Manufactured Housing News
Introduction
Mobilehome communities are a lifestyle choice that is attainable and affordable. It is not low-income housing. The lifestyle attracts all ages and incomes. There are numerous examples are million-dollar mobile homes in mobile home parks. Of course, the location and the value of the land the homes sit on, contributes significantly to the “value” of the mobile home. Following are million dollar mobilehome aticles and Freqently Asked Questions about the Mobilehome Manufactured Community Living Lifestyle.
The $4,000,000 Mobile Home
The Paradise Cove Mobile Home Park in Malibu, California is unique. The 72-acre oceanfront community is rich in history and sits atop a bluff overlooking the Pacific. It has 257 manufactured homes of all makes and models, some are simple like the modern single wide makeover we recently featured, and some are not so simple, like the home below. Still, Paradise Cove is like any other mobile home park in America. The home’s are fairly close together, positioned at a slight angle, and everyone pays lot rent. The only difference between this park and all the others in the country are the prices of the homes.
Paradise Cove is known as the most expensive mobile home park in America (some even say the world). It’s always been home to the most expensive mobile home at any given time, the most recent was a double wide that sold for around $2 million. That record’s about to be broken by the home below. It just went on the market with an asking price of $3,995,000!
There are two reason’s this home is noteworthy for the rest of us who enjoy mobile and manufactured homes, other than getting to look at gorgeous homes, of course:
#1. It’s a prime example of the possibilities that our homes have.
If this home doesn’t convince you of the potential that manufactured homes have, nothing will. Of course, not all of us are millionaires but their home still started out on a chassis inside a factory, just like every other manufactured home in America.
#2. The value of the home increased by a significant amount, even though it sits in a mobile home park.
Lot’s of people think that manufactured homes can’t gain equity but that’s simply not true. Studies have proven that they can raise in value and our article called Buying a Mobile Home: They Can and Do Appreciate shares the data if you’d like to read about it. One of the variables that most affected appreciation was whether the home was located in a park or on private property but that rule isn’t set in stone.
Around 1996 this home listed for $770,000 and I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that it sold for approximately $600,000. Yes, the home is sitting on a prime oceanfront property in Malibu that’s surrounded by rich people. But it still has the chassis under it and probably the tires, too. The home is classified and taxed as a manufactured home. However, it still gained in value by over $3.3 million dollars in less than 20 years by remodeling and adding on to it.
Betsey Johnson Sold Her Pink Mobilehome for Nearly $2 Million and It's Located in One of America's Most Exclusive Trailer Parks—Here's a Look Inside
- Betsey Johnson sold her pink mobile home in Malibu, California, for $1.95 million. It was on the market for less than two months.
- The mobile home is located in the Paradise Cove Mobile Home Park, one of the most luxurious, most exclusive, trailer parks in the country.
- The bright pink mobile home has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Betsey Johnson, a famous American fashion designer, sold her pink mobile home for $1.95 million on October 30. It was on the market for less than two months.
Though mobile homes aren’t often associated with million-dollar price tags, Johnson’s home is located in one of the most luxurious and exclusive trailer parks in the country.
The Paradise Cove Mobile Home Park — which has 276 homes — sits along the beach in Malibu, California. In this trailer park, it’s common for mobile homes to cost millions of dollars.
Along with its access to the beach, living in Paradise Cove also comes with a few high-end amenities including a 24-hour guard-gated entry, a community tennis court, and a community clubhouse.
According to Mansion Global, Johnson bought the two-bedroom, two-bathroom mobile home back in 2016 for $1.89 million and spent around $550,000 renovating it.
Betsey Johnson’s old mobile home is located in the Paradise Cove Mobile Home Park in Malibu, California. Paradise Cove is a trailer park known for its exclusivity and million-dollar mobile homes.
Betsey Johnson is a prominent figure in the fashion industry and is known around the world for her whimsical and creative clothing designs.
According to the listing site, her two-bedroom, two-bathroom, pink mobile home sold for $1.95 million on October 30.
