Moving my home

[Carolyn Birmingham]

My husband & I are interested in possibly moving our home onto private land. The problem is that we keep hitting road blocks. Everytime that we find even the smallest piece of land that would accomodate our home, the first thing they say is that we can't put our home there. The reason that we want to remove our home from the park that it is in is because the space rent that we currently pay is $1146.00 per month. In Dec 05 the space rent is going to jump to $1375.00, which they are claiming isa fair market value according to some index. We are totally being taken advantage of. There are constanly people leaving their homes because they just can't seem to afford the high cost anymore. The park has a lot of open lots because the mortgage companies can't sell them after the people foreclose. We have no recourse. The park is run down, they are always using the funds that this park collects from its space rent to fix one of their other parks because they think those parks are more important. Our streets have pot holes, our community is filled with Drug users that don't get evicted fro constantly causing trouble and us hard workers are the ones paying for it. My house has been on the market for 18 months & not one person wants anything to do with the high space rent. We are totally trapped. I don't know if that is fair. Could you please advise me of any recourse we may have or anything I should be looking for as far as land is concerned. I am very much done with this park who could care less about its tenants.
In Desperate need of advise,
Carolyn Birmingham

[Rita]

Hi Carolyn,

I have just begun my search for private land to own. The first thing I did was think about how far from my job I was willing to move to save money on land and taxes. Factor in that you will spend more on gasoline, and if you value your time, as I do, you need to factor in a daily commute, as well.

I did my real estate hunting on the internet, and gradually got an idea of what counties/municipalities allow mobile homes. Be aware that some allow double-wide homes and do not consider them mobile homes; some allow single-wide mobile homes, but only of a certain age; some don't allow anything. But the listings tell me that; I would hope that yours would, too.

You can also do internet research on zoning regulations for most counties/municipalities on the internet, just to be sure that what the ad says is true, or at the very least, get the phone number of the person to ask. Again, find out how a mobile home is defined, are there any age restrictions, etc.

You can also put a realtor to work on this for you. Just be sure that you double-check all information regarding placing your home on that land, before you sign anything.

Have you talked to your lender so you will have financing? Find out their requirements for the home, also. They will probably want it on a permanent foundation, and you will need to know how they define that.

I have not gotten as far as contacting a mover, but that will be an expense, along with the permits, etc. Don't forget that you need utilities. If they aren't nearby, that will increase your expense.

I wish you luck.

[Gil Davis]

Rita,

You're doing the right things. Once you've settled on an area, find a Realtor that you feel comfortable with and it should become easier.

In our area (Northern California) we've got people who are commuting up to 2 hours each way because it's been less expensive to find land here. That's changing, but land is still available and park rents are in the $300-350 range for a well-run park.

Good luck and good hunting to both of you.

[Rita]

Hi Gil,

Those lot rents are reasonable, I think. I live in Wisconsin, and my lot rent is $434.00; monthly tax is about $40.00. The company that owns the park installed meters, and charges us for water and sewer, monthly. I pay a total of between $492.00-$500.00 per month. My commute to work is ten minutes, so I'm pretty spoiled in that respect!

I mainly want to get this home off rented land and onto my own land, so I can see some appreciation and get something out of all my hard work. Also, one never knows when rents will increase, or even if the municipality will decide it wants the mobile home park land for something else, and condemn it. I've seen that happen, and people had to take what they could get for their homes, if they couldn't move them.