# Mobile homes



## zookeeper (Mar 6, 2011)

I've got some specific questions on this topic, but the thread is open to anyone with related concerns/questions.
Many of the rural properties I see on realty sites have a mobile home, and the price is a bit less than with a permanent house. I can get a 3/1 mobile on 5 acres at the same price as a 2/1 house on 1-2 acres. Now I know a mobile will not offer the same protection as a solid brick or even a stick built structure. But getting a few extra acres could be a deal breaker for me.
So here's one of my questions:

What is the floor strength of a mobile? If I were to put two gun safes(each the size of a refrigerator) in a mobile, will it handle the weight? Or would I need to do some renforcement and extra support under the flooring for that spot?


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

With 2 safe's, I think I would be reinforcing _my_ 2"x 12" floors.  That's a lot of weight! My 2¢


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

If you could put them on the ends where the steel frame is under them there shouldn't be any problem. It would probably be okay anywhere else too. Most flooring problems in a MH come from condensation inside the outer (aluminum sided) walls that rots the flooring along outside walls. Un-insulated windows in older units will also drip down and rot out the flooring. So check the flooring carefully there. That may not be a big problem depending upon where you live.

I know people who have some pretty massive gun safes in MH's and they haven't had any problems.


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## timmie (Jan 14, 2012)

zookeeper said:


> I've got some specific questions on this topic, but the thread is open to anyone with related concerns/questions.
> Many of the rural properties I see on realty sites have a mobile home, and the price is a bit less than with a permanent house. I can get a 3/1 mobile on 5 acres at the same price as a 2/1 house on 1-2 acres. Now I know a mobile will not offer the same protection as a solid brick or even a stick built structure. But getting a few extra acres could be a deal breaker for me.
> So here's one of my questions:
> 
> What is the floor strength of a mobile? If I were to put two gun safes(each the size of a refrigerator) in a mobile, will it handle the weight? Or would I need to do some renforcement and extra support under the flooring for that spot?


please make sure you have plywood floors especially if it's a doublewide and not just in the center. that's what happened to ours.particle board and we are replacing all the floors.


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

I've lived in a MH and a stick built house. The stick built house wins every time. Even it it isn't as much acreage, you come out ahead. MH depreciate. Stick built homes hold their value. Plus, heating and AC bills are usually much less for a stick built home.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

If a MH is what you can afford, then thats the way to go. A "Double Wide" and 2 acres is what I could afford so thats what I live in, Debt Fee. I could have gone the Mortgage route and bought one of the "Permanent Homes" but I would then be in the "Bubble Boat", ant gonna happen ever again.

Their are disadvantages to deal with, especially when you start bringing in the preps but additional reinforcement can address that. As for the depreciation, if the MH is well taken care of and maintained, it can last a lifetime and the taxes are lower than a "Stick Built" home.

Bottom Line, buy what you can afford and make the most of it, dont try to pay for something that is beyond your ability, we all have seen what happens when people try.

A mobile home can put a roof over your head and that is the primary purpose of a home of any kind.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

I think you can't beat a regular home. It should be built much better. The best thing about it is that in many states you'll have a full basement. If you had plastic 55 gallon barrels you could store 440 gallons for every 4'x8' section of basement.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Look into prefabricated homes, cheap as a MH, strong like traditional. Sometimes people back out of purchasing after the build has started due to unforeseen circumstances, since the factory is not in the business of warehousing these so they can be (rarely) bought at a discount, remember that it is somebody else's design tho... I plan on putting 2 more houses on my property, and they will both be pre-fab.

Being in Florida, basements aren't an issue for you either way.


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## Marcus (May 13, 2012)

Davarm, 
Not being in debt gives you options so I applaud your choice.
You can always add outbuildings/bunkers as you have the money and time.
Too many people have unrealistic expectations in life about where and in what they wish to live.


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## webeable (Aug 29, 2012)

MH's are different today in many respect they are better than stick built. There is flaws but many can be overcome. If you can get high end garage door pannels to make your skirting out of for the cheep will make a big differance, a 12 in solid renforced pad, and can put an enclosed porch that adds additional living space.


