Archive for Mobile Home
Dec
08
More Wobbly Boxes
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First off, congratulations to Ranger, he was our 15th emailer yesterday! I will be making arrangements to get the book out to him, ASAP!
OK, I have another set of used mobile homes or “Wobbly Boxes” as I’ve seen them called over the years, to show you today. Two of the homes are from my local area here in Seattle but a third came in from Sean, a reader in Arizona. At least the mobile home’s in Arizona, Sean didn’t actually say where he was? Again, these are just examples of what I’ve been talking to you about. I haven’t done my homework on these beyond exchanging an email or two.
The most important thing to remember is that these homes are indeed available. These places are all still a bit older than I would like, ideally… However, if I was seriously looking for a place to call home on the cheap, I’d check on anything that looked even the slightest bit hopeful.
I have copied the text from the corresponding advertisements, these are the sellers words regarding their homes, not mine! The ads are all fairly recent so if they sound interesting to anyone, I included the phone numbers so give the sellers a call.
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Example #1
#1
Nice 1971 Home, in a nice Senior Park (55+). Located on bus line… close to lakes & shopping. 2 Large storage buildings/workshops, 1 with roll-up door. $7,900
Features include:
Central Heat & Air
Extra Insulation under floor
New Vinyl Windows & Sliding Glass Door
New Vinyl Flooring bath, kitchen, entry
All Appliances including Washer & Dryer
3 Large Porches
Dish Network Satellite Dish, also Wired for Cable
Fenced rear Yard with Gate & Pet Door to kitchen (pets welcome)
2 Car deep driveway with Carport
6’ x 11’ Storage with Shelves, Work Bench & Outlets
Separate 11’x 16’ “out building” with roll-up door, work benches, shelves & outlets.
R/V Storage Space is available in park
Space rent of $330.00 includes water, sewer, garbage.
Owner Financing with Flexible Terms w/substantial down. Discount for “all cash offer”.
Call anytime 253-312-3334
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Example #2
#2
Three bedrooms, two bathrooms nice and pretty big extra wideshed, I added it for a wreck room. I’m trying to sell fast so I can get right again for the holidays that’s why it’s so cheap. Look, own your own home for $6,000 that’s a deal and for a nicer place you seen most mobile homes posted, most are really old looking, not this one! I’m also willing to work out deals depending on what you got? Like I will take $3000 cash and a trade for something like a nice running car or truck that’s deals right there so don’t wait soon will be to late who do this , I’d hurry before it’s to late call Jon (206)-403-7621
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Example #1
Extra Insulation under floor
New Vinyl Windows & Sliding Glass Door
New Vinyl Flooring bath, kitchen, entry
All Appliances including Washer & Dryer
3 Large Porches
Dish Network Satellite Dish, also Wired for Cable
Fenced rear Yard with Gate & Pet Door to kitchen (pets welcome)
2 Car deep driveway with Carport
6’ x 11’ Storage with Shelves, Work Bench & Outlets
Separate 11’x 16’ “out building” with roll-up door, work benches, shelves & outlets.
Example #2
Example #3
#3
Trailer for sale year is 1989
3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom
11,000 in payments
but 9,000.00 CASH!
OK condition
Needs work in kitchen and bathroom
Please contact Vanessa at (520) 336-8550
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There you have it… 3 possible homes that could possibly be turned into productive homesteads. All of them could be had for cheap to free, depending on how good at dickering you are. I’m going to just give you my initial thoughts on these and the kind of actual purchase price you might expect for each of these homes…
#1- These folks said specifically that there would be a discount for cash… I’ve seen this ad on craigslist for a couple of weeks now. If I were going to make them an offer it would be no more than $5000, it might actually be no more than taking the title and paying them a couple hundred to leave the house clean when they left. It’s a 1971 and therefore could present some issues when getting it moved. It’s in a rural senior park so it’s probably quiet, a person so inclined could possibly just live in the home where it is and bank the rent/mortgage money while they save their cash for something better or to maybe move this home to some free and clear land! $330 space rent, including water, sewer and garbage – not to shabby?
