Tips for Turning a Mobile Home into a Forever Home

Tips for Turning a Mobile Home into a Forever Home

When you have a limited budget, it’s important to make the most of every dollar you make. Many people don’t realize that they can turn a mobile home into a forever home with just a little bit of work. The following guide walks you through a few things you can do to turn your mobile home into the home you love living in for the rest of your life.

Choose the Right Location

In order for the home to feel like a forever home, it’s important to have a prime location for it to be situated. Buying a piece of property to put the home on ensures your long-term security. You won’t have to worry that the mobile home community will one day shut down, or the person who owns a piece of property you are renting wants to suddenly sell it. Mobile homes require a very small amount of land so finding one at an affordable price shouldn’t be too difficult.

Have a Concrete Foundation Created

If you want your mobile home to be your forever home, you need to give it a solid foundation, literally. Having a concrete foundation for the home not only protects the bottom of the home from the elements and animals, but it also gives the home a finished look. Concrete foundations only go around the perimeter of the home, so they are often very affordable and can be created in a very short period of time. In order to have a concrete foundation created you do need to own the property that the home is going to be located on because it does create a permanent fixture on the property.

Add a Deck and Entryway to the Mobile Home

In order to be able to relax and entertain comfortably, you need to have exterior spaces to enjoy. Having an entryway created will make getting in and out of the home easier. Having a deck added to the home provides you with great exterior entertaining space and can actually add a lot of value to the home. The deck doesn’t have to be overly extravagant in order to be great.

Upgrade to Engineered Wood Siding

Vinyl siding is the traditional siding used on the exterior of mobile homes. While the siding looks great, it can show signs of wear and tear over time and upkeep can be a bit of a hassle at times. Upgrading to engineered wood siding gives the home the look of a stick-built house without the high cost. The siding is designed to look like wood siding, but it doesn’t require the same upkeep that wood siding requires. It will have a grained appearance and is available in a variety of colors so that you can customize the look of your home for an affordable cost.

Sheetrock the Walls in the Home

The vinyl on gypsum walls in a mobile home exposes the fact that it is a mobile home. The walls have a unique look to them and are often thinner than traditional walls. If you want to give the home a more finished look, you can have sheetrock walls added to the house. You can then paint the walls and hang items differently than you can on the traditional VOG walls that come in mobile homes. This allows you to create a relaxing oasis you can look forward to coming home to each day. The sheetrocked walls can also help with insulation in the home to lower your heating and cooling costs at the same time.

Get Energy-Efficient Appliances

If you know that you are going to stay in the house for years to come, you need to invest in affordable appliances. Many of the appliances that come standard with mobile homes aren’t very energy efficient. This is because energy-efficient appliances are more costly. When you have money available to invest, consider upgrading to energy-efficient appliances. Start with the water heater. When you have an energy-efficient water heater, you’ll be able to start seeing a difference in your electric bills almost right away.

Add Landscaping Around the House

Many people who own mobile homes know that there is a chance that they will have to move home in the future, so they ignore the landscaping around their house. If you know that this is your forever home and you are going to stay in the same location for many years, why not add great landscaping around the house? Adding flower beds, shrubs and even trees to the yard can create the look of a stick-built home. Be sure that anything you plant near the home won’t have large, cascading roots in the years to come to ensure that the roots don’t grow under the house and damage the foundation.

Pay Off Your Loan as Quickly as Possible

One of the best ways you can make your home feel like a forever home is actually to own it. Take the time to pay off the loan for the home as quickly as you can. Many people are living a very lean lifestyle for a few months so that they can dedicate as much of their income as possible to paying off their home loans. Once the loan is paid off you will have peace of mind that you own something valuable. The equity in the home is something that you can always fall back on if times get tough financially. Owning the home will also give you a sense of pride and accomplishment in the long run.

Turning your mobile home into your forever home isn’t hard to do. You need to do more than hang a few pictures on the wall though. It won’t happen overnight though. Take the time to create a plan of action when it comes to creating a forever home. You want to be sure your home is a space you love and want to come home to each and every day. Taking baby steps towards transforming it ensures that you don’t get overwhelmed or sink deeper and deeper into debt.