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## XD357Sig (Aug 24, 2012)

It depends on the manufacturer and the age of the home. When we bought ours 13 years ago, Solitaire was the only home we found that could rival a stick-built home, even when it came to homeowner's insurance. Things may have changed, but best thing to do is research the manufacturer to find out the quality of the homes being built at that particular time. One thing to look for is vinyl-looking wall coverings. A quality manufactured home will have dry wall where less expensive mobiles have plastic and paneling on the walls. The reason is that a lower quality home will twist as it's being moved and set up, and dry wall would crack to pieces during the process. As far as my house goes, we have a fully stocked gun safe with many boxes of ammo stacked on top and several milk crates of ammo and lead stacked next to it, all in the guest closet, no problems.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I had a full length, covered front porch built and am going to do the same for the back. Out buildings are in the planning but other projects are ahead of them in the line.

In this area, Double Wide MH's are as common or more so in some places than/as the Stick Built. My first choice would be a conventional but as I said, I bought what I could afford(for cash). When you have cash in hand, you can work some pretty good deals with the dealers.



Marcus said:


> Davarm,
> Not being in debt gives you options so I applaud your choice.
> You can always add outbuildings/bunkers as you have the money and time.
> Too many people have unrealistic expectations in life about where and in what they wish to live.


They are different than those of only 20 years ago, especially in the area of energency effeciency. I have done some work on insulaion and windows, that along with the covered pourch made it possible to endure last summers three month of 110+ heat with an electricity bill of around $225.00(per month), many conventional homes of comparable size were having $400.00+ bills. My home is about 1600 square feet in size, so the bills I had were pretty good.

I underpinned the house with used(almost pristine) Roofing Sheet Metal and it keeps the weather out very well.



webeable said:


> MH's are different today in many respect they are better than stick built. There is flaws but many can be overcome. If you can get high end garage door pannels to make your skirting out of for the cheep will make a big differance, a 12 in solid renforced pad, and can put an enclosed porch that adds additional living space.


In the area I live in(agricultural country type), a nice conventional home would stick out like a "Sore Thumb" and in a SHTF scenario, it would scream "Rob Me - Pleeeease"

Anyway, If you want, and can afford a "Stick Built" home, go for it. If you are on a budget and cant, a MH(or as Blob said - Prefabs are good) may be the way to go. It would sure beat living in a tent on a relatives/friends property(or at a campground).

Just make the most of your situation, whatever route you take.


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## LongRider (May 8, 2012)

Depends.
There are the old style mobile homes those that could be towed behind a truck to the build site and relocated if need be. These are extremely cheap, no longer made and a good option to stay in if you plan to build on your site and burn it to the ground when you are done. They are available for free to about 5K, You can put a safe in them over the metal frame.
There are modular homes that are delivered to the build site in sections normally two halves. Construction varies wildly. Again if you can put a safe over the metal frame. 
Last is prefab modular homes they are site built from kits and are likely the most cost effective homes available. As they are built like stick built on concrete foundations a safe should not be a problem any where in the house
Deltec Homes is one example but they are available in a wide variety of designs from Permanent Yurts, Geodesic Dome and Log Cabins


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## zookeeper (Mar 6, 2011)

Thanks for all the info. Regardless of my choice, it will be a cash deal, no financing. I would like a couple extra acres for farming, small livestock, etc, so I may go with a mobile. But it would be on a secluded wooded lot, and I'll do some camo painting for the exterior. My target location is the Appalachians, some real good deals there. I'll follow up with more questions as they arise.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Davarm said:


> If a MH is what you can afford, then thats the way to go. A "Double Wide" and 2 acres is what I could afford so thats what I live in, Debt Fee. I could have gone the Mortgage route and bought one of the "Permanent Homes" but I would then be in the "Bubble Boat", ant gonna happen ever again.
> 
> Their are disadvantages to deal with, especially when you start bringing in the preps but additional reinforcement can address that. As for the depreciation, if the MH is well taken care of and maintained, it can last a lifetime and the taxes are lower than a "Stick Built" home.
> 
> ...


 When we first moved here we brought in MH,taxes were 1/4 of this small block house we built.If I had it to do over I;d reinforced the MH and built on with the extra money this house cost us each year in taxes.Its a small house too.Also you can get a shed to keep stuff in.If this was the 1980s I may feel different,but who knows how long you have to worry about it.They are after private property,thats a fact.


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## valannb22 (Jan 6, 2012)

We live in a MH that was built in 95. You will probably need to reinforce the flooring where you want to put a safe, but that is really pretty easy to do. We ripped out all the crappy wallboard, leaky windows, and cheap plumbing and rebuilt almost the entire thing for less than $20k including purchase price, setup and delivery. You can also very easily put up brick around the whole thing and make it look like a regular house plus getting the extra insulation value.


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