| While mobile homes have always been cheap | | | | value than stick-built. |
| compared to similar sized “stick-built” homes, | | | | Another way mobile homes save you money is their |
| they come with a stigma of poverty, poor construction | | | | relatively low cost of maintenance. Replacing furnaces, |
| and sketchy neighborhoods. Today’s mobile home | | | | roofs and the other bits and pieces essential to a |
| is going in the face of this image with luxurious | | | | comfortable home life costs much less for a mobile |
| appointments, stylish exteriors and quiet, firmly middle | | | | than a similarly sized stick-built home. Despite the lower |
| and upper class neighborhoods. Many companies are | | | | cost, it is quite possible to have the same amount of |
| now producing “eco-friendly” mobiles, with | | | | comfort in a mobile home as a stick-built. |
| materials and appliances that conform to sustainable, | | | | Owning a mobile in a park can have its advantages as |
| energy-efficient practices. Many homes come with | | | | well. One big advantage with mobile homes is the |
| bonuses like patios, sheds, additions and amply-sized | | | | ability to have a home in a desirable area that is much |
| rooms that allow one to entertain easily. | | | | lower in cost (including pad rental) than a stick-built |
| Legislation has taken some time to catch up with | | | | home or a condo. If you are renting a pad, your costs |
| mobile homes so that there are standards for their | | | | can be even lower. Property taxes are paid by the |
| construction, but now there are laws in place that | | | | owner of the land where your pad sits on, so they are |
| require manufacturers to make their homes as soundly | | | | much lower. Maintenance is often done or hired out by |
| as they would build a traditional home. The U.S. | | | | the owner and paid for by your pad rental fees. You |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) | | | | can even use the park as a “stopping off place” |
| has a Manufactured Housing Program that is | | | | for your mobile while you save up for the mortgage |
| dedicated to improving the quality of manufactured | | | | on a piece of land that you can remove the mobile to, |
| housing, including mobile homes. | | | | to serve as either a permanent or temporary |
| Mobile homes that are built to housing standards, with | | | | residence. |
| multiple amenities are now proving to turn a profit. | | | | Mobile homes are not the shoddily built "tin cans" of |
| There are more and more people realizing a gain in | | | | yesteryear. They come in a surprising number of |
| equity with their mobiles. Mobile homes on owned land | | | | styles and can be built to satisfy the strictest quality |
| tend to go up in equity, especially with add-ons like | | | | guidelines. By shopping carefully and having a long-term |
| sheds and other amenities that make the property | | | | plan, you can make your mobile home into a |
| more valuable as a whole. Property taxes for mobiles | | | | moneymaker instead of a money pit - and have a |
| are lower because mobiles have a lower assessed | | | | comfortable, attractive residence in the interim. |