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Mobile home living

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  • 20-08-2018 8:50pm
    #1
    Little Less Conversation
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 189 ✭✭


    I came across some very nice mobile homes, one for €160,000 😱. Are people using these as holiday homes or what? It seems very expensive to have it parked up in a trailer park. The more I look into mobile homes, the more I want to but I can't because I need planning permission for a mobile home. I found another nice mobile home for €40,000. Why can't people have this an option for housing instead of a mortgage for €150,000 or more?


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    #2
    Eric Cartman
    Registered Users Posts: 26,283 ✭✭✭✭Eric Cartman


    the disgusting state of haunting sites in Ireland kind of soured the image of trailer park living for many Irish people, you can have as fancy a mobile as you like , tell any Irish person you live in a mobile home and prepare for suspicions about you.


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    #3
    Stanford
    Registered Users Posts: 1,178 ✭✭✭Stanford


    Mobile homes are not classified as long term habitable dwellings and so there are issues with insurance and planning


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    #4
    enricoh
    Registered Users Posts: 4,841 ✭✭✭enricoh


    lived in one for 7-8 months while building an extension cost me 2.5k. I stuck a stove in it n it was cozy - when the stove was on! Wouldn't fancy living in it full-time but plenty do


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    #5
    the_syco
    Registered Users Posts: 37,295 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    Most are built for summer living. Year round, you'd want insulation.

    And as said, you tell anyone you live in a mobile home, and you'll find that peoples opinion of you will drop.


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    #6
    Little Less Conversation
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 189 ✭✭Little Less Conversation


    the_syco wrote: »
    Most are built for summer living. Year round, you'd want insulation.

    And as said, you tell anyone you live in a mobile home, and you'll find that peoples opinion of you will drop.

    I really don't care what people think. And I'm sure the homeless people wouldn't either if they a roof over their head.


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    #7
    Mrs OBumble
    Registered Users Posts: 25,717 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    the_syco wrote: »
    Most are built for summer living. Year round, you'd want insulation.

    And as said, you tell anyone you live in a mobile home, and you'll find that peoples opinion of you will drop.

    Say you've joined the worldwide Tiny Home movement.

    OP it comes down to the middle class lthinking they know what everyone else needs. Lobby your TD.


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    #8
    JimmyMW
    Registered Users Posts: 695 ✭✭✭JimmyMW


    Mrs OBumble wrote: »
    Say you've joined the worldwide Tiny Home movement.

    OP it comes down to the middle class lthinking they know what everyone else needs. Lobby your TD.

    Yeah because thats the way to get planning, we all saw how well that worked out the last time with new developments in flood areas, rural McMansions with no services etc, etc, etc.


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    #9
    El Tarangu
    Registered Users Posts: 1,615 ✭✭✭El Tarangu


    JimmyMW wrote: »
    Yeah because thats the way to get planning, we all saw how well that worked out the last time with new developments in flood areas, rural McMansions with no services etc, etc, etc.

    Well, I don't think that investigating a different method of how we house people is necessarily a bad thing - people can lobby for good things as well, you know.

    Op - one of the problems that people buying trailers in America face (and it is certainly something that would arise if you were buying one for €160k) is getting a loan to buy one. Trailers depreciate rapidly in value once they are bought, much more like cars than houses - so, while banks are happy enough to accept houses or apartments for collateral for loans, as these tend to go up in value over time, they are often unwilling to lend €60k for a trailer, as in a couple of years it will be worth only €30k and they will have no recourse if things go t*ts up.

    As another poster alluded to, they tend to more popular as a full-time dwelling in warmer areas; we don't get many very cold winters here, but I wouldn't fancy living in a trailer during some of the winters we have had recently.


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    #10
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    I live in what they call a demountable dwelling, a kind of hybrid between a house and a mobile home. Get some odd looks from folk but it is a roof etc. Insulated for winter and like an oven in the heat this summer. Had it not come available I would seriously have thought re a mobile home. From necessity.


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    #11
    the_syco
    Registered Users Posts: 37,295 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    Little Less Conversation wrote: »
    I really don't care what people think. And I'm sure the homeless people wouldn't either if they a roof over their head.
    You'll be living illegally. You'll get fined for not having planning permission. You'll be refused planning permission as you'd be using it as a primary residence. You may be refused entry into places, and you'll probably find it hard to get more than one pint in any local public house.

    By homeless, do you mean those living rough, or those that don't live in a house which they own? The former may like it, but the latter will demand insulation once the colder weather hits.


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    #12
    Little Less Conversation
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 189 ✭✭Little Less Conversation


    the_syco wrote: »
    You'll be living illegally. You'll get fined for not having planning permission. You'll be refused planning permission as you'd be using it as a primary residence. You may be refused entry into places, and you'll probably find it hard to get more than one pint in any local public house.

    By homeless, do you mean those living rough, or those that don't live in a house which they own? The former may like it, but the latter will demand insulation once the colder weather hits.

    I know about the legalities of planning permission and I know I won't get it for a mobile home. I can knock this idea on the head. But it's the neighbours and other people's perception of you for living in a mobile home and I couldn't care about. It's well they can afford their own homes but some of us can't.


