Tag: Manufactured Homes

Trailers For Sale Or Rent

mobile-018

Three blocks from my subdivision, I can throw a stick in any direction and hit a mobile home. And a chainlink fence. And some curious tire “art” formed into flamingos. And that old man in torn boxer shorts, standing wobbly near his bottle tree (yes, that’s a thing) that keeps his barking doberman company. But that’s not the point. The point is that none of the dozens upon dozens of mobile homes look like this swanky residence.

I want to live in this mobile home. I want that couch and those views of what appears to be a golfcourse (because most mobile homes usually have views of the green), and those curtains, and that record player, and throw in the little girl, please. I don’t have one of those yet.

And while I’ve driven past a whole mess of trailers in my lifetime, apparently my state doesn’t have nearly what the top ten states do.

http://www.bbc.com (yes, the bbc. i know, right?)

Last year’s Miss South Carolina announced her home state with pride: “From the state where 20% of our homes are mobile ’cause that’s how we roll, I’m Brooke Mosteller, Miss South Carolina.” Here, she demonstrates how to prop one up during a thunderstorm.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/

Come on, you know they are not safe in high winds (and fires, by the way). This is not news. And they depreciate instead of appreciate. But none of this mattered when I was young. Back then, I romanticized mobile home life, like an adult version of a fort. No attic, no basement, no five thousand dollar roof to replace every ten years. Just my size. And heck, you can take it with you when you relocate.

Come to think of it, while every home in my subdivision has .20 acres of land, our mobile home neighbors  down the road all have a sweet acre. Enormous expanses of land on which to put all sorts of things, but mostly immobile vehicles. Next to a mobile home. That is ironic, right? I am not trailer-bashing; this is reality. I have been inside nice mobile homes. But dang–not that nice. Not 1952 nice. I just want to know where those trailers are, like the one above. I never see those. Do they exist?

Well, they sort of exist. Parrish Manor in Raleigh, North Carolina boasts manicured lawns (sans vehicles and tire art) and a nice pine-lined creek. Looks pretty peaceful and clean, huh?

pond-with-nessie

An estimated 20 million Americans live in mobile homes, more than any other country. And they aren’t living in new ones. According to the Manufactured Housing Institute, in the late 1990s, nearly 400,000 new manufactured homes sold a year, down to 55,000 now. This necessitates more upkeep and maintenance on existing homes. Do not neglect your mobile home.

Whether it’s motivated by the freedom and mobility of the American way or simply a cycle of poverty that prevents site-built home ownership, mobile homes are here to stay. Just please–put your shirts back on.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24135022
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24135022

Need more trailer posts? Check out last year’s Teepees and Trailer Homes.

 

Teepees and Trailer Homes

I took my state’s history courses when I was in elementary school, but now that I’m a parent, I have to learn the new history (based on which group is currently displeased with its depiction, or what we’d like to collectively erase, or what the editor accidentally cut and forgot to repaste).  You know, kind of like when you’re dating someone, and you choose which past mistakes to reveal (Chinese tattoo, Minor In Possession, difficult break-up) and which to gloss over (lost weekends in Cancun, jail cells, crab infestations).  It’s like that.

www.texasbeyond.history.net
http://www.texasbeyond.history.net

So I’m studying the new Texas history, looking at this picture, under the header, “Tipis: Early Mobile Homes.”  Which makes me chuckle.  First, “tipis” on my lips sounds like “tipp-iss.”  I would have preferred “teepees,” even if that reminds me of toilet paper.  Oh, there’s the school bell!  Enjoy this Monday morning Spring Break history lesson:

When the group was ready to move on, they took apart their tipis to bring with them. The tipi’s wooden poles and buffalo hide could be made into a sort of “moving van” called a travois. The travelers packed all their belongings on the travois, a type of sled pulled by dogs and later by horses.  

Really?  Travois, from the French word travail? Was there a French influence in the Native American culture?

Now nobody thinks of tipis/teepees when one mentions mobile homes.  Most of us picture the stereotypical manufactured home (broken Camaro up on blocks, Christmas lights strung across the porch, where the mildewy couch has caved in, and little spring coils are poking out, like grey hairs on an aging scalp).  If you think that’s a stretch, I can point to a dozen just like that within a mile of my laptop.

Others will picture an R.V. (recreational vehicle), which technically IS a mobile home.  Airstream trailers possess a kitschy coolness in modern times; Miranda Lambert sang about her desire to live in one with homemade curtains.  And as taco truck culture grows, we see more and more Airstreams dealing affordableish foods, including Austin’s own “hey cupcake,” which could REALLY USE A COMMA in its name.  SERIOUSLY, IN A TOWN WITH HALF A MILLION ENGLISH MAJORS, YOU’D THINK SOMEONE MAY HAVE CLUED YOU IN ON THAT ONE.  It’s like the Gin Blossoms and “Hey Jealousy” all over again…

http://littlevintagetrailer.com/
http://littlevintagetrailer.com/

Despite the insipid and omnipresent SWOOSHES covering recreational vehicles, their insides can be pretty keen.  We’ve seen the inside of a concert tour bus; we know how stars are living large on the road (except, of course, for Buddy Holly’s Winter Dance Party tour bus; its heater broke down in sub-freezing weather, which caused his drummer to get frostbite, for which he was hospitalized, which spared him from the chance to ride in American Pie, which crashed on the Day the Music Died, and two days later, the drummer had to rejoin the tour, grieving and frostbitten.)  But other than THAT, folks can really pimp their rides in style, even make them downright classy.

http://www.choices.co.uk
http://www.choices.co.uk
http://www.choices.co.uk
http://www.choices.co.uk

Classy, however, is not a term associated with manufactured homes.

Stereotypes

I have friends and family who live in site-built homes (that’s the term we had to use at the appraisal district), and a couple in manufactured homes.  I have been in manufactured homes that were much nicer than some site-built homes.  But like that poster says, stereotypes are based on reality.  So here’s the question: were trailers EVER COOL?  I mean, this 1950s model looks pretty swank.  No stained wifebeaters on Dad, no chain link fence, no deranged “rabified” Pit Bulls straining to kill.

trailerAnd this isn’t too trashy, although I am sensing some underage recreation behind that snack bar, involving Swisher Sweets and Boone’s Strawberry Hill.

http://vintagechromes.blogspot.com
http://vintagechromes.blogspot.com

So how did THAT become THIS?

the mother of invention
the mother of invention

Yeah, that looks like it’s pretty well-fortified against any sudden tornado, on the off-chance that one might come veering toward it…

Good or bad, train wrecks sell: see Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.  And the network that brought us that gem just debuted Welcome To Myrtle Manor, a reality series about a South Carolina trailer park.  Who knows?  Maybe they’ll become cool again.