'Mobile' Homes - Pros/Cons (Portland, Franklin: buying a house, water heater, to buy)

[FlowerPower00]

Originally Posted by Submariner

There are sure a lot of folks who live in mobile homes in Maine.

To me, mobile home floors get very, very, cold in the winter. I do home health and been in the very, very, nice ones to the rickety on their last leg ones. I think the best bet is go to the town you want to live in, find out if there any houses in foreclosure. That is IF you are handy.

[DauntlessDan]

My wife and I personally lived in apartments and houses and, yes, mobile homes for the better part of 30 years. We are past the basement thing. In our experience, especially in northern New England, basements reperesent water leaks, dampness and cold. In looking at homes in Maine with a realtor we have seen some mobile homes recently. One in particular (a doublewide) was quite nice and was on its own piece of land (about 1/4 acre) with city water and sewer and a nice big back screened in porch. And the fuel oil usage as according to the provider was surpisingly low. The thing was insulated so well and have thermopane windows. And it was 25 years old but the owners kept it in immaculate condition. I guess like houses, you have to take each one individually.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by FlowerPower00

To me, mobile home floors get very, very, cold in the winter. I do home health and been in the very, very, nice ones to the rickety on their last leg ones. I think the best bet is go to the town you want to live in, find out if there any houses in foreclosure. That is IF you are handy.

I prefer Radiant heated floors. We never owned a house that had it, until we got to Maine. With a heated floor you consume a lot less heating fuel.

I think that for most people migrating to Maine, renting for the first year is a good idea. Renting gives you a chance to explore and see if you are really i the best community, before you commit to buying.

We rented an apartment, while I was building our house.


There are a lot of older abandoned houses in Maine, that a buyer should be able to buy for good price.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by bangorme

Pros to Mobile Home: Cost
Cons to Mobile Home: Everything else.

Sorry, but it's that simple.

I liked mine when I lived in one. There has been more than one time where I wished I still lived in it.

Pros: Purchase price, cost to heat, cost to pay property tax on (will vary with amount of, and location of land). Ease of cleaning. When it eventually falls apart, you mount the tires, hook on, pull it out and replace it with a new one because if basic maintenance is done on it, it should last longer than the payments do. Maintainence was much less than the current stick built ranch I live in now. Most new mobile homes are constructed better than some old houses.

Cons: Forced hot air. That stinks. It cools off too quickly. On the plus side, a pellet stove can be installed in most of them. Tend to be a wind tunnel in the unfortunate event that they catch on fire (or at least the older ones are). Some cheaper building materials (carpets, etc.).

Overall, I think they get a bum rap. The newer ones are nice IMHO.

That said, with the current state of real estate, I think it's harder to sell one because there are many empty houses and great deals to be had for them.

[FlowerPower00]

Originally Posted by Submariner

I prefer Radiant heated floors. We never owned a house that had it, until we got to Maine. With a heated floor you consume a lot less heating fuel.

I think that for most people migrating to Maine, renting for the first year is a good idea. Renting gives you a chance to explore and see if you are really i the best community, before you commit to buying.

We rented an apartment, while I was building our house.


There are a lot of older abandoned houses in Maine, that a buyer should be able to buy for good price.

I need to look into radiant heated floors- sounds like absolute heaven in the winter!

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by FlowerPower00

I need to look into radiant heated floors- sounds like absolute heaven in the winter!

Frequently we get into discussions about how much heating fuel people use.

We are in a large home, though we tend to use much less fuel, as compared to other posters here.

I see two big differences that we have as compared to many other posters. We have lots of large windows, that give us a good deal of passive Solar Gain in winter, and we use radiant floors.

[FlowerPower00]

Originally Posted by Submariner

Frequently we get into discussions about how much heating fuel people use.

We are in a large home, though we tend to use much less fuel, as compared to other posters here.

I see two big differences that we have as compared to many other posters. We have lots of large windows, that give us a good deal of passive Solar Gain in winter, and we use radiant floors.

That is a good bit of info to pass along. Thank-you! What do you think of the wood pellet stoves?

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by FlowerPower00

That is a good bit of info to pass along. Thank-you! What do you think of the wood pellet stoves?

They seem to work really well.



To me, there is a spectrum of heating systems, it goes from fully-automated to fully-manual.

On the fully-automated end are systems where you have a thermostat and a monthly bill, but otherwise you can go for years without touching the heating system.

On the fully-manual end are systems where you: haul fuel, start a fire, regulate the fire, re-load more fuel every hour, and when the fire goes out you shovel ashes. Before you start the process over again.

Automated is clean, easy and without effort. Manual is otherwise.

Automated tends to be the most expensive, while manual tends to be the least expensive.

Pellet Stoves are about in the middle. They make a reasonable compromise between extremes.



However it is hard to find a pellet stove that heats water. Heated water is a good medium for storing heat, and for moving heat to other locations.

If you want to heat one room only, a pellet stove is great. Options for getting that heat into the corners of a room are limited. Options for getting that heat into other rooms are limited.

Often people make mistake by placing a pellet stove in a corner of a room. Then they wonder why the stove does not heat the room evenly. Brother Ben Franklin noted this, and invented the idea to put a stove in the center of a room so you provide heat more evenly to a greater percentage of the room.

I have also known many people who burn wood inside a stone / masonry fireplace that sits 75% outside. When it is -20F outside that masonry fireplace is -20F. The fire in the fireplace might be hot, but 75% of that heat goes outside by way of the heat-sink of the masonry. IMHO, the outer wall on the thermal envelope of a structure is no place to put a heating device.

Ooops, I have rambled on and on. I apologize.

[maineguy8888]

Trailers start to depreciate in value the second you buy it. That is why they are a terrible idea from a financial point of view.

[arctichomesteader]

They also tend to outgas various unhealthy things from the cheap building materials in them. I wouldn't want to live in one. There are better options. So many cheap fixer upper houses around, and cheap wooded land you could build your own house on if you have the ability.