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Most mobile homes are in the south -- Census
CNN Money ^ | September 23, 2009 | Hibah Yousuf

Posted on 09/26/2009 4:12:59 PM PDT by 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)

(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: census; housing; mobilehomes; poverty; realestate; recession; rural; ruralpoor; south
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To: Clemenza

After looking at my 401k recently, I will either retire overseas (Philippines) or buy a nice 5th wheel or Travel Trailer and live in a nice RV Park.

There are parts of the country where it can be done very inexpensively and has a moderate climate.


41 posted on 09/26/2009 5:29:42 PM PDT by Rodney Dangerfield (Fact: When speaking, BHO refers to himself on an average of every 13 seconds.)
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To: Rodney Dangerfield

Yep. Arizona in the winter, Maine (or Montana) in the summer.


42 posted on 09/26/2009 5:31:58 PM PDT by Clemenza (Remember our Korean War Veterans)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
which are generally about 12-feet wide and include a kitchen, a living and dining area, and one or two smaller bedrooms.

The writer obviously hasn't seen a double or triple wide. Although I'd personally go for a Jim Walter instead.

43 posted on 09/26/2009 5:33:43 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: brushcop

And don’t forget the freedom factor alot of pre-fabs owners are looking for. Why buy a 30 year old fixer-upper in the city when you can have 2009 technology and 2 acres for half the price. Not to mention the fact that with the extra breathing room a man can convene with nature when called and the neighbors are none the wiser. The tomato plants may not survive that extra “watering” but who cares when you can grow more than you can eat anyways?

P.S. always wash the tomatoes.


44 posted on 09/26/2009 5:36:10 PM PDT by SteelTrap
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To: Larry R. Johnson

I agree with your post. The article bothered me because it seemed to disparage people who choose to live in mobile homes inferring that they are poverty stricken, rural Southerners, hence less intelligent than the editors at CNN. Mobile homes can be very charming as can any living quarters if they are clean and attractively decorated. What a snobbish assertion CNN Money is making when it looks down its liberal nose at hardworking people and their homes.


45 posted on 09/26/2009 5:37:02 PM PDT by sueuprising
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

CNN:

This just in...

Most igloos are in Northern climates where air conditioning sales remain near all-times lows!


46 posted on 09/26/2009 5:45:58 PM PDT by riskybiz (Sarah Palin - 2012 - Born in the U.S.A. !)
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To: abclily

Well duh, most tornadoes are in the South!


47 posted on 09/26/2009 5:51:17 PM PDT by T Minus Four
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To: Ken H

It’s actually an outdoor theatre set in Sweden or some such. I could see building something like that for college kids or similar.


48 posted on 09/26/2009 5:57:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2 million for Sarah Palin if she runs; What will you do?)
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To: Rodney Dangerfield

Have you seen this site?

http://www.LivingInThePhilippines.com


49 posted on 09/26/2009 5:58:58 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2 million for Sarah Palin if she runs; What will you do?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Wannabe Jihadi-boy lived in one of these funky domes.

Star-Telegram photos/Ron T. Ennis Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, 19, had lived in this small domed rental unit in the Ellis County town of Italy since April 2008. Star-Telegram photos/Ron T. Ennis

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1637304.html

50 posted on 09/26/2009 5:59:16 PM PDT by Dysart
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To: wombtotomb

We just purchased a mobile home three weeks ago, and are still getting settled. We paid cash, so no mortgage and the taxes are reasonable.


51 posted on 09/26/2009 5:59:51 PM PDT by neal1960 (This space for rent.)
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To: Clemenza
A mobile home is not an indicator of poverty.
True. Lots of retirees live in mobile home parks as an alternative to garden apartments that have stairs and less square footage to boot.

Been retired since '99. About two years before the real estate top, I sold my stick-built house in Nevada, paid off the mortgage and bought a 1,600 sq ft double-wide manufactured home on a quarter acre for cash just over the line in Arizona.

Having gone through the pre-Prop 13 binge in California, I could see the same happening in Nevada - ever-rising property taxes forcing me to move, probably at an inconvenient time.

We paid extra for "winterizing" (more insulation), with the result that our power bills are $45 in winter and $120 in summer via our coal-fired utility in Utah. Home is 3 bedroom, 2 bath with a BIG master bedroom, large oval tub, seperate shower and a walk-in closet (now filled with cases of food). The whole outfit is fairly well built and cheap to maintain.

And, there's no chickens or junker cars in the area. I used to think "Trailer Trash" too, before I took a closer look. They've come a long way, baby. Many people would do well to check out these homes, especially now.

52 posted on 09/26/2009 6:11:52 PM PDT by Oatka ("A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." –Bertrand de Jouvenel)
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To: wombtotomb

I’d have modular home if they were allowed in the township where we will own property, but alas there are so many restrictions.


53 posted on 09/26/2009 6:16:17 PM PDT by madison10
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
My folks had a double wide in Bradenton for years before moving into an independent living apartment. It had nothing to do with "rural" "poverty" and everything to do with practicality. If I were to relocate to FL I would seriously consider the same strategy. It made tremendous financial sense.

The obvious attempt here is to paint southerners as white trailer trash. It won't wash. Too many affluent northern retirees destroy the argument.

54 posted on 09/26/2009 6:17:28 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard (truth--the liberal's kryptonite.)
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To: dr_who

I’d rather live in a tent on my own land than in a million dollar box in a gated community. I rode through one of the big high dollar developements last week, guards and gates all over the place, it made my skin crawl. Every damned blade of grass in the place is organized and regimented.


55 posted on 09/26/2009 6:21:00 PM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (THE SECOND AMENDMENT, A MATTER OF FACT, NOT A MATTER OF OPINION)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I lived in a mobile home for 5 years waiting for the property I wanted to become available. It paid 18,000 and got 15,000 when I sold it. I lived cheap. It was very nice. Only draw back is storms. LEAVE. And I am a physician. I now have the 40 acers and the home I wanted. It was fine for just me.


56 posted on 09/26/2009 6:21:04 PM PDT by therut
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The reason there are no mobile homes on Long Island is they are zoned against. Believe me, people would buy them if they were allowed to.

In the town where I moved from, taxes on a brick and mortar come to about 10K a year AVERAGE. They can’t tax a motor home like that. I’ve often noticed the compassionate liberal doesn’t help the poor, they just move them out of their neighborhood.


57 posted on 09/26/2009 6:21:17 PM PDT by I still care (A Republic - if you can keep it. - Ben Franklin)
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To: brushcop

My granddad was one of the first to snowbird in Bonita Springs in the 50’s. Pulled into a motel with his trailer and asked the guy to let him park for the night. Eventually became a 200 trailer park. ON the Imperial River

He wintered in Florida in mobile homes every year for the next 40 years. 3 places in all. (swallowed up by developers)

Always on the water, with access to the Gulf.

Many fine memories of fishing for grouper just out of sight of land in a 22 foot outboard, and coming in with a 33 gallon trashcan full of fish and assorted large ones on the deck


58 posted on 09/26/2009 6:24:27 PM PDT by digger48
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To: therut
Hey....you know what a tornado in Oklahoma and a divorce in Arkansas have in common?

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Someone is going to lose a mobile home..............

59 posted on 09/26/2009 6:28:34 PM PDT by Osage Orange (A community organizer cannot bitch when communities organize..... - Rush Limbaugh)
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To: SWAMPSNIPER

Amen, Bro..!!


60 posted on 09/26/2009 6:29:40 PM PDT by Osage Orange (A community organizer cannot bitch when communities organize..... - Rush Limbaugh)
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