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 ...
Imagine that.
Next they can count lakes and mountains and snails
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!
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.
There are tax advantages to mobile homes in Texas since they aren’t considered permanent structures.
Duh!
They’re always put near UFO landing zones and tornado routes.
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?
Mine's real nice.
on the inside
Someone's afixin' to lose a trailer!
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.
Alex, I’ll take The Bleedin’ Obvious for $600
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
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.
..and weather for tonight...dark
ROFLMAO! Stolen.
Disparage? I thought this was an ad to move south.
I expect you’ll find some trailers anywhere they’re not zoned against, and where land prices haven’t been driven up by building restrictions.
You’d want lots of insulation in Pittsburg, though!
Do we actually have to pay to discover these AMAZING census facts?
Bulletin! Snow mostly falls in Winter!
bttt
Then why was Green Tree Financial based out of Minnesota? ; )
Then why was Green Tree Financial based out of Minnesota? ; )
I’ve seen some real nice “mobile homes” So what’s the big deal? A mobile home is not an indicator of poverty. I’ll bet most of these folks actually WORK for a living and pay TAXES. I wonder what percentage of “mobile home” dwellers voted for the current president whose name and racial preference escape my mind. Bottom line...people gotta live somewhere. How about they live where they want, in what they want, in the manner they want. Is this not a free land?
Well, duh!!! Many states in the North are just too cold for mobile homes. A cold climate ages a mobile home faster than a warm climate does. Which group of geniuses did this study?
Agreed. Nothing wrong with living within your means. It is widely recommended on this site. I own one, and I LOVE it. Way more house than I could have afforded without leveraging myself to the gills.....
They do better in the South’s weather, too, because they are not always insulated so well.
Which accounts for the fact that so many "winter Texans" from other states have mobile homes in South Texas.
True. Lots of retirees live in mobile home parks as an alternative to garden apartments that have stairs and less square footage to boot.
The whole "trailer trash" reputation comes from the fact that, in larger metropolitan areas, they are often the cheapest form of housing other than public housing. There were also a series of pulp novels in the 1950s that further spread the reputation of mobile homes as filled with promiscuity and crime.
My family lived in one as a kid while my parents built a house next to it...to be honest, i missed the coziness of it once we moved into the new house...not a great thing to live in when a hurricane is coming though ;)
Was until about 8 or 9 months ago. As I said, I sold "mobile homes" about 10 years ago, and many of them were much nicer than a site-built home costing twice or three times as much. We had one model specifically configured for a home theatre room, another with a NASCAR theme (the company had a car back then) and even a very nice triple-wide that'd make almost any family happy.
That’s okay Viking, the article is to slam us in the South, no biggie. It’s been going on for a long time. I remember my dear Mississippi born and bred Mom speaking in disgust about Hollywood’s phony Southern accents in movies, we’re talking those from the 20s and 30s on.
“Trailers” (single, double-wide and manufactured homes) are what some folks can afford and I happen to know a lot of those folks, wouldn’t take for their LOYAL friendship; they can set trotlines, hunt, trap, make something out of nothing, self-reliant. Ready and willing to help at the drop of a hat—and they know their neighbors too.
Same in California if they are built in 1980 or prior.
“Mobile homes will make up a significant part of the housing market in any place you can find significant rural poverty,” —Jacob Vigdor, public policy and economics professor at Duke University.
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
Quick, somebody needs to nominate Professor Vigdor for the Nobel prize for the Bleeding Obvious.
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.
Yep. Arizona in the winter, Maine (or Montana) in the summer.
The writer obviously hasn't seen a double or triple wide. Although I'd personally go for a Jim Walter instead.
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.
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.
CNN:
This just in...
Most igloos are in Northern climates where air conditioning sales remain near all-times lows!
Well duh, most tornadoes are in the South!
It’s actually an outdoor theatre set in Sweden or some such. I could see building something like that for college kids or similar.
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
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