Best places for my ex to find safe, affordable, senior mobile parks ?

paul martin

paul martin

New Member
Location
Japan
My ex lives in Delaware, she needs to move to a friendlier, safer senior community. She says MD has some nice parks but her ss is only $850 mo.
I am not well off and single father in Japan presently, anyone have any suggestions please ?
 

My dh is on his way to Florida right now. I think a realtor can help her. The market is saturated, so not using a realtor is not only unsafe for a single woman but long and tedious. I think we have decided on the Winter Haven area. Not only for the prices but the lakes are beautiful. Hope this helps, let us know how she does.
 

Many thanks to everyone for taking the time and trouble to respond, it does seem that the rents have sky rocketing defeating the very purpose of saving on apts,etc. How about MD area she feels there are some nice spots there ?
This is a great site, glad I found it.
 
jujube said:
With an income of $850 a month, she'd definitely be eligible for a reduced-rent dwelling, but, unfortunately, the waiting lists for the good ones are loooooong. She needs to get on the lists ASAP.
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Here the waiting list is so long they quit taking applications about two years ago. With an income of $850 a month, it's going to be very hard to find anything she can afford. My sis lucked into a place for a little over $500 a month (very low for a non-dump here), but it doesn't leave her much money for anything else. I help her out when I can.
 
If you or your ex or any of your children served in the military, some of the bases have or own mobile home parks at reduced rates.
 
Sorry, Paul. Somehow I missed the "mobile home park" of what you were looking for. Does she have her own mobile home or RV? If it's an RV, she might look into an RV park. A lot of them are not open in the winter up north but if you can find one, her monthly space rent might be as low as $400-$450 per month on a yearly basis, plus electricity. Some of the parks have a nice little community of people who live there. Unfortunately, some of them have a bunch of undesirable folks living there. It's a catch-as-catch-can situation.

Another advantage to RV parks are that quite frequently you can also work there in the office for part or all of your space rent.
 
I can only advise you of what I know about the parks in PA and FL. Here in PA, lot rents are not cheap and seniors do not get any special breaks. If she gets a double-wide home, the lot rent, which will include water, sewer and trash removal will run about $500-$600 on average. Some may be a little and some may be a little higher. In Florida, I have a double-wide, but even the single wides pay the same rent per month. I pay $650.00 per month, which includes water, sewer, trash pickup and lawn care. I have seen lot rents in Florida range from the mid $400's to the lower $800's per month.

In my opinion, living on $850 per month will need someone that also has the ability to pull a rabbit out of the hat. After paying lot rent and utilities, the homeowner may not have money to eat on, especially if they also desire to have cable TV and internet service.
 
I live in California and laws vary of course, but I talked to a friend who was in the same situation. Her solution:

For an annual fee, which my friend pays, her sister maintains a *mobile home park license*. The sister had to meet some requirements, such as so many feet of land with clearance, and compliance with utility, safety and emergency guidelines, but the two sisters and the sister's husband worked together to get that stuff done.

She says the license was granted within 4 months, time that included two inspections. During that time, she sold her double-wide and bought a used single, and used the profit to help fix up the rental space, and etc, and to pay the home's transport fee. Her home now sits on a pretty little spot on her sister's property. She's been there for over 3 years. Her 'rent' is her share of the utilities and the annual park license renewal - in total, about 3 thousand dollars a year.

This may be of no use to you, but I thought it worth mentioning.
 
Does she own her mobile home, or is she interested in renting one in a different park?

I ask because a year or so ago I wanted to buy or rent a mobile home or RV and found that I could not afford it. (My income is only a little more than hers.) I could not have afforded to pay lot rent plus utilities, so I gave up the idea.

I live in a senior HUD apartment buildiing. As with most senior HUD communities that I know of, our rent is not more than 30% of our income, however low our income is. Utilities are included, and we don't have to worry about home maintenance costs. It's not like having your own home, with a yard, but there are tradeoffs to everything!

And like others have said here, there can be LONG waiting lists! I have been on the waiting list for one community for over 3 years now. But I did not have to wait to get into this place. So it may depend on a lot of things, whether or not there is a long waiting list.
 
On $850 it is extremely unlikely that she owns an RV of any kind. For long term residence a "park model" in a 55+ park would be the most practical. Again $$$. They can be bought used in parks that cater to that segment of the business.

A mobile home is factory built and delivered by a set up crew who remove the wheels and tongue and it doesn't move again. A motor home has a motor and you can drive it down the road under its own power. They are not the same. Travel trailers are great for travel, but a poor choice for a permanent location.
 
Manatee said:
On $850 it is extremely unlikely that she owns an RV of any kind. For long term residence a "park model" in a 55+ park would be the most practical. Again $$$. They can be bought used in parks that cater to that segment of the business.

A mobile home is factory built and delivered by a set up crew who remove the wheels and tongue and it doesn't move again. A motor home has a motor and you can drive it down the road under its own power. They are not the same. Travel trailers are great for travel, but a poor choice for a permanent location.
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There are a lot of people who live permanently in their travel trailers and motor homes, and the number is growing. If you have a "4-seasons package" as our fifth wheel trailer has, you can live quite comfortably in one. We're well-insulated with energy efficient windows and have two air conditioning units and a furnace in ours. We've been extremely comfortable in sub-freezing weather and the inferno of the desert. Storage is quite adequate. I would have no trouble living in ours year-round instead of the 4-5 months we do live in it now.
 


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