It is painted bright pink and flooded with exuberant decorations, both inside and out.
Outside, there are various plants, statues, and pieces of artwork.
According to Mansion Global, Johnson was inclined to buy the home in 2016 because of its outdoor clawfoot bathtub.
Frequently Asked Questioned About the Mobilehome Park Lifestyle
Q: Are mobile home parks/manufactured housing communities low-income housing?
A: No. They are generally more affordable than some other forms of housing, but it depends on the location. Affordable housing developments have income limit requirements that mandate residents meet low-income requirements to move in. That is not the case in a mobile home park. Homeowners of all income levels enjoy the manufactured housing community lifestyle.
Q: Are there low income mobilehome owners living in rental parks?
A: Sometimes long-term residents who have enjoyed living in their mobiilehome for years do not have the income to keep up with the increase of costs and rent because they have lost a spouse and the additional income, as an example. In those cases, there are rental subsidy programs available. Private rental assistance funda are available from the individual park owners as well as from Federal programs such as Section 8.
Q: How is mobile home park/manufactured home community living different than other forms of rental housing – like apartments?
A: Mobile home owners who live in manufactured housing communities enjoy single or multi-story, private detached homes located on a rented lot/space. Parking is typically located adjacent to the home, and there are amenities like a clubhouse and pool in most parks. The owner of the mobile home/manufactured home is responsible for all maintenance of the home and the site the home is sitting on.
Q: How is it the same as other forms of rental housing?
A: The owner of the mobile home rents the land the home sits on. There is a monthly rental fee paid for the land, services, and facilities provided as a resident of the park. Like apartment rentals, renting a space in a mobile home park will increase typically on an annual basis. Also like apartments, there are rules and regulations that all residents must comply with. Be sure to read and understand them before you purchase a home in the park.
Q: How does buying a manufactured home and living in a mobile home park compare with owning a home on private property?
A: Owning a home on private property means you own the home and the land. There is one mortgage payment for the home and the land. In a mobile home park you may have two payments – a mortgage if you take out a loan to purchase the mobile home and the monthly space rental payment. In both cases, whether you live in a mobile home park and rent the land, or if you own the home and land, you are responsible for maintaining the home and the lot the home sits on.
Q: Why are older mobile homes located in an existing park more expensive to buy than a new manufactured home from the factory?
A: Older mobile homes sell for more than the Blue Book value of the home because it is being sold “in place”, and the new buyer is paying for the value of the location of the home as well as the value of the land and services that come with the purchase of a mobile home located in a community.
Q: What do mobile home owners like best about mobile home park living?
A: The location, the affordability, the overall sense of community, and private homes with small yards/patios and adjacent parking.
Q: How are rental amounts and increases determined in mobile home parks?
A: Rent rates in mobile home parks are determined the same as other rental housing – by comparable market rents for the area. As the costs to maintain and operated the community increase, so do rents.
Q: What determines the sales price of a mobile home?
A: Just like other homes, location is the primary factor. The same home located near the ocean will sell for more than one located inland and the rent will typically be higher. The age and condition of the home is also a factor.
Q: What is the difference between a pre-HUD mobile home/trailer, and a manufactured home?
A: Mobile homes, trailers, and manufactured homes are all built in a factory. Homes built after 1976 are built to a higher Federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) standard. Older homes, or pre-HUD (Housing and Urban Development) homes, will typically need significantly more maintenance and will not have the same insulation, windows, etc. as a HUD built home. New manufactured homes not only look much better, but are a higher quality than older mobile homes.
Q: When rents fall significantly below market rate rents because of rent control, who is hurt?
A: The new home buyer is hurt because they have to pay a high artificially inflated price for the home because the rent is below market.
Q: Who benefits when rent control is imposed on a mobilehome park?
A: There is one beneficiary of mobile home rent control and that is the person living in the home and renting the space when rent control is adopted. First, they benefit from low rents and second, they benefit when they sell their home for an artificially inflated amount way above the true value of the mobile home.