured homes have materials that do not have a harsh environmental impact. Since companies build modern mobile homes in compliance with the housing and urban development local building codes, they have an environment-friendly mart.
They are made of materials that generate minimal carbon impact, and almost all of them get power from solar panels. This means that these manufactured homes are also energy efficient.Â
Mobility
Mobile homes offer really good flexibility in terms of mobility. If you are still determining the location where you want to keep your manufactured home, you can look for a better location and move there in a short time.
This kind of feature is not valid for stick-built houses. Moreover, if you think you have no more interest in the current location or want to change it for recreational purposes temporarily. In that case, you can easily move anywhere else for a short time.Â
New Jobs
If we look at the national level, mobile homes have become the largest source of unsubsidized affordable homes, which ultimately saves taxpayer dollars. Mobile homes have created new employment opportunities and helped many people who were going homeless because of money problems.
This innovation has turned the tables on American manufacturing plants with the impressive efforts of American suppliers.
Drawbacks of Mobile Homes
Aside from the good manufactured homes have to offer; they do have a few setbacks.Â
Not Investment-Friendly
Mobile homes are less investment-friendly since people are more inclined towards finding comfortable homes. A huge disadvantage is actually the fact that their value declines at a quick rate.
That is because people treat them as personal property since they are not a permanent part of the land. A few people rent them, and you can expect little profit from them compared to modular homes.
Loans and Finances
People face a lot of issues when it comes to gathering finances for mobile homes. Many investors have high-interest rates, so it is hard to gather a lot of money for such homes.
They have lower costs, approximately half of the traditional home, which is why they are hard to sell. Mobile homes are not a good investment when considering financing, maintenance, and selling.Â
Located According to Parking Policies
The placement of a mobile home has to be per the parking policies. If a parking problem arises, relocation is also more challenging than people think. They are almost stationary in that sense, with a high transportation cost.
If you are in a mobile home park, you will have to deal with aligning your schedule with your landlord and even paying him even though you literally own a house.Â
Damage
Since mobile homes lack a permanent foundation, they are more prone to damage in natural disasters such as storms or harsher weather conditions. If you are a resident of a hurricane and tornado-prone area, there are better options than mobile homes for you.
Conclusion
Investment in mobile homes can prove to be really good if you do it carefully. Before the investment, ensure it aligns with your financial goals in the future. Also, make up your mind about the expected losses before sealing the deal.
In case of using it as a rental, reach out to the right buyers for you. Just keep in mind the advantages and pitfalls of investment in mobile homes to make an informed decision.
So, Are Mobile Homes Worth It?
Paul Martinez is the founder of BendingDestiny.com. He is an expert in the areas of finance, real estate, and eCommerce.Â
Join him on BendingDestiny.com to learn how to improve your financial life and excel in these areas. Before starting this blog, Paul built from scratch and managed two multi-million dollar companies. One in the real estate sector and one in the eCommerce sector.