Where's all my Trailer House brethren

I confess to being a trailer trash. I took it specifically because the payments were cheap. Also, the location is good and the purchase includes a nice piece of land that should end up being very close to the coming Grand Parkway.

Goodnes - I never considered such a thought - although older folk here often become what we call "grey nomads" - some selling their homes to embark on a life of constant travel.

Here, permanent residents in a particular caravan park who do not move around tend, I fear, to be somewhat troubled and troubling folk.

I wonder if this will change as homes become more expensive here, and if more folk take to permanent caravan homes?

What is it like, apart from cheap, guys?

I used to live in a trailer with my first wife. I was just finishing college and starting grad school. lived there till my first marriage tanked. The life was prety good, not much workto maintain and keep neat. I had some biker buds that would spend weekends when they were on the road. The traer park was full of some neat and weird people. One guy used to walk around the street naked. Another bunch of kids ran a burglary ring and were not caught for a couple years. Their parents were in on it so the family was split up when theywere caught.
I found that most people whho live in trailers , are more permanent reidents than Those that I see in many developments.
we had an annoying step that led from the living room to the kitchen. I was constantly tripping over it whhen I was drunk. Ours was like LIME green and cream , with this photgraphed wood panelling. we bought it for 3000, sold it for 4500 and paid about 40$ a month. My Research Grant was about 13000 and we lived very well.

There are some really nice manufactured homes out there, and they can be very affordable. We've thought about buying one, and we still may do that. A friend of ours lived in one, and it was big enough for her, her husband, and four teenage kids. Plus the MIL had a room there, too. Plenty of room, and it was pretty nice.

Here is a link to a thread I wrote about life in my neighborhood:
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1036

Edgar, that was an excellent piece. Its what writing wants to be when communication is the main goal
I can reflect back when i was a complete a**hole (some folks say ive gotten even better at it with age) and I was regularly thinking that I was BEN,when I was really ROY.
Youve gotta do more of that kind of writing.

That piece is great Edgar.

Yes, it is! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

You should submit it to a few magazines for publication. It has mass appeal.

Growing up, I was a trailer rat as well... Since adulthood, I've returned a couple times when times were hard.... My most recent being that I lived in this rural trailer park about a year ago, for about a year.. I finally moved because the benefit of cost eventually got outweighed by all the crap we had to put up with... I couldn't let my kids play with all the other kids cuz all the other kids played with each other and SOMEBODY had a horrible case of head lice. (UUUGGGHHH) I never got to know ANY of my neighbors, because to be polite by asking their name was just as good as saying... "Do you need a ride to town? Want to bum a smoke? Or how about can I give you twenty bucks to buy some beer?" I guess I was kind of known as the b*tch and slammed my door in many a face. Only after being taken advantage of several times because I am naturally big hearted and want to help. One night this girl came to my door and said she needed a ride to the hospital, so without further questioning, I wake up all my kids and load them up in the car realllly quick... drive to the hospital as fast as my car will go... then the girl gets out and goes to the house across the street from the hospital.. then asks me to wait about 30 minutes. Turns out she traded "favors" for crack.. and I got my kids out in the middle of the night because I thought she was in need of genuine help. I finally ended up putting a sign on my door that read.....

My car is out of gas
I quit smoking
I have no money
My phone is disconnected
If none of this matters to you, feel free to knock.

The problem sort of fizzled out from there.

i've never been all that 'taken' with 'trailers';
i've allways prefered the 'main feature' even though it is much longer to sit through.

Mobile home communities are filling as fast as they can be moved in in several neighborhoods near me. Faced with the high cost of housing and apartment rental, it just is more feasible to many to go that route.

Not always a wise choice here in Tornado Alley, though.

I purchased a beautiful wooded 5-acre piece of property in September.... the location is perfect.... I can't see another house.... it's quiet and peaceful.... in the evenings, the stars are incredible, because there are no city lights....

The property came with a single-wide mobile, with a family room added on.... my plan is to "camp" in the mobile for 2 years, and then replace it with my "dream retirement cabin".... a rustic mountain cabin....

Anyway.... I've been pleasantly surprised with mobile living.... it's really very efficient.... my electricity bill (for heating) has been cut by two-thirds.... I'm incorporating some of the designs into my cabin design....

When construction begins, I'm planning to live in a large RV, on the property (the cabin will be built where the mobile is currently sitting)..... I've always wanted to "camp" in an RV....

For me, the most important thing is to have a storage shed.... in my case, a barn with an enclosed tack room, where I can stack up all kinds of "junk"...

I ran into a few obstacles when shopping for home-owners insurance.... my regular insurance company wouldn't touch a mobile....

roverroad... that's a great website.... it's fun to look at the "oldies"....

PaL
:-)

dlowan, I was wondering what trailer parks were like in Australia. I'm sure it has a completely different history than the ones built in the US. different manufacturers. I doubt they ship any trailer houses overseas.

Anyway, my primary interest is in the old trailers, before they called them mobile homes and then manufactured houses.

They have them all over Boise but most are vacant because new homes are sprouting up all over and the price for a new home is among the top 5 most affordable in the country. So there's not much of a market for the old trailers here. They mostly buy them up and hull them off to the country for migrant farm workers to live in.

There aren't many apartment buildings in Boise so it's either live in a house or a trailer. Having lived in both Apartments and trailers I think I prefer trailers because they are quieter and you get a yard.

Though, I sure wouldn't live in one if I lived in an area that is prone to tornadoes

In some places trailers serve a great community purpose. Affordable housing for the poor. Sure, they can be an eye sore, but it's better than having people living on the street.

I can afford much better, but why spend the money on something better when I'm comfortable and I'm just a single guy? I'd much rather work on my savings account than to blow my money on an overpriced residence.

And they say liberals aren't conservative...

I lived in a mobile home for a while, an early-70's 12x60' model, a Buddy. It was very nice, well-constructed, well-insulated, & had plenty of space. It cost me very little, & I sold it for about what I had in it. The lot rent was low. Look at it this way: can you get a 700+ square-foot first-floor apartment with a private entrance, 2 bedrooms, washer & dryer, wall-to-wall carpet, forced hot air heat, off-street parking, & a small private yard for less than $1000 a month? Not around here! My Buddy went for $8000 (about 10 years ago), & the lot rent was less than a quarter the rent of a 2-bedroom apartment.

My friend picked up a 1968, I think a New Moon, for almost nothing 2 years back. It's pretty small (10x40'), but plenty for him alone. Other than the small "beer-keg" water heater (can't have 2 people shower without waiting 10 minutes for the water heater to warm up), he likes it a lot. It was comfortable in the sub-zero winter we've had the last 2 years. He pays a whopping $180/month lot rent.