Mobile Homes Values Continue to Rise, But Many Current Residents of Mobile Home Parks Can’t Cash Out
Mobile home values and manufactured home values are rising at a rate nearly as fast as that of single-family homes, according to a study released earlier this month by online loan platform Lending Tree.
Across the country, the median values of mobile homes increased 34.6% on average between 2016 and 2021, compared to 35.4% for single-family homes, based on a Lending Tree analysis of U.S. Census data. The average sales price of a new manufactured home was $124,900 this May, the most recent month for which there is data, according to the U.S. Census.
But climbing values are where the similarities stop. For many mobile homeowners, choosing to sell right now would mean entering an even tighter housing and rental market. So, even as the values of their homes rise, owners are finding they’re stuck.
Getting less for more
As NPR previously reported, large companies have been buying out mobile home parks. They are raising the rents for the land the mobile homes sit on, increasing prices for typically low-income and elderly residents who say they aren’t getting anything new.
“There’s no repairs, there’s no improvements in the ‘warranty of habitability.’” said Yvonne Maldonado, a community organizer with grassroots group Manufactured Housing Action, referring to a requirement in all leases that owners ensure their properties are safe and livable.
Landlords in most states are held to an implied “warranty of habitability,” which requires property owners to ensure that their properties are livable. But Maldonado, who is also a resident of a mobile home community in upstate New York, said big private companies often “do a lousy job” of providing services like trash and snow removable.
Holly Hook, a resident at Swartz Creek Estates in Michigan, considered selling her home when a new company bought out her mobile home park. But Hook soon realized that moving wouldn’t be worth it.
She purchased her home, used, for $28,000, and the new owners of the park offered her less than $10,000.
“It gets harder and harder to sell, and you actually lose value in a lot of cases,” said Hook.
Hook said she now lives with two roommates, and they split the monthly rent for the land it sits on. She said some of her neighbors, many of whom are senior citizens living on fixed-income social security payments, have had to cut back on food and medicine.
“The community used to be really laid back, and people didn’t worry about paying the rent because it was quite steady for years and years,” said Hook. “All that relaxation and the feeling of security is just gone.”
But fearing retaliation from the company that owns the land they live on, hardly anyone in her community is willing to speak up, she said.
“A lot of it is a scarcity issue,” said Alyson Snow, a housing rights lawyer who represents several mobile homeowners pro-bono and a professor at the University of San Diego’s School of law.
And there are other risks associated with making any big purchases, said Snow. Buyers who take out bank loans are often hit with high-interest rates and hidden fees, she said. People buying used mobile homes need to be sure they are getting proper inspections, as well.
Plus, because mobile homeowners don’t own the land their homes sit on, they constantly face the possibility of eviction.
“You are at the mercy of who’s going to rent you the land,” she said.
