My elderly mom is about to buy a manufactured home in Albuquerque

October 14, 2016 12:04 PM

My mom is making what seems like a... suboptimal... real estate decision. Should I be concerned?

My mom has had a crush on Albuquerque for quite some time, and has been flirting with moving down there for several years. Last summer she went down to see the town and look at apartments for rent, just to see what the stuff in her price range might be.

This morning she called me and said that she has started the process of buying a manufactured home in a park outside the city. Once she buys the house itself her lot rent will be roughly equivalent to the rent she'd be paying on a similarly sized apartment in the area, though she'd get to have a deck and a yard, which are real priorities for her. There is, as far as I can tell, no rent control on mobile home lots in Albuquerque.

I've been reading Slacktivist for long enough that this seems to me like it could very easily turn into a total financial disaster for her; she has some savings, but not much, and if the park jacks up rents or gets sold she could be in real trouble.

I mean, she's her own person and she's going to do what she wants no matter what — but my god do I want to send her a round-up of newspaper articles about things that can go wrong with owning a mobile home but not the land under it.

If Slacktivist has given me the wrong impression of the dangers of mobile home ownership, I would love to hear about how manufactured home ownership can work out well. Or if I really should be listening to the alarm bells in my head, I would also love to hear it. Basically, should I:

1. Calm down and talk less / smile more when she talks about the manufactured home,
2. Calm down and be genuinely excited for my mom for getting to move to the city she wants to live in, or
3. Put some strain on our relationship by trying to persuade her to consider other options?

For whatever it's worth, she is not interested in buying conventional real estate -- although she has enough saved up on for a down payment on a modest place, she likes the idea of being able to call the mobile home park's maintenance people instead of having to deal with repairs herself.

posted by You Can't Tip a Buick to Human Relations (20 answers total)

1. How much is the home?
2. How old is your mom?
3. Why are you concerned about rent increases for a park but not an apartment?
4. What options do you want her to consider?
posted by sageleaf at 12:23 PM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: 1. 15k (thankfully relatively low)
2. 71
3. Because she'd be out the cost of the house itself if there were rent increases.
4. An apartment or rental with the features she likes (access to a yard and a deck). If she wanted to buy a house I'd be all-in on that — hell, I'd find a way to pay for repairs myself — but I think that's definitely not something she wants to do.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:26 PM on October 14, 2016

Response by poster: basically Slacktivist has convinced me that owning a house without the land under it is playing Russian roulette, and I would love to be talked down from that position... but only if that's in fact not the position I should hold.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:28 PM on October 14, 2016

Is your mom open to discussing this or is her mind made up? If she is still open to other options you might consider asking or offering the following.

- Have you used a rent vs. buy calculator?
- Could I come down and look at places with you?
- Have you looked at tenant laws in New Mexico? Are you comfortable with the rights you'll have if something goes wrong?
- How long do you envision staying in this home? What are the potential upsides or downsides if you need/want to move?
- Have you met the neighbors? What is the community like?
- Will it be easy for you to get to events in the community? What other places do you want to be close to?

I would focus the conversation more broadly about what she hopes her life in Albuquerque will be like and what she wants in her long term future rather than the potential dangers of mobile home ownership. Once she's thinking more broadly she might come to her own realization that this is not the right decision or you'll be more comfortable with her making that decision.
posted by brookeb at 12:33 PM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

I don't see how she would be out the cost of the home. The park can't raise rents to the point that no one can afford to live there. If they raise them beyond her ability, she can sell the house to someone who can afford it, and possibly make a profit. She would get nothing if she got priced out of an apartment.
posted by sageleaf at 12:39 PM on October 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: what I've always heard is that manufactured homes depreciate rather than appreciate, and that it is very difficult to sell them after rent increases. Is this not correct?
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:44 PM on October 14, 2016

There is no such thing as rent control in New Mexico, so anywhere she lived would have that risk.

Relax. I see your location says "510" which I'm assuming is Oakland so I'm guessing a lot of your concerns are based on the kinds of problems we see in California related to rent stabilization. Comparatively, Albuquerque is a relatively slow-growing, relatively inexpensive area. It seems pretty unlikely that any rent there would get very suddenly jacked up to highly unaffordable rates like we see in the Bay Area or gentrifying areas of Los Angeles, especially in a mobile home park outside the city.
posted by erst at 12:45 PM on October 14, 2016 [7 favorites]

A lot of mobile home parks will allow you to rent rather than buy a home. You rent the land and the mobile home. Could you maybe convince her to try renting a place for a while before buying? A year or so should help her decide whether or not she wants to buy, and hopefully find out if the management is good.

