Manufactured home communities aren't just in rural Pa. Owners on rented land are often unprotected.

[FakeNoose]

Philadelphia Inquirer link: https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate/mobile-home-low-income-buyer-affordable-manufactured-home-philadelphia-fed-20230703.html

Note: this article is about mobile / manufactured homes that are placed on land this is RENTED - not owned by the resident. It's about the financial difficulties of renting the property on which the manufactured home is placed.

Mobile homes and similar single-family dwellings that are built elsewhere and placed on rented land have long been a low-cost option for aspiring homeowners across Pennsylvania.

Manufactured housing communities are disproportionately in rural areas, but they’re not exclusive to small rural pockets. In Pennsylvania, a slight majority are in urban areas, particularly in suburbs outside midsize and large cities, according to the first statewide analysis of these communities, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Trends in lot vacancy suggest that demand for these homes is strongest “on the outskirts of larger urban areas, where they may represent a more attainable option for lower-income home buyers,” according to the report, which looked at the subset of manufactured housing communities in which homeowners rent land.

These manufactured home communities, including many just outside Philadelphia, provide unsubsidized affordable housing in areas that have lower poverty rates than the state overall, unlike formal subsidized housing developments, which are more likely to be in economically distressed areas, the analysis found.

- more at link -

Article also says: "Owners in manufactured home communities who rent land are among the lowest-income homeowners in the country, according to the report released last week. Their incomes are lower than both buyers who purchase homes that were built on site and manufactured home buyers who own land."

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Usually there is a time limit on the lease, like 99 years

and I don't know if rents can rise or by how much. Typically there are rules much like condo associations. What the plan is for the land or home at the end of the lease period???

[FakeNoose]

2. I'm in Allegheny County and I know there are zoning laws that prohibit them

... in a lot of areas. A few are grandfathered in, but the towns and boroughs try to prohibit them anyway. To be honest the best thing to do is buy the land and put your own mobile/manufactured home on it. But according to this article, most of these people just don't have the resources or the credit to do that.

[usonian]

3. On rented land everywhere (I am in CA) the home is cheap but the land rent is insane.

It's just like renting with a $75,000 - $100,000 or so down payment.

A brutal, total ripoff and why is nothing done, because NOBODY CARES outside the occupants, and they have no pull.

I live in an owned-land double-wide, by itself, which is actually a very nice home.

Best to my PA brothers and sisters.

[Deminpenn]

4. The New Yorker had a big story a while ago on the rented land

Large investment companies are buying up trailer/mobile home parks and jacking up the rental fees knowing the homes can't actually be moved and owners have no real options but to pay the rent.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/15/what-happens-when-investment-firms-acquire-trailer-parks

[FakeNoose]

5. Yes that's exactly what's happening, and not just in Pennsylvania but all over

There's a layer of anonymity because the owner-companies are called things like "ABC Property Management" and they buy in states where they can't be taken to court. Or maybe they can but it would be cost prohibitive.