A Mobile Home Might be a Great Option for Your Starter Home

A Mobile Home Might be a Great Option for Your Starter Home

When you get married, the next step is to buy your first house. When you start searching for a starter home, you quickly realize how expensive they can be. Mobile homes may be an option to take into consideration if you want to create a warm, welcoming environment you can look forward to coming to each and every day. Learn more about why a mobile home makes such a great starter home in the guide that follows.

Don’t Have to Worry About the Homes Condition

When you purchase a stick-built home as a starter home, you more than likely have to buy it in used condition, if you are on a budget. This means that there could be a lot of things that need to be repaired in the near future. When you purchase a mobile home, you can get one in brand new condition for a much smaller investment. The home will be in great condition from the start so that you don’t have to worry about paying for costly repairs right away.

Mobile Homes Are Affordable Price

The asking price for a mobile home will be much smaller than just about any traditional home you can find on the market. There are even some mobile homes that are available in used condition to cut down on your buying price even more. If you spend less on the initial purchase of the home, you can build a nest egg to fall back on if things get tough financially in the future with the extra money you have every month.

Mobile Homes Are Easy to Finance

Since mobile homes cost less to purchase, most lenders are more willing to finance them. You do not have to worry about having a huge down payment for the home you want to buy. Since there isn’t a huge down payment, you only have to save for a short period of time or may even be able to finance that too. This makes it much easier to get the starter house you need and want.

Affordably Power Your Home

The small size of mobile homes makes them inexpensive to power. They are all on one level, and you can choose upgrades that make them more insulated to trap in heat and cool air to keep costs down. You will pay a fraction of the electricity costs that you would pay if you have a traditional home when you own a mobile home.

Mobile Homes Are Inexpensive to Repair

The cost to make repairs on a stick-built house can be huge. The pipes are often difficult to get to, and when something goes wrong with the electrical components of the home, they can be difficult to find. In a mobile home, all of the elements that make it possible to function in the home are easy to access and often very affordable to have repaired or replaced if needed.

Save Time When Cleaning Needs to be Done

When you’re first starting, you won’t want to spend all of your free time cleaning your house. A mobile home will take very little time to clean because it is so compact in size, and there is so much open space inside of it. This allows you to have a neat and orderly home without having to dedicate hours out of your week to maintain it.

Available in a Variety of Sizes

Many people think that when they buy a mobile home, they are restricted to a single bedroom home, but that isn’t the option. Mobile homes are available in various sizes so that you can have as much or as little space as you want. There are single-wide, double-wide, and even triple-wide mobile homes available so that you can have four or even five bedrooms within your home if you need them.

Mobile Homes Are Easy to Upgrade

Once you become established and have more of a disposable income available, you can easily upgrade a mobile home. The floors can be replaced with hardwood flooring, the appliances can be upgraded, and you can even replace the siding to a more energy-efficient option without having to spend a ton of money out of pocket. This means that as your family’s needs change, your home can change too.

Can be Moved When Needed

If you have to relocate for your job, you need to be able to have somewhere to live. Many mobile homes are completely transportable so that you can move them from one place to another if needed. This allows you to be flexible with your lifestyle so that you can always live wherever you want to live. You will have to pay transportation fees to have the home moved, but they will cost far less than it would buy a new home in a different location.

Mobile Homes Are Easy to Sell

If you decide that you want to upgrade to a larger mobile home or simply want to purchase a stick-built house in the future, your mobile home will be easy to sell. Mobile homes are designed to last for quite a long time and still home much of their value. Many dealers will allow you to trade your home in for a newer model if you decide to upgrade to a newer model in the future. If you want to sell the home, you can sell it yourself online or through a real estate agent as soon as your home loan is paid in full.

It’s important to remember that you don’t want to start your life off deep in the throes of debt. Many people make the mistake of investing in a home that is beyond their budget and struggle for many years to try to stay afloat. Starting with a home that is within your budget or even under your budget can serve as a great way to get your financial footing to create the most stable life for you and your family as possible. A mobile home can be a great starter home for anyone who wants to own a home but doesn’t want to have to pay it off for twenty or thirty years down the road.