Manufactured homes do always depreciate, and are not good investments. Whether or not they are a good place to live when you have a limited budget and want a bit of a yard, that's a different question. Where you live doesn't have to be an investment (although of course I understand you want her to be able to keep her home, whether or not she'll get any money by selling it).
posted by possibilityleft at 12:54 PM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: The complicating issue is that there is one particular house she's set on, and that one is for sale rather for rent. otherwise I would mark that as "best solution" immediately.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:57 PM on October 14, 2016

Best answer: Is it a senior park? Its probably really nice and has all kinds of amenities etc. Alberquerque is full of them, as is the entire southwest.

It sounds like your concerns are all based on reading blogs which is not a very good source of info and kind of condescending towards your mother. She's 71, she presumably has lots of real world experience choosing places to live and, frankly, slactivist isn't exactly the best researched thing in the world. I'd be annoyed if someone tried to change my thought out decision by quoting a blog at me.
posted by fshgrl at 1:52 PM on October 14, 2016 [10 favorites]

A relative of mine owned a manufactured home on a rented lot in a park, not in Albuquerque, and it seemed to be a combination of the worst of renting and the worst of owning. You're paying rent on the lot with all the variables that go along with that. You have the transaction costs and upkeep that goes along with owning. Also, selling the home can be difficult. My relative's home took over two years to sell and they ended up losing money on the house.
posted by LoveHam at 1:59 PM on October 14, 2016

Best answer: FWIW my parents bought a crappy little trailer in a nice little park in Florida. I swear it made them 10 years younger the first year they were there. Nice weather, quiet little roads in the park to walk around in, amenities, and a real sense of community. If it were just one parent, I would say the benefit would be even greater.

I don't know about homes depreciating, but at 15K it's not some fancy new model that will go down immediately. My parents paid 4K and sold it later for 25K.

While it may not be a money making choice, 15K seems like a small price to pay for a place to live and for something she really wants.
posted by ReluctantViking at 3:12 PM on October 14, 2016 [7 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks for the advice. I have officially been talked back down into calmness!
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:22 PM on October 14, 2016 [7 favorites]

Coming in late to say that I am on our town's tax board and we deal with a few mobile home parks (not quite the same but similar) and I concur, this is probably an OK move on her part. The home does depreciate and is treated more like an asset than as property BUT it's a little more (for most people) like owning a condo in that you pay rent and certain things are taken care of and you're in a community and that can be good or bad if you're not getting ripped off on rent/fees. The big thing is to try not to get too heavy into a manufactured home that won't hold some value OR hold on to it so long that you've wrung all the value out of it and it doesn't have to really be an investment. Your best approach would probably be to help her negotiate a good price and look into common issues with pricing similar homes and then, yeah, trying to wish her the best.
posted by jessamyn at 3:55 PM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Is she being pressured into buying it sight unseen? She really needs to see it before she gives anyone any money. Can you go with her? Are there comparable condos that might give her the same amenities, including a small backyard, with less risk of depreciation?
posted by mareli at 4:36 PM on October 14, 2016

Sounds like your mom has found a town she loves and a manufactured home she loves. While renting a MH for a year might be a good idea, that isn't what she wants to do and renting doesn't feel the same as owning your own little place. Hopefully the responses reassured you enough that you can offer support for her move. A visit (maybe help her move?) might make you feel better about the situation.
posted by mulcahy at 5:35 PM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

In Tucson, about seven years ago, some out of state suits bought the trailer park my mom lived in and they kinda sucked. My brother and I spent two easy days preping for the move, detaching the deck and back steps, moving them, a 8x10 shed and yard decorations. For less $2K, her single-wide was moved cross town with the company handling utilities and tie-downs at both ends. Two more good days to put everything back together and new skirting, totaling about fifty hours labor.

Pro Tips: make sure the skirting is tight because, Rattlesnakes and Africanized bees.
Modular decks that bolt together are easy to move, don't forget the Locktite.

Bonus: Some older ladies really like the parks, I think it reminds them of post WWII neighborhoods. Not my thing, but a lot of people are doing just fine in retirement parks in the desert.
posted by ridgerunner at 9:32 PM on October 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

My parents did the same thing just south of Phoenix. The land rent comes with a lot of extras. I joke that it's like summer camp for the retired but, really, that's what it is. Pickleball courts, pottery classes, two pools, golf course, a library, bocce ball, parties every night, a quilting room, scheduled field trips, the list is long and extensive. These sort of places vary but it has been a good investment in my parents' quality of life, I hope the same for your mom.
posted by Foam Pants at 1:37 AM on October 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Make sure your mom has an accurate understanding the park charges (in addition to lot rent), utilities, and taxes. Between their inherently poor insulation and frequently having only electric heating, mobile homes can be very expensive to heat and cool compared to an apartment of the same square footage. The tax and/or insurance situation in some states can be pretty brutal, as mobile homes are usually taxed and insured as personal property (cars, essentially) and not real estate.
posted by MattD at 3:36 AM on October 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Can you keep us up to date on how it worked out I am curious, thinking of this myself someday. BTW I nod to the Hamilton reference.
posted by irish01 at 5:58 AM on October 15, 2016