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    #13
    beertons
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 23,063 ✭✭✭✭beertons


    A friend of mine rents a mobile, on the site of an unfinished house. Big site, just him and his gf. It can be done. He has power and hot water, reckons the shower is amazing. He's a bit alternative, so gets away with the scruffy look. His gf works in a callcenter, and you'd have no idea she lived there. Try it out for a while at least. He reckons he has never led such a healthy life, freshly cooked food every day, because the storage is so low in freezer/presses.


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    #14
    Little Less Conversation
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 189 ✭✭Little Less Conversation


    beertons wrote: »
    A friend of mine rents a mobile, on the site of an unfinished house. Big site, just him and his gf. It can be done. He has power and hot water, reckons the shower is amazing. He's a bit alternative, so gets away with the scruffy look. His gf works in a callcenter, and you'd have no idea she lived there. Try it out for a while at least. He reckons he has never led such a healthy life, freshly cooked food every day, because the storage is so low in freezer/presses.

    Would love to try it but don't see a way around the planning permission. You'll only get planning if it's used as temporary accommodation while you wait until your house is built. I want to use it as permanent accommodation and avoid a mortgage I can't afford.


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    #15
    Little Less Conversation
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 189 ✭✭Little Less Conversation


    I don't understand the expensive price tag on mobile homes if it can only be used as temporary accommodation.


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    #16
    Thatnastyboy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,254 ✭✭✭Thatnastyboy


    In my locality there are hundreds of families/individuals living in - mobiles, log cabins, demountable dwellings, trailers, prefabs - the works, none seem to expose themselves online so you won't hear about it much (unsurprisingly)

    Many of them are there decades too, a lot of which have developed from - a small caravan > mobile home > log cabin, and none of them saddled with the burden of a mortgage that isn't even enough to cover the cost of buying a traditional home.

    Foul water connections would be the greatest barrier, many are connected to existing/neighboring septic tanks, the rest - I don't know, perhaps unauthorised septic tanks or perhaps other means of disposal that don't involve a bucket & a black sack.

    The authorities will only act if the structure is reported, and from what i can tell, not too many get reported around here.


    Regarding perception of peers, there's no stigma here anyway - at all. perhaps if you tried it in an area where this type of living is not commonplace you might feel the effects of curtain twitching.. we're talking about an area less than an hour to the capital before anyone claims its very rural.

    I'd be living in a mobile/cabin if I had the space tbh, but I don't unfortunately.


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    #17
    beertons
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 23,063 ✭✭✭✭beertons


    Little Less Conversation wrote: »
    Would love to try it but don't see a way around the planning permission. You'll only get planning if it's used as temporary accommodation while you wait until your house is built. I want to use it as permanent accommodation and avoid a mortgage I can't afford.

    He actually bought a site recently, with an old mobile on it. He's in the process of replacing the old one, and getting a newer one. He reckons 10-15 grand will get him a basic one.


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    #18
    Del2005
    Registered Users Posts: 18,903 ✭✭✭✭Del2005


    Little Less Conversation wrote: »
    I really don't care what people think. And I'm sure the homeless people wouldn't either if they a roof over their head.

    You mean the "homeless" who refuse houses because they are too far away from Mammy. There's thousands of vacant homes around the country that people could live in with little work but instead people want to live in a free house* or trailer next door to Mammy and moan about the lack of houses.


    * A token rent which is a fixed % of your income is free when a private person is expected to pay market rates.


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    #19
    the_syco
    Registered Users Posts: 37,295 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    Little Less Conversation wrote: »
    I don't understand the expensive price tag on mobile homes if it can only be used as temporary accommodation.
    Bricks are cheaper than metal.


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    #20
    riclad
    Registered Users Posts: 8,184 ✭✭✭riclad


    A few years ago i visited a mobile home park near swords,
    i think they cost around 25k to buy.
    They are connected to esb, water.
    Its like a trailer park.
    I think some people live there all year round.
    They are built to a high standard.
    Better than most flats in dublin.
    they have showers , they have cookers,fridge etc
    From what i remember you buy the trailer, you pay esb, and x amount rent per year.
    i,m not a legal expert , maybe you can live there because you are buying a trailer,
    you do not own the site .
    you just own the trailer.

    I do,n t think theres 1000,s of council house,s empty that no one wants,
    theres 1000,s of empty units that are boarded up,
    because the council may need to refurbish them before they rent them to a new tenantIf someone refuses a house , it,ll go to the next person on the housing list


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    #21
    Feets
    Registered Users Posts: 271 ✭✭Feets


    Can I ask the op what websites have decent pictures for the higher end mobiles? I found the roadmaster website not to be great.


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    #22
    line_of_fire
    Registered Users Posts: 116 ✭✭line_of_fire


    I bought a mobile home and stuck in parenrs back yard and have lived there 2 years whilst saving for deposit. Again prob should got planning but got away with it. Installed central heating and was toasty even during store emma. my only problem is now to find someone to buy it so I can put furniture in my new house


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