#2 – I emailed this gentleman and he is very interested in dealing… This is a 1985 home and he claims that it has 2×6 exterior walls and is sheet rocked on the interior. If it wouldn’t be to far to move to my BOL, I would at least take a long look at this one… He apparently is in need of $3000 cash, from what the ad says, so that’s all I would probably have to pay. $3000 cash in hand and this guy would sign anything I asked…
#3- This is the home located in Arizona. I can see from the photo that it would be a fixer. This alone wouldn’t scare me away as long as it has a solid structure. Believe me going through a small home like this with new flooring and paint just wouldn’t cost much… For someone that was handy, a few thousand in fix up money could go along way. Plus, you would have the benefit of de-scuzzing the place at the same time. They have already played their hand and said that they are willing to deal. $2000 off the purchase price for cash would probably mean a cash buyer could get this one for $5000 or maybe even less since they admit it needs work? It’s a 1989, so this one is another I would definitely dig a little deeper on if it were located nearer to me.
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In closing today, I want to remind you that I DO NOT advocate lowering your standard of living by living in a mobile home. I actually think that many of our lifestyles would improve if we had lower overhead. These homes can be fixed up VERY nicely and be quite comfortable. I realize this plan wouldn’t work for everyone but shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand because of any self imposed stigma associated with a “Trailer House”, I speak from personal experience here! I will continue to show all of you what the Prepper family is doing with our MOBILE HOMEstead and try to lead by example, showing everyone what’s possible!
Prepper
Example #3
3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom
11,000 in payments
but 9,000.00 CASH!
OK condition
Needs work in kitchen and bathroom
Please contact Vanessa at (520) 336-8550
Nov
18
Mobile Home For Sale Ads
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I asked you guys a while back to start watching the local papers to see if you could spot any deals on used mobile homes in your areas… Did anyone find anything? I have yet to receive any input from the peanut gallery? Oh well, I watch my Craigslist ads within 100-200 miles of my place in the city, almost everyday. The market is real thin around here right now, I’m guessing? I haven’t found any that were a sure thing but I thought I would share a couple of ads I did find this morning…
These are shown as an example only, I am not saying that these are homes I would personally purchase but these things are still out here, even in a thin market… I’ll post the few pictures and details I have and then make my comments at the end – Take a look!
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Ad #1 -
FREE FREE FREE MOBILES HOMES, DOUBLE WIDE AND SINGLE WIDE
MUST BE MOVED NOW
CALL ROB 425-879-3081
Craigslist Ad
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Ad #2 -
2BR 2BATH double wide NICE Mobile home!!!MAKE AN OFFER!!! – $1 (Federal Way)
1981 Fuquah Parkway model – doublewide
We are selling our 2 bed 2 bath mobile home that we recently remodeled. Remodel included, new shag carpet (stain resistant) new flooring in the kitchen bathrooms laundry room, and second bedroom. New Paint through out entire house. New toilet, new hardware and paint on kitchen and bathroom cabinets, new lighting, newer fridge. This house comes with all appliances. It has one huge master bedroom with master bathroom, and one large second bedroom with big closet! Vaulted ceilings, and other misc. upgrades. We really need to sell preferably by the end of the month so will consider any reasonable offer. asking $26,000.00. Please call me at 253-569-8012 or e-mail the craigslist address above. more pictures available upon request. thanks for looking!
Craigslist Ad
Dining room - double wide
Dining room - double wide
Bedroom photo
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Ad #3 -
Single Wide Mobile Home – $100 (Echo Lake Area)
1986 14′x66′ 2-bedroom, 2 full bath mobile. Never been smoked in. Has never leaked. I had this posted a while back and no one wanted to pay the estimated $4k to move it. It might cost less to move but I don’t know. Needs new carpet and vinyl (or not, depending on how picky you are). Stove, fridge, washer, dryer, pellet stove negotiable. Perfect for Mom or Dad as temporary housing on your property (check your zoning first!). Write back with phone number if you are serious. I will call you right away.
