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.

Comments

Re:"The Dow is at record-breaking levels"

[RedK]

Late-stage capitalism is when you can't afford the rope to hang yourself, but your #MAGA hat is subsidized.

That's not Capitalism.

Capitalism would be someone finding a way to make the ropes cheaper and selling them to you, and including a #MAGA hat for free in order to bolster the sale.

Just as with this mobile homes situation. Communism just means the state is stuck buying "His and Hers sinks" for everyone and thus overpaying, lining the pockets of some friend of the party. Capitalism means a business opportunity for someone to make a 20% cheaper model to serve the increased demand and thus carve himself a new niche.

Of course, it helps to put "Trump Derangement Syndrome" aside, since this has nothing to do with Trump.

This is not correct

[rsilvergun]

saying this implies the cost of Mobile homes has gone up. Manufacturing costs are way, way down. The actual problem is that 30 years of wage stagnation has reduced the buying power of working class people. They can't afford basic shelter.

This is a classic example of an anti-worker wing narrative at work. The breakfast bar adds $200 to the cost of the home. The his and her sinks $500. The cost of the home goes up $10,000. Nobody talks about the $9,200 gap or why people can't afford it. The implication is that poor people are being frivolous with their money, which in turn implies they have low moral character which in turn gives the middle class and rich a reason to abandon them to their poverty because, after all, it's their fault for having low moral character. It's prosperity gospel without the tinge of religion.

Re: This is not correct

[bradley.uffner2292]

The stupid part is that it's actually true. This country is in full blown, barely non-violent, class war. Somehow the rich got the poor and middle-class to pick sides and fight each other like it was some kind of football game, except with very real consequences.

People who live in glass houses...

[Comboman]

If you live on the gulf coast or tornado alley, maybe a mobile home isn't your best bet. The main reason the price or new units is so high is because the supply of used units suddenly dropped, forcing people who would have bought a used unit to buy a new one.

Re:Good.

[HornWumpus]

Most 'shed banning' is done by HOAs. _Never_ buy a HOA property, it's just that simple.

Unless of course you're an 'HOA person', than fuck you...we'll both be happier living as far apart as possible.