You can spend a lot chasing status. A lot of time. A lot of money. You can fret a lot about what people think of you. It’s not entirely possible to avoid the powerful urge born of both culture and biology to gain or maintain status among your peers.
I’m going to make the case that a young person or couple looking to buy their first house should make that house a trailer house.
“Oh my goodness! Hide the kids and make the crazy man go away!” you say. “You can’t be serious. What will my friends think? Nothing says failure like living in a trailer.”
I’ll skip the euphemism mobile home. The expression mobile home means the same thing as trailer house. Given that what I’m suggesting will not increase your status, I’ll use the older, even more ego-deflating term.
Spending on a house or an apartment that’s more than you need when starting out can really stress you out. It can reduce your ability to save and build wealth. Even worse, it can rob you of the peace of mind that will allow you to revel in time spent together as newly-weds, or new parents – without fighting over money problems. Get those fleeting years of your life wrong and there’s no do-over – life, age, and decay roll relentlessly on, coldly ignoring your regrets.
Get a trailer house. Save some dough. Eliminate the worry. Let your dumb-ass friends rent that lux apartment they can’t afford, and lease that whiz-bang car, or buy a house bigger than their parent’s house as their first home. Bless their wilful ignorance and absolute lack of self control. Give it 10-years of deferred gratification and know the satifaction of doing the right thing at the right time. Then, you can bask in your new found status – that of being solvent, and truly able to afford a new stick-built home, if that’s still something you want in 10-years.
Were it possible to buy a house that makes sense when starting out, I think most people ought to do so. But it doesn’t make sense for a single person, or a couple with one or two kids to buy a home in many places like California, even inland California which is a bit cheaper, unless that person or couple makes a boatload of money and already has some serious cash in the First Bank of I’m Actually Serious About Life. If you don’t have substantial savings left after putting 20% down on your unneeded-at-this-point status symbol, buy a used trailer in a decent park.
There are small towns in places like Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas where that 1950’s 800-sf, 2-bedroom home is still only $100-$150K, so if you’re in one of those places, good for you. In a community like Redlands, in inland SoCal, that type of home is going to start at $550K and go up from there. You don’t need that kind of debt starting out. As Bob Seger reminded us, “You just don’t need it all.” Bob Seger: Beautiful Loser
And don’t rent a status-y apartment that costs you so much you can’t save meaningfully for the mansion you want to own someday. Here in Inland SoCal, one can buy an adequate existing trailer in an a decent park for $30K to $120K. Park rent will cost far less than even a moderate apartment. And you’ll likely even have a small patch of grass to call your own, a very nice patio or California room, and some outdoor shrubbery, perhaps even a fruit tree or two.
Some folks worry about getting into a rough park with too much crime. Pick a nice, but not fancy park. They exist. Really. Many trailer parks are quite nice places with good management that ensures its residents color between the lines. A well-managed, well-maintained park can be a delight to live in.
You will also get a chance to learn some of the basic home maintenance skills that will save you money now and when you move into a stick built home, if that’s still what you want. If your lifestyle leans towards low maintenance, and community services, you may just find yourself wanting to carry on living in a trailer. Modern trailers (and here the term manufactured housing is justified) offer far better construction and design for your hard-earned money. Frankly, many are stunning. Park life, in a good park, is good life.
For a peek at just how wonderful a used mobile home can be with a little bit of imagination, check out the wonderful, and very useful site: Mobile Home Living. It’s absolutely brimming with articles on any aspect of trailer house living you can imagine:
Disclaimer: There is bound to be tendentious pedant out there screaming at his screen,“There is too a difference in meaning of the terms.” And of course there is. I just don’t care. Neither should you. It won’t change people’s minds.
2024 Almost Lucid Geezer
email small.ice6205@fastmail DAWT com