**No photos available yet, I have requested them from the seller… I will re post this ad, if they are sent to me!
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Alright, whats my point, other than to make you look at some bad pictures of some old wobbly box mobile homes? The point is that I took a quick look at what was on the local Craigslist section for Seattle and came up with 3 ads for MOTIVATED mobile home sellers… 1 ad said the home was free but had to be moved, another said $100 and the home had to be moved and the last was showing signs of becoming desperate and their price will certainly drop like a rock once they hit that stage.
Again, your thinking “So What!” I know none of my readers would even briefly ponder this route to home OWNERSHIP… I say this in jest, I’ve had email discussions with several of you that are doing the same thing I am out at the BOL. An older mobile home that you can own free and clear, sitting on paid for land.
Sometimes a fixer/upper is a bad idea but in this case it could actually be in your favor. If the structure is sound and it would have to be to go down the road to your land, you at least have a foothold into a free and clear house. The idea about it being a fixer upper is that when you’re done de-scuzzing the place, you end up with something you can be proud of that is exactly the way you choose to have it set up! I have been to see many of this type of home and if they’re ugly they’re cheap. Often they can be had for just the trouble of getting them off the sellers land. An additional thing to remember is that just like beauty, ugly is only skin deep. A few repairs and some new surfaces and you have what looks like a fresh clean little condo. I might be over simplifying this but you see what I driving at, right?
The seller will have one of several different motivations in getting out from under these places. Sometimes the county is sweating them to get it moved because their new home is built and they can’t keep both places on the same piece of property. Another thing I see in my real estate related business is the heirs of a deceased older person are needing to dispose of their relatives prior home.
As a side note, since I brought it up… The last scenario, heirs of a deceased home owner are probably the best people to buy from. They have no financial interest in the home other than maybe keeping whatever money they can get you to pay. Even more of a factor is that the heirs are saddled with the monthly space rent for the home while its for sale. We often see these places come on the market with a realtor who prices the mobile home fairly but on the optimisticside. A month or two will go by without a buyer and the seller is out the space rent which would typically be $400-500 or even more per month. You would think that this was their last dollar! It feels like a huge burden to these folks as they are trying to do the family a favor by taking care of the last details after the death but they just get to write a monthly check… See where I’m going with this?
I have seen cash buyers pick these homes up for as little as $2500 bucks. I do know that you can get these homes for free but I wouldn’t see them come across my desk, since they wouldn’t go through a real estate agent, I didn’t want to say specifically something I haven’t personally seen for myself… There are even investors that work specifically in this field and see these homes as the “Gold Mine” they can be! Lots of money has been made with these little treasures!
If you’re willing to do a little research, I’ll bet you can find a diamond in the rough right in your own back yard. It will probably be a distance from where you would ultimately want it but that’s what mobile home movers are for. I have said it before, our 200 mile move with breakdown and reset on the other end was only about $6000! Yes, that’s alot of cash to pull out of your pocket but it’s not expensive, considering what you end up with.
Do us all a favor and take a look or keep looking if you’ve already started and email me what you find! I’m kind of on the “Mobile Homes for Freedom” kick lately… I hope that this subject doesn’t bore you, I would like to have more time to devote in this area. I would even encourage a business minded individual to think about these homes as an investment opportunity? I will pick this subject, the investment idea, back up again in a future post. I haven’t decided if I want to give away what I think could be a lucrative investment idea? Time will tell…See ya tomorrow!
Prepper
Bedroom photo
Oct
28
Minor Details
Posted by: | CommentsAlright, first I want to thank the new subscribers that have come in over the last couple days. I want to remind all of you that if you don’t immediately begin receiving your email alerts than please email me. We’re all caught up now and processing the subscribers as they come in. Thanks!
I’m beginning to get a back log of reader questions and I will answer them as quickly as possible but will probably not do more than one of these types of posts per week. I know some folks really like those but others don’t so I’m going to continue to keep the topics revolving. I don’t want anyone to get bored!
