I saw this article in USA Today and just had to pass it along!
Hell, I can't even afford a focking trailer!!!
Mobile home madness: Prices top $1 million
By Matt Krantz, USA TODAY
MALIBU, Calif. — The crazy California real estate market has come to this: a million-dollar trailer.
Location, location: Charley Chartoff put a $1.4 million price tag on his mobile home in Malibu, Calif.
By Stephanie Diani for USA TODAY
A two-bedroom, two-bathroom mobile home perched on a lot in Malibu is selling for $1.4 million. This isn't a greedy seller asking a ridiculous amount no one will pay. (Photo gallery: Mobile home boasts of spectacular views)
Two others sold in the area recently for $1.3 million and $1.1 million. Another, at $1.8 million, is in escrow. Nearby, another lists for $2.7 million.
"Those are the hottest (prices) I've ever heard," says Bruce Savage, spokesman for the Manufactured Housing Institute. He says prices in another hot spot, Key West, Fla., top $500,000. As if the price isn't tough enough to swallow, trailer buyers:
•Don't own the land. As with most mobile homes sold in Malibu, the land is owned by the proprietor of the trailer park, in this case, Point Dume Club.
•Still pay rent. Not owning the land means paying what's called "space rent" that is as high as or higher than many mortgages in other parts of the USA. On the $1.4 million trailer, space rent is $2,700 a month.
•Can't get mortgages. Since the buyers don't own the land, most of the mobile homes are paid for in cash or with a personal property loan that usually amounts to $100,000 or less, says Clay Dickens, mortgage loan agent at Community West Bank.
Why would anyone pay seven figures for a trailer? It gets you more than the typical mobile home. The $1.4 million trailer is in a gated, guarded community with a shared tennis court and panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. It also is on a larger-than-usual "triple-wide" lot.
Buyers are willing to pay such prices just to get into Malibu, where the average list price is $4.4 million, says Coldwell Banker broker Rick Wallace.
But, it's still a trailer with a modest kitchen and faux wood floors. Many still have trailer hitches attached.
Sellers couldn't be happier. Charley Chartoff, a 29-year-old Coldwell Banker Realtor, is selling the $1.4 million trailer after living there about three years. Chartoff won't say how much he paid, but neighbors say prices have climbed about threefold in that time.
Developers are partially driving the rise. Janet Levine at Maliblue Holdings has bought several old homes and is installing high-end "mobile villas" to put up for sale. Levine and others bristle at the term "trailer." To be permitted in the park, the home must be perched on piers (a high-end version of up on blocks).
Some neighbors, though, can only marvel at the prices. Longtime resident Jim Schwartz, 92, says he got an $800,000 offer for his trailer home, which is not for sale. He declined. But, "You come to me with $1 million, and we'll talk about it," he says.
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And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
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Well, we just went to the Cajun Crawfish Hut, had Raw Oysters, Boiled Shrimp, Fried Catfish, Fried Shrimp and Fried Oysters... Beer and brought two bottles of wine for the ladies.
At home changing to go out cruising on a 29' dual inboard 302ci boat towing two jetskis.
Talk at ya laters.
<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>
Damn man, and they're trying to move my area upscale by GETTING RID of the trailer park...down by the river...across the train tracks from the rest of the city...next to a gravel transfer site.
I should try to buy this place, maybe it will be worth $50k in a few years...
<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
I don't see what is keeping that ridiculous real estate market from completely collapsing over there [heck, even here].
I am amazed that these conditions can exist on this planet at the same time that people are getting by on almost nothing, millions and millions of people, all over the rest of this planet. Simply, amazing.
<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>
Oh, I look forward to the real estate market going bust in a way. Speculation in the real estate market has pushed ownership out of reach of most americans.
Politicians and economist usually refute that, pointing to increasing home ownership. But most of the people who own their own houses now are those who could have done so before, and simply changed their priorities. Not counted are those who live with their families because they have to, not because they want to.
<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
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