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Mobile Homes Are So Expensive Now, Hurricane Victims Can't Afford Them (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Hurricane victims emerging from ravaged trailer parks are discovering that the U.S. mobile-home market has left them behind. In Florida and Texas, dealerships are swarmed by buyers looking to rebuild their lives after hurricanes Harvey and Irma, but many leave disappointed. The industry, led by Warren Buffett's Clayton Homes, is peddling such pricey interior-designer touches as breakfast bars and his-and-her bathroom sinks. These extras, plus manufacturers' increased costs for labor and materials, have pushed average prices for new double-wides up more than 20 percent in five years, putting them out of reach for many of the newly homeless.
Sounds like a market opportunity.
Obviously, the rising price of that insulin drug signals the rest of the economy that there's opportunity in creating a competing, generic version at a slightly lower cost. An evil greedy capitalist will look at that signal and say to himself, "Hey. That's a pretty lucrative drug; I think I'd like to get in on the action." Indeed, this competition results in a kind of cooperation (unbeknownst to the warring parties); in competing, they are cooperating to find the "right" price for the insulin drug, and they are ultimately cooperating to find ever more efficient ways to produce or deliver said insulin to the people who need it.
Capitalism. How does it work?!
We don't need no stinkin' Dear Leader
Welcome to capitalism, companies make the products they think they can sell (i.e. expensive trailers) and price them at what they think they can get. The people that want something else are screwed. If enough people are not able to get what they want it creates a market opportunity to start a business to cater to them.
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
I live an hour north of Houston. Daily on the way to and from work, I pass 4 or 5 mobile home dealerships. About 6 months ago, my wife and I went and looked at a couple of dealerships and priced several mobile homes, as we are thinking about downsizing, buying our own land and living in a mobile home to save money.
What we learned:
- A non-luxury single wide with 3 bedrooms is about $30,000.
- A non-luxury double wide with 3 bedrooms is about $45,000.
- A luxury double wide with 3-4 bedrooms runs from $65-120,000.
I can understand people wanting to have a nice place to live, but there is no shame in living in a starter mobile home until you can get back on your feet. For far less than a house these days, one can guy 3 acres for $60,000 and the mobile home for $30,000. That's $90,000. Ad $10,000 for connecting to electricity and sewer, and another $10,000 for a septic system. $110,000 gets you land and a place to live for far, far less than a house. If you choose to buy a mobile home without land, here in this area, the land rental with hookups will run you about $300-400 a month. A cheaper mobile home runs about $300 a month mortgage and $300-400 a month for land rental and in your in for $700. Add $300 for all utilities and you're in for $1000 a month.
I ran all the above numbers with the sales people at the mobile home dealership. I also know someone living in one and I asked them to verify.
When I get closer to retirement, I'm considering it because why have to always work on a house and a perfect lawn. I'll get a mobile home and just live with less and less maintenance.
There is a stigma associated with living in a mobile home, but those who would judge you for living in one are not worthy of your friendship.
> Why would communism mean that?
Human nature. Government control actually means less accountability and a greater opportunity for corruption. Efficiency is not required. Effectiveness isn't even required. You have no recourse if something sucks. You can't sue or take your business some place else.
All monopolies are bad for pretty much the same reasons.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
...pushed average prices for new double-wides up more than 20 percent in five years, putting them out of reach...
I'm having trouble with the math here. Over five years, you'd expect about a 10 percent increase due to inflation. So the "average" double-wide is only up about 10% over inflation. And that's looking at the average--are all mobile homes more expensive, or did the distribution of motor home sales just shift? Remember, the average goes up if the share of sales of high-end homes goes up, even if the low-end homes remain the same price. We're not told what the liveable-but-not-fancy homes cost, or how (or if!) that has changed with time.
Really, though, the more important statistic is buried in the linked article.
...pay for the bottom fifth of earners is stagnating. Even after a modest pickup over the past two years, those households have seen their income fall by 9 percent since 2000, to $12,943 in 2016, based on inflation-adjusted Census Bureau data.
(At least they inflation-adjusted that figure.) The real problem is that the poor - including the working poor and retirees - are getting poorer. Even if housing weren't getting more expensive, they still wouldn't be able to afford to keep up.
~Idarubicin
People live in mobile home parks for a multitude of reasons, but are there primarily because it is affordable. It is the cheapest form of being able to buy something that isn't directly attached to their neighbors. I'm not sure anyone would argue that they aren't built from the best materials.
Moving into a mobile home may not be the best situation for your area or life, but for many people who move into them, they make a whole lot of sense. I've seen people use them as vacation homes, second homes, the only home they can afford.
There is a relatively high barrier to owning property in an urban area. These are usually the only options to a large segment of the population. Where else can you purchase a place to live for less than 10k and actually live in it? We legislate our way right out of having housing that folks with hardly anything can afford. Its a pretty steep slope into homelessness at the bottom of the curve.
--
If you build it, they will come"