Upwardly Mobile Homes

Kent Dussair
CDS Community Development Strategies

​Why is the mobile home segment of the housing market so important and yet so maligned by society? The answer is a combination of ignorance, misconceptions, and images from the past where the “trailer trash” notion has been widely portrayed in movies and on television. Realistic vestiges of those images do remain. But today, many mobile home neighborhoods have cleaned up their act, while still providing housing at a very low cost. Without this layer of low cost housing, America would have a much larger number of subsidized renters (or even homeless).  Although monthly rental costs for a mobile home vary by quality of location and park amenities, in most markets a family can have a three-bedrooms, two-bath home with a yard for approximately one-half the cost of living in an apartment. 

Not all trailer park residents are poor and in some parts of the country, particularly in northern states, this type of housing doesn’t have the same stigma sometimes associated with that lifestyle. If fact, in some warmer climates like Florida and Arizona, trailer parks make great retirement communities where the average resident is anything but poor. We aren’t talking about older run down badly managed parks but those that are nicely landscaped with grass lawns, car port slabs, and a playground for the kids or visiting grand kids. The better parks also offer a club house, swimming pool, gated security, and many other suburban neighborhood style amenities. These homes have skirts and porches and don’t have the outward appearance of trailers. On the inside they may be finished out with state of the art features such as oval tubs and island bars in the kitchen. 

​The older run-down parks that surround many big cities are the result of unsophisticated owners and poor management practices. Many of these older parks were built by land owners looking for something to do with their property, but lacking the professional experience to manage what was built. They offer the lower rents but accept tenants indiscriminately, do not have (or enforce) neighborhood rules, and often allow community facilities to fall into disrepair. In contrast, trailer parks with professional managers communicate more frequently with their tenants, establish clear rules, enforce these rules, and maintain facilities. Older homes are often upgraded or replaced with new ones as a means of keeping a fresh look and a livable environment. They know rent rates are commensurate with the quality of the park and the trailer. The biggest constraint to raising rents is being careful not to get too close to the level of rates enjoyed by near-by apartments. The gap should be a minimum of 30% to assure a sufficient contrast. 

According to the US Census, mobile homes make up 6.4% of US housing with an estimated 20 million residents. The Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI), states that household median income is only a little over half the national average with about 57% heads of household fully employed and 23% retired. Most units are rented and even the owner occupied ones are rarely moved. Leaving a home behind is often the best option because resale values are often very low. Moving a home is costly - It takes special equipment to move a trailer in and out of a park and un-hooking and hooking up can also be expensive.

​The take away is the true efficacy of mobile homes is largely unappreciated by the general public – especially conventional home owners. This is mostly due to disparaging image portrayal in the media and a lack of understanding regarding a critical housing price-point gap that would otherwise go unfulfilled.  Yes, mobile homes are essential and are more valuable to society than first meets the eye. ​

​About the Author: Kent Dussair founded CDS in 1971 for the purpose of providing professional market and economic research and consulting services. With over 50 years of professional experience, Kent continues to help CDS implement and evaluate effective qualitative research.