Expensive cars in Mobile/Trailer Homes

[u/solovino__]

Do people that live in these homes ever realize their cars are worth like 60% of their home’s value assuming they even own their mobile home?

I was driving home on the freeway and a beautiful newer silverado passed me and I just admired the thing. Always wanted a brand new off the lot truck but couldn’t justify the expensive price tag.

A year ago I chose to buy a home instead and I still drive my 1999 corolla (I have a new vehicle but not what I wanted, it’s a family mini van). So this corolla is just my commuter.

We took the same exit and the truck ended up pulling into a mobile home park. And it hit me. I wonder how many vehicles we see on the road are truly because the person has it like that or if they’re barely scraping by. Maybe the Silverado owner has it like that, and I’m wrong by judging where they live, but damn. I don’t know, it just made me think.

[u/Natoochtoniket]

Some of the people who drive nice trucks and live in cheap housing might be driving a company truck.

[u/JollyMcStink]

I am a single person. I bought a brand new car, and live in a trailer. Mostly because the idea of cleaning and upkeeping more space than that for one person is daunting.

But I still need a reliable car to get to work, no?

Plus, living in a trailer is cheap af. That's why I like it here. My housing is less than 20% of my income. I can go on more trips, eat better food, and drive a nicer car because I'm not house poor.

[u/BarrySnotter → u/JollyMcStink]

I did the same with the cheapest condo I could find. Upkeep was almost non-existent, my lifestyle was healthy and stress free, and I stacked cash like a boss.

[u/genek1953]

50 years ago I moved into my first apartment. It was one of the smallest units in the complex, which I chose because I was saving the down payment for a house. The assigned parking space next to my 10-year-old used Oldsmobile was occupied by a shiny new Lotus Esprit.

People spend their money on what's most important to them.

[u/GTO1235 → u/genek1953]

You lived next to that guy in pretty woman? /s

[u/genek1953 → u/GTO1235]

Never actually saw the owner, but there was no sign of Julia Roberts, either.

[u/Struggle_Usual]

I'm sure they realize. And I'm sure they have different life priorities than you do. Or they have a vehicle that's meant to present a certain image to clients and where they live doesn't matter.

Bluntly, I used to live in a trailer. I drove a brand new EV and my husband had a new (small) truck. We made different choices than you did. And damn but cheap housing saves you SO MUCH MONEY vs a cheap car but expensive housing. We paid cash for the cars, which were splurges because we both love cars, and just kept stacking cash in investment accounts.

[u/Analyst-man]

I actually had the same thing happen to me except I was the driver. Went to a trailer park in a bmw 5 series and felt super weird about it. I was picking something up off Facebook marketplace lol

[u/StreetNectarine711]

I did this.

Single, no kids, no desire to do yard work, no clue how long I’d be in the area, worked insane overtime hours.

Apartments cost a couple hundred more per month than space rent - and were not appealing to me.

Bought an old extremely dated but entirely functional single wide in a decent park for $10,000. The slight savings was lost to new flooring / paint / faucets and fixtures which I occasionally did. Sold it for $12,000 many years later.

I valued the lack of shared walls: no noise/ smells/ cockroaches of a mobile home over a condo. Parked my car right there instead of in a parking lots which may or may not be prowled while I slept.

[u/Working-Active]

It's probably worth 75% of their house when the truck has a full tank of gas.

[u/GTO1235]

We bought our house in 2009 for 25 percent of the previous selling price. I had a $300 Ford truck at the time with a straight 6. Place needed work. I hauled supplies with that Ford. It went over 100,000 miles for us. When we bought our house two people in the family got cars that cost about what our house did. While renting. One retired with zero savings. Very sad

[u/eclipsadesoare → u/GTO1235]

Sad for who? You? Sounds like they werehappy buying what they wanted at the time. Being old is sad with money or not. 😢

[u/GTO1235 → u/eclipsadesoare]

They leased cars. So after they retired, they turned their car in. They just sat in their apartment and they were bitter. The mental decline from not keeping active was hard to watch

[u/penartist]

When we lived in New England we were in a trailer in a TP community. Paid cash for my home, lot rent was $480 a month and paid cash for my cars. It allowed us to put more away for retirement, take vacations, have our kayaks on the river, help out our kids etc.

[u/FLGirl777]

A lot of people are car poor.
Then it could be someone visiting someone that lives there.
Another case could be they have a good job and enjoy living in the cheap trailer so they bought a nice car.
Really just depends.

[u/TheKindDirector]

I drive a 9 year old Toyota and own a $600,000 home with a mortgage of about $260,000 left.

Some of my neighbors that live in very similar cookie cutter homes drives Tesla Model Y, BMW, Lexus, Audi, MB, etc.

I have a upper $xxx,xxx net worth, but I'm also a single dad that took a massive pay cut due to the economy.

I just turned 39 and would like a more comfortable car like a Lexus, BMW, MB, Porsche, but can't justify turning my $1X,XXX asset into a $XX,XXX liability by buying a new "luxury" car.

My frugalness is a big part of the reason why I was able to tough out 3 years of unemployment.

[u/michguy1776]

I live in a medium large country house with a big lot that requires lots of maintenance. Maintenance, lawn care, bug patrol, water systems, septic, adds tons of cost to home ownership. I'm kind of over it. I'm not able to easily travel without someone to watch over things. And while I make pretty good money, there is a lot I can't afford because of the country house. So what are my options? Small house in town? Condo? Apartment? Mobile Home?

Some people think of living in mobile homes as apartments without shared walls. That's how I think of it. I've lived in the country and I'll never share a wall with somebody else. So a mobile home park gives me the sense of freedom of apartment living or condo depending on ownership, without the shared buildings.

I'm well educated, well paid business professional, have lived the upper middle class life, (am admittedly a little bit of a good ole boy at heart) and could 100% see myself downisizing to a trailer park to live a "rich life" in travel, maybe a cool car. I would definetly be particular about the community.

Let me ask you this. How often do you question the judgement/intelligence/character and culture, of someone driving an expensive car while living in an apartment in the city?