Most mobile homes are in the south -- Census

CNN Money ^ | September 23, 2009 | Hibah Yousuf

[2ndDivisionVet]

Most of the mobile homes in the U.S. are located in the south, where land is more plentiful, the weather is warmer, and rural poverty is higher.

The region is home to over 56% of the mobile housing units in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey data released Monday.

Specifically, two cities outside of Jacksonville, Fla., had the country's highest concentration of mobile homes, which are generally about 12-feet wide and include a kitchen, a living and dining area, and one or two smaller bedrooms. While mobile homes make up only 6.17% of the nation's residences, they comprise 45.5% of the units in Palatka, Fla., and 41.6% of units in Lake City, Fla.

"Florida has an overheated housing market, especially with the recent bubble," said Jacob Vigdor, public policy and economics professor at Duke University. "In any area where housing is expensive, mobile homes can represent one of the few cheap options."

Open spaces But high housing costs aren't the primary driver behind the large number of mobile homes in the southern U.S. Much of it has to do with the more sprawling nature of the Sun Belt cities that weren't developed until later in the 1950s, said Vigdor.

"You don't have to go far outside of a city like Charlotte to find trailer parks or single plots of land with mobile homes. Cities that grew up in the automobile age are naturally more hospitable to mobile homes," he said. "When land is inexpensive, you can get a parcel and put a mobile home on it for cheap."

And that notion is especially attractive to the south's poor, rural population.

"Mobile homes will make up a significant part of the housing market in any place you can find significant rural poverty," Vigdor said.(continued)

[2ndDivisionVet]

As someone who has sold manufactured homes for a few years, I agree. Many of the bigger doublewides and triplewides are MUCH nicer than "brick" homes in the $65-110,000 range. Many have stainless steel appliances, stone fireplaces, sunken tubs, home offices, gourmet kitchens w/pantries, media rooms, etc. These are features you usually don't see on site-built homes under $200,000+. There are now TWO STORY manufactured homes, and another factory-built product called a modular home is virtually indistinguishable from a conventional house and usually a better value.

[GeronL]

Imagine that.

Next they can count lakes and mountains and snails

[dr_who]

but... but... they’re not covered with high quality vinyl siding and they’re not in a home owner’s association! And how can you call yourself civilized if you’re not sharing at least two firewalls with some headbangers you hardly know? Oh, to think that someone would give up living next to a Starbucks and a major highway just to save a piddly $60,000!

[Tax-chick]

You don't have to go far outside of a city like Charlotte to find trailer parks

You don't have to leave the city limits at all, although you're smart if you do, because their city council is composed of brain-dead dinglebobs. Go past the county line if you can, too: County Commissioners are just as bad.

[SeeSharp]

There are tax advantages to mobile homes in Texas since they aren’t considered permanent structures.

[ryan71]

Duh!

They’re always put near UFO landing zones and tornado routes.

[fwdude]

And the sky is blue, mostly. What’s the point of the article, to disparage the South?

The article fails to define terms. What is the “South?” What is a “mobile home?” What are the logical reasons (climate, topography, income?) Are these reasonable factors?

[Dumpster Baby]

And Elvis and Michael Jackson share one.

[martin_fierro]

Mine's real nice.

on the inside

[SmithL]

So, how is a tornado like a Tennessee divorce?

---

Someone's afixin' to lose a trailer!

[JLS]

In related news most 30 degree below temperatures that take a better sealed dwelling to be comfortable in are not in the south. What odd people those Americans are, they adopt the type of structure that is best suited for the area they live.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Alex, I’ll take The Bleedin’ Obvious for $600

[Viking2002]

A couple of points here. One, I currently live in Alabama, and I can attest to the fact that you can't spit down here without hitting the side of a single-wide. Both of my brothers-in-law live in double-wides (and one of them owns the trailer park they're parked on). Ain't for me - I'm a log home or stone castle kind of guy. But, I agree that the industry has come a long way in the last 15 or 20 years. I've seen some top-end manufactured and modular homes at prices you couldn't touch if it was a stick-built home. In fact, my buddy up in NoVA bought a modular home - built on a basement foundation - and 1.5 wooded acres with a stream, for $125K about 20 years ago. It's now worth triple that. And when he told me it was a modular unit a few years ago, I almost crapped myself. There is no way of telling it wasn't put up one stick at a time. The woman he bought it from had invested almost the initial value of the house in upgrades, and sold it after she and her husband finally divorced. The wife and I have been planning, designing, and scheming to build a log home for several years now, and I'm honestly considering going the modular route. You dig the foundation, build out the stone walls, drop the pre-built main structure in place, and have the finishing crew come in. Let 'em do the heavy lifting at the construction yard.

[Buckeye McFrog]

You don’t have to go far outside of a city like Charlotte to find trailer parks

I can point you to a few within Pittsburgh City Limits...and we ain’t exactly South

[plinyelder]

[Clive]

What a surprise.

I wonder if we spent enough money for the research we could establish that pole-and-dagga houses are mainly found in the southern African veldt.

[Doogle]

..and weather for tonight...dark

[Doogle]

WOO HOO condos

[2ndDivisionVet]