One last thing, please continue to tell your friends about “Prepper” Nation. I want to see our community growing and I can’t do it without your help! Also, I asked you all to start watching your local areas for good deals on Mobile Homes and I haven’t had one email on this yet. Just a reminder, keep your eyes peeled for these homes as this could be a real windfall for someone in your area to take advantage of – Thanks!
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I don’t have to tell you that I’m becoming a big fan of these older singlewide mobile homes… I challenge anyone to show me a way to get more for your money? I’ll live up to my end of the bargain and show you all how nice a place like this can be. Other than the limited square footage, I just can’t find a downside for one of these on a property you plan to keep, long term!
With the niceties out of the way, we can get down to business. These older homes SUCK for fit and finish. Cheap cabinets, low end surfaces, limited or sub-standard trim, inside and out. Then there’s the sheetrock, I do like the idea that it is sheetrock on the interior but it’s very thin and I haven’t seen this stuff at Home Depot. There must be an outlet for 1/4 sheetrock but I haven’t tripped over any at the hardware store yet?
Guest bedroom end w/ old trim at old location too
I have a small area around the back door that’s in need of some wall repairs. Just for cosmetics, there isn’t any rot or anything. The previous owner said that his dog tore the hole in the wall? You’ve seen my dog, BOD, she’s the type of dog that you might expect to do something like chew wall board off but not even she would do that?? With the pergo floor already installed, I’m hesitant to start changing the interior around. I want to put in new kitchen cabinets someday but this is low priority since the existing ones still work fine. All things to be taken care of in good time. We’ll tackle one project at a time and eventually get them all done.
Its actually another exterior project I recently completed that I was going to show you today. I’m going to post both before and after photos to better illustrate what I’m referring to.
Living room window near the front door
When we bought the home, you probably even noticed, it had some real funky window trim on it. This wouldn’t even be called trim in my book but it was installed that way so it must have been what the manufacture intended to be trim! This stuff is about as low end as you can get… Little more than cardboard? It lasted 12 years and hadn’t disintegrated so I’m probably exaggerating a bit but this stuff was pretty bad!
We knew all along that this would have to be replaced but it wasn’t until we were doing the prep work before painting that we made the time to remove this stuff. It was stapled up there at the factory and would have probably lasted another 12 years without falling off. It would have just continued to look more shabby year after year. In addition to the cheap material, the manufacture had the trim put up in a way that was suppose to look more elaborate but only looked more cheesy to me. The pattern they chose just screamed MOBILE HOME. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hoping to fool anyone but would like to put my best foot forward!
Guest Bedroom end w/ new trim
As you know we’ve completed the paint job and are very happy with the new brown color over that awful blue. So, was time to find some appropriate trim and get it reinstalled. I headed off to Home Depot, to see what I could find.
When I got there I discovered a least three different trim board materials to choose from. There was cedar but this wasn’t what I was after. I was going to be painting it and so cedar wouldn’t be the best choice. I found some sort of soft wood that was pre primed. It was pine, I think? This would have been alright, except the wood was warped badly and I would assume only get worse when put back out in the weather. The third choice was a OSB, oriented strand board, product and it was also pre primed. I took a second look at this stuff and it was arrow straight and less expensive than the solid wood…
I went with the OSB. We bought enough to do the project and set out to get it installed. I did a traditional window trim wrap. Straight board across the bottom and then two up the sides. Topping it off with a wider board and cutting angles on the ends for additional character. Not the most creative idea but it works and is much better than its predecessor!
Living room window w/ new trim
As you can see in the photos, it came out pretty well! I still need to get the caulking done and then a coat of paint to finish it off. We haven’t decided what color for the trim yet for sure. We’re leaning toward the cream colors and so it won’t look a lot different than it does now.
You can see that the place is looking better and better. I mentioned that I’m going to head for the BOL after work on Friday. If the cold weather hasn’t hit to hard I’d like to get the caulking done and maybe some paint on this trim as well but we’ll just have to see how ambitious I feel this weekend! It’s a long drive so I always feel compelled to get as much done as possible. We’ll be up to our ears in snow before much more time goes by, I guess then I’ll feel better about laying around relaxing… Gangland, anyone??
Anyway, see you tomorrow!
Prepper
Oct
27
Decked out mobile home…
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OK, OK, I’ll try to stay on topic for this post. I just couldn’t help myself yesterday? Whenever I take to long a look at the system and see it for what it is, I find myself getting more and more worked up until it all just has to blow! I received a few emails that indicated I was making excuses for people making poor decisions? Not so, I blame the people that make bad decisions, myself included! It is our job to see what the scam is and avoid it. No one is going to protect us from ourselves, especially the folks that control the scam! Oh well, I’m alright now and we can talk about a lighter subject today.
By the way, if you haven’t signed in for the email updates yet, I’m reminding you again! We’ll be having more opportunities for subscribers give aways in the near future.
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Front deck
I guess, from this posts title you could tell what I was going to talk about next. Thats right, we put some decks on the house. The one pictured here is on the front, right off the living room. Its 8′x16′ and made from pressure treated 2×8’s and TREX decking for the deck surface. We decided to go with the man made material over cedar. This was largely due to the amount of maintenance that is required with the cedar.
The TREX is a bit more expensive but the manufacture advertises it as a maintenance free material. This was attractive to us as we didn’t want to have the annual sealing that would have been needed with real wood. Between the cost of materials and our labor, we felt it would be worth the do it once and be done angle. Not to mention that there may come a day when the sealer isn’t available for one or we may not have the financial ability to purchase it for the other. It really does look good but isn’t quite the same rich effect that you get with a brand new cedar creation.
Ample cross bracing
I’m sure that others would have gone with the cedar and explained that the maintenance is over blown but we went this route. Now we’ll probably continue with it as these projects will most certainly continue. It seems that you can never have enough deck. With this one at 8′x16′ on the front and the one off the back door only a 8′x8′, we will be needing more, whether we like it or not.
You will also notice I haven’t gotten around to putting up a railing. This and the steps are required for us to meet code and get our final building inspection signed off. Something about meeting the bureaucrats demands for my safety doesn’t get me overly motivated – you know me, rebel with a cause… Just cause I don’t feel like it right now is more like it. I will eventually get around to completing the rails and such, more for us than them but hey I can’t start anymore building projects until I satisfy the “MAN”!
Actually, we have a few more things to punch out before we’ll be done with the building inspector. In addition to the rails and steps, I have to cut in some access hatches in the skirting. I don’t exactly know why thats important but I haven’t been singled out… They make everyone do it? I hesitate to disturb the skirting as we have only recently began to believe that we beat these pesky mice!
Deck outside the back door and right next to the driveway.
Breached BOL…
Posted by: Prepper | Comments (7)Entry Point
Well, I’m very sad to report that it finally happened… Our BOL (Bug out location) was burgled! I’ve spent nearly 18 years building and improving bug out preps in this same area and have had zero issues when it came to security. Never even had an indication that anyone had been poking around my place. I guess that had lulled me into a bit of complacency about adding much in the way of security features to our property.
Let me lay this out for you… Mrs. Prepper and I had taken off early on Friday, which allowed to get to the property at about 6:30pm rather than our more typical arrival time of 10:30pm-12:00am. Good thing as it would have been much more of a violation to find the place breached after it was already dark out. Throughout life I’ve only very rarely had anything like this happen, a couple of car prowls but never a burglary. You always hear how it makes you feel violated… It does! It’s a weird feeling to be in your own home, even if it’s just the BOL, after some low down skunk has rummaged through your belongings! Yes, I’m keeping the language on the clean side, actual quotes from the discovery will be kept between the Mrs. and myself.
Anyway, we arrive on the scene and of course everything looks just as we left it… or does it? I pull in and get positioned so we can begin unloading the car for our weekend in paradise… I make a habit out of heading straight into the house as I’m usually under a barrage of bathroom requests. So, I stand at the door and fish out the door key… Key in lock and turn – hmm? Deadbolt spins as if already unlocked??? Key in door handle and handle spins? This is where your mind does the “This does not compute” thing… See I’m anal about the doors being locked and frequently make a second trip through the house before departure to double-double check that all windows are closed and locked. It is inconceivable that I inadvertently left the door unlocked – NO WAY, NO HOW – it just would never happen… So, my mind is racing and I push the door open… “*&^*&$^%, we’ve been broken into”!
I waltz right on in as if I owned the place, no thought to the fact my sidearm is sitting in the console of the Jeep? You know, its not as if I’m going to need the gun just going from the car to the house – WRONG! It didn’t even dawn on me that I had dropped the security ball on this end as well… Proceeding into the crime scene without even a thought to the SOB still being there?
That’s when I saw him! Sitting on my couch, eating my food and drinking my beer! As I stand there in MY doorway trying to make sense of the scene before me, Mrs. Prepper pushes right past me… I barely even noticed that she had my Glock in her hand, leveled in his direction! I’ve always heard that when your in a high stress situation like this your adrenaline is pumping and you won’t even hear the gun go off when it’s fired! Well, I can testify I never heard a shot. I was shocked in disbelief as I watched her fire continuously until the slide eventually caught after the 15th round. When my mind was able to refocus I swear she was screaming at pulp boy about not taking off his freaking shoes in her house!
OK OK, you’re right – this isn’t how it happened at all! For one thing I don’t drink and therefore he wouldn’t be drinking my beer. Secondly, Mrs. Prepper wouldn’t shoot someone 15 times for a shoe violation but after she got done moaning and groaning at him about her new carpet, he might wish she had! Sadly though the part about me walking in completely unarmed is true! What the heck was I thinking? I have done the right thing in the past and answered an attempted home invasion at a relatives house – gun in hand – but not this time? For shame!
So, I walk on in and find stuff strewn about, cabinets all open and contents rummaged. Thankfully the PERP was already gone. I’m fully aware that most of you reading this would have preferred he was there and given you the chance to practice your Dirty Harry voice – “Do you feel lucky – Punk?” That was my first inclination too after my sanity was regained, as well as my pistol! A disappointment all the way around!
This appeared to be nothing more than a typical home burglary. TV gone, ripped right off the wall. Small electronics were selectively taken, some food and soda’s, a few kitchen items, 2 pairs of women’s hiking boots and the strangest thing was MY underwear? While the underwear in question was clean and on the new side, still? Oh yeah, the sucker took the better part of a Costco sized package of TP? I was tempted to go looking for any neighbors that might have gotten TP’d in the last few days…
The entry was made via the back bedroom window. This would be on the far side of the house and furthest from the driveway… This part makes sense as the chances of discovery would be a neighbor happening by on a walk or random inspection as a courtesy to us. However, the burglar had to jump a bit to get in that window and there were several items within easy reach he could have used to boost himself up but didn’t? Also strange were the items not taken from the house… A pair of Kenwood MURS radios, complete with chargers sitting on the kitchen counter? An 18volt DeWalt Flashlight right inside the back door? Binoculars, a LARGE Maglight beside the bed? In my opinion this is strange, he takes my clean but used underwear and not these other items? Strange?
Anyway, we made the standard police report but figured that it wasn’t enough value to bother the insurance company over! The cop confirmed what I already thought from my personal experience, we weren’t in a high crime area. The officer said he couldn’t remember the last time there was a burglery out in my area of the county…? That was good news, I guess! A trip to the hardware store for some additional beefing up of the window security was about all we could do? Most of the truly valuable items were stored inside the cargo containers, thankfully the locks didn’t show any signs of attempted forcing.
I guess we were pretty lucky that the scum didn’t break any windows or take a dump in the middle of the kitchen floor! All the stolen items are replaceable but the nagging feeling that will accompany our arrivals for the for-seeable future will linger on! All the stuff I’ve read on the various blogs and forums I haunt always warn about the security of the rural retreat, well take it from me the stories are true… Don’t get complacent about your security and if you begin a new retreat or BOL project, keep the security end game in mind as you go! Things are easily fixed today but in the near future, who knows? That TP the guy stole might end up being worth its weight in gold?
Submitted for your consideration,
Prepper