The Five Best Reasons to Go Mobile
There exist many misconceptions about living in RVs, mobile homes, and pre-fabricated homes. Some people see them as cramped, costly, and difficult to maintain: this Los Angeles trailer park has the experience and knowledge to prove the opposite.
1. Real Estate is not the investment you think it is. And this is a big, big reason. Let’s be honest, folks from all walks of life have been very skeptical of investing in the housing market since the 2008 crash. Younger Americans, in particular, are putting off home ownership until later in life and many are choosing to forgo it entirely. Forbes Magazine, while hesitantly endorsing traditional home ownership, explains that inflation-adjusted home prices did not increase significantly between 1890 and 1990.
This means that while homes tend not to lose their value over time, they don’t increase in value either. Think of it this way: Joe pays $250,000 for a home in 2010 and then is able to sell it for $270,000 in 2015. The price hasn’t increased in real terms because $270,000 has the same buying power in 2015 as $250,000 did in 2010.
2. You still get to own your home. When you live in a mobile home, you are still a homeowner; you just don’t own the dirt it sits on. This is an important distinction to make when considering the values of traditional homeownership against those of alternative routes. Think about what’s important for you and your family. Real Estate has a lot of unseen costs like property upkeep, lawn irrigation, yearly maintenance, and property taxes.
3. Mobile homes come in different shapes, sizes, and prices;just like a traditional home, except that you can expect pay about half. In 2012, the median cost for traditional homes was $83.38 per square foot where the median cost for mobile/pre-fabricated homes was $41.24
(http://homeguides.sfgate.com/traditional-vs-manufactured-housing-53957.html)
4. Flexibility of design and quick construction. Many people come to regret settling for a house that wasn’t exactly what they wanted and then are trapped in a thirty-year mortgage for the expensive home they don’t like. Manufactured homes come with a wide range of customization options and can be built to your specifications. Also, according to howstuffworks.com manufactured homes use about a third of the time it takes to construct a traditional house.
5. Mobile homes are efficient. A study conducted by North Carolina A&T University (http://www.ba-pirc.org/data/NCATU/index.htm) in 2002 showed that a mobile home constructed to Energy Star standards used 55% less energy than a traditional home.
