We are trying to downsize and it's hard to find something affordable, even if we get a good price for our house.

I started thinking about mobile homes, having seen ads for a few that had nifty modifications, like the ones you described.

There are drawbacks..for one thing safety in a major windstorm, etc. But we may look at a couple just to check it out.

Thx for the article and your thoughts, as well.

With climate change. It is an option though if you can keep the rates they charge to rent a plot to set it on down. I’m interested to see the future of 3D printed homes. My grandparents retired, sold their two story home and bought a new manufactured home. The manufactured home was affordable and I’d say actually quite nice.

Mobile homes turn deadly when tornadoes hit. This year has been especially bad, AP analysis finds

By SETH BORENSTEIN, CAMILLE FASSETT and MICHAEL GOLDBERG
Updated 4:29 PM CDT, July 28, 2023




***
Tornadoes in the United States are disproportionately killing more people in mobile or manufactured homes, especially in the South, often victimizing some of the most socially and economically vulnerable residents. Since 1996, tornadoes have killed 815 people in mobile or manufactured homes, representing 53% of all the people killed at home during a tornado, according to an Associated Press data analysis of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tornado deaths. Meanwhile, less than 6% of America’s housing units are manufactured homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

While the dangers of tornadoes to mobile homes have long been known, and there are ways to mitigate the risk, the percentage of total tornado deaths that happen in mobile homes has been increasing. Part of the problem is that federal housing rules that call for tougher manufactured home standards, including anchoring, only apply in hurricane zones, which is most of Florida and then several counties along the coast. Those are not the areas where tornadoes usually hit.

Auburn University engineering professor David Roueche called manufactured homes in non-coastal places “death traps compared to most permanent homes” when it comes to tornadoes.
***
The manufactured housing industry — which disputes that there’s any disproportionate danger — insists on calling the structures manufactured homes if they are built after hurricane-based federal standards in 1976 and mobile homes if they are built before, saying age of the home matters. Federal housing officials use the term manufactured housing. Other people, including many researchers and residents, use the terms interchangeably.

More than 70% of the 8 million manufactured homes in America were built after 1976. Because a big chunk were built in the 1980s and early 1990s, 60% of all those homes were installed before increased federal standards were adopted in 1994, the industry’s trade group, Manufactured Housing Institute said.
***
long, and VERY THOROUGH article at: https://apnews.com/article/tornado-mobile-home-death-crushed-b3a0e41ffd83a2681a92b8e4dad0ef06

If you live in tornado country, you know house trailers (excuuuuse me, 'manufactured housing') are not a safe "solution".

with phrases like "Trailer Park Trash" etc.

Remember James Carville about Paula Jones? "Drag a $100 bill through a trailer park and this is what you get"

strikes me as sheer snobbery

my very first phone was a trailer

Many people think because they are cheaper per square foot than houses, they are affordable. I vehemently disagree! Especially as one ages! The walls are very thin and require a lot of extra work and creativity to install the basic equipment such as grab bars and hand rails for aging in place. The older ones, which people seem to think are a bargain are even worse! The floors are typically made of particle board that fall apart with the slightest plumbing issue. The single wides have hallways and doorways that are too narrow to accommodate wheelchairs or walkers and the walls and doorframes are so flimsy alterations are often not even feasible. They often have "luxury" items like garden tubs that are absolutely useless for anyone with even minor mobility issues and the showers are frequently accessed by tiny doors barely wide enough to allow a single small person access and completely impossible to use if the person requires the assistance of a caregiver. The materials used in them are cheap and falls apart easy--they don't age as well as the human body and they never appreciate in value. Outdoor ramps are almost always needed for access with mobility issues. What seems like a bargain now can cost you thousands more when you can least afford it. Furthermore, even finding someone to work on a mobile home to make repairs and adaptations may leave you without a functional home just when you most need it. And the trailer park business has become a racket preying on residents, putting them in financial dire straits that mirror similar threats in the housing markets.

I would NEVER advise buying a mobile home and I think they should be outlawed. They prey on the very populations that most need affordable housing!