Living In A Mobile Home Community
Brant Greathouse:
Hey, I'm Brant Greathouse, and welcome to Meaningful Capitalism. I'm here with Carl Moore.
Carl Moore:
Hey, today we are going to talk about what it's like to live inside of a mobile home community. So some of the things about living inside of these communities that has really surprised me as we started investing in this is how many tight-knit groups of people move in. I remember in that first community, there was a lady and she lived there, and her son and daughter lived there. And this house came available for sale. And we're supposed to go down there two weeks later to look at it and buy it. And we scooted our trip forward one week, and before we got there, the lady that her son and daughter-in-law lived there, she sold it to her best friend even though she didn't own it. She went and found the old owners and the best friend. So people are moving into these communities and living in close community with people that they are related to and that they already have good friendships with.
One of our communities, one of our maintenance guys, him and his wife live there. She works remotely. So she's got her office on one side of the home. He's more of a hands-on guy. So he's actually worked, done some stuff for us. I know he does contracting. I know he worked at the country club. And so he moved his mother-in-law in and was able to care for her after she broke her hip. And then one of our managers actually, her daughter lives still with her because she's 16, but her son, who's about, I think he's close to 30, him and his wife and their two kids live on the next street over inside the same community. And so we're seeing people come to these communities and not just a regular neighborhood. They're bringing the people they want to do life with together.
Brant Greathouse:
I think it's really amazing to see people come and support each other and pour into each other's lives and be there to watch kids grow up and help when there's needs that arise. It's really an amazing way to live. And today, there's so many individualistic kind of, "I'm going to do me and you do. And I don't really ever see anybody outside of..."
Carl Moore:
Right. Well, they talk about it takes a village. And I see that so often. There was another guy, and he came to us, and he said, "I want to buy three brand-new homes, and I want them all side by side. My son's going to live in one, my daughter's going to live in the other, and I'm going to live in the middle." And I thought that's crazy, that's bizarre, but there's an attraction to it. But one of the things that I think has to change for somebody to consider what life inside of one of these communities looks like is what did our parents think about a mobile home community? And what's the generation for us and right behind us think about a mobile home community?
Brant Greathouse:
Yeah. It's night and day difference today versus what they started out as... Back in the 30s, 40s, 50s, this was a new trending thing that had never been done before. A home on wheels and something that's smaller that's affordable. So it broke into the market and has morphed over the decades into something that's... I see it as it's getting better and better as things go. Used to you would go into a mobile home community and you would see things that tended to get really run down. Really, the picture that our parents have in their minds is like old cars broken down in the front with trash everywhere and stuff that's just not really clean and well kept. It doesn't feel like a neighborhood. It feels like sort of packed in like sardines. But what we see today is totally different.
Carl Moore:
I feel like a word difference here is a trailer park.
Brant Greathouse:
Yeah. Exactly.
Carl Moore:
A mobile home community. And just those words, I feel like almost, it shows this chasm that you're talking about.
Brant Greathouse:
It redefines what is possible in-
Carl Moore:
Joe Dirt.
Brant Greathouse:
Yes, yes, yes. And so today what we're seeing is a massive influx of young married and 30-somethings that are just starting off kicking their families off, and they're wanting to move into something that's affordable, and they're in a point in time where things are just sky high. I think you mentioned it in a previous podcast that the average single-family home in Texas is about $350,000. So you got to have... That's not something that a newlywed couple is likely going to be able to jump right into. And that being said, they're still wanting a neighborhood that's safe, clean, affordable. They're still wanting something that they can have different amenities in that they can enjoy walking trails, or a basketball court, or a little splash pad for kids to run around when it's hot outside.
Carl Moore:
Right. Yeah. And that's one of the things that we've tried to build here. And I was thinking back, I saw one of our invoices from one of our first mobile homes that we bought from Jessup Housing there in Waco. And so they moved that house out there. And for the purchase of the house and the full mobile home setup, one of the things, I don't know if our listeners know this, we don't make a lot of money off of selling homes because we want to run good communities. So we would sell that home for about $56,000, everything all in. And the price from February of 2020, when I saw that invoice, until today, that identical home is now $78,000. But if you were to go online and search for that-
Brant Greathouse:
Yeah. It's crazy.
Carl Moore:
... to buy it from a dealer, those are right out a $100,000 to buy that mobile house.
Brant Greathouse:
Sometimes more. So I've seen some of that [inaudible 00:06:43].
Carl Moore:
You still have to buy your air conditioner. You still have to set it up. You still have to buy the land, you still have to make sure you have water and sewer connections. And so you're looking at 120, $130,000 just to buy one of these. And so when people are coming to communities, they're almost able to cut off 40, 50% of those overhead costs to live in a community and move in.
Brant Greathouse:
Here's the thing, the dealers wouldn't be selling those unless it was something that people could... It's not too big of a bite. But honestly, being able to buy some homes in a community that's already set up and it's already there, it's already ready to go, and these are nicer, newer homes, and get it at that lower price, it's a no-brainer.
Carl Moore:
Right. Well, I think, so one of the guys that lived in our community, he ran his own business. And I remember sitting talking to him and he said, "Yeah. I'm saving up." He said, "I knew I could move here for less, and I've been saving up and I'm going to buy land." And I remember when he finally bought that land, and he had all those things, and he went to move his house out