Housing issues in America and what it’s like living in a mobile home park

Like many parts of this country, I live somewhere where the rents are high. Not crazy like New York but steep for a person without a career level income. It’s around $1200 for a two bedroom apartment. There are old, one bedroom, decrepitated houses that are barely habitable going for $1,000 per month. And they want three times that in income to qualify and an application fee. By the time some people get approved for a place, they are out a few hundred dollars just to find somewhere that will accept them.

I want fortunate enough to be able to rent a house my brother inherited. I had just gone through a divorce, moved 500 miles back to where I have family and had no income or work history for the last few years. I wouldn’t have qualified for a place in that position. The house was too much for me on my own so I searched for a roommate. I ended up with a guy who stopped paying rent three months after he moved in and who I had to evict. I decided after that experience, I’d have to find somewhere I could afford on my own.

So I found a cheap, older, single wide mobile home in a park that had new wood floors and lots of windows. The park also has a swimming pool and I’ve always loved to swim.

I was still trying to get my roommate, who had started taking my stuff without asking, to move out and rushed into buying the mobile without having it inspected. The price was just too good to pass up and I felt desperate for a safe place to call my own.

I got the keys to the place and quickly set about cleaning it. I ripped up the carpet. I hung blinds. I painted the bedroom and had a wall torn out of the kitchen. I pulled out the moldy dishwasher. I put up towel bars and then I went to vacuum the vents and saw water. About two inches of it sitting in the vents. So I called for quotes to get the furnace fixed. It needed to be replaced. I got a new furnace and air conditioner put in and the vents cleaned. It was a big, unexpected expense but it had to be done.

So much stuff had to be done. A large tree cut back, the kitchen sink pipe fixed, a rat living under the house who was finding ways inside, killed. After moving all my stuff, doing repairs and cleaning, I felt spent, physically and financially. It took months to feel like I was finally getting back to normal life and not in rehab-the-house mode every day.
I got really lucky and have amazing neighbors. On both sides are older, married couples. The park does background checks on everyone here and I appreciate that. The good of living in this park is also the amenities. There is a large swimming pool, tennis courts, pool tables a sauna. They have monthly free community dinners and twice a year bring in dumpsters to clean out trash and yard debris. I got lucky with finding such a good park.

The bad is the parking shortages. If I lived with another person we’d have to park with someone behind the other all the time and place a parking shuffle game to have access to both cars. The park is strict about parking and has been towing people who try to use guest parking spots. There are also limitations on how long guests can stay and who can move in and how many pets you can have.

But the rent is awesome. I’m paying around $620 a month and that includes water, sewer, and electric (up to a certain amount).
At some points, I’ve felt like I bought a money pit with all the work this place needs but I also feel like I made the best choice I had at the time. If I had to do it over, I would have started looking sooner and maybe have gone for a newer place. But then again, I was trying not to wrap up all my money or go into debt for a roof over my head.
If you are thinking of financing a mobile home, pay close attention to interest rates. They can be significantly higher than site built homes.

This isn’t where I want to live forever but it’s certainly good enough for now.
And I’m grateful, at the end of the day, to have a place I can afford. Even though it cost more upfront that I had planned.

I think the housing issue is much underrated as a problem in this country. Lots of people are living in places that are old and have mold, bad insulation, iffy wiring, and plumbing. Even people with full-time jobs and a good income are getting stuck living in these places.

Lots of property owners who aren’t the ones who have to live in the places they own, try to just paint and replace carpet till the end of time.
How do we start getting some of these places torn down and new places built? I’ve been watching rural land that used to be pear tree orchids be turned into apartments. It both breaks my heart and gives me hope of being able to find somewhere nice to live.

This is the true problem. So many people and only so much resources.
Thanks for reading my ponderous thoughts and I hope you’ll comment and join in the conversation. How do we make life and our living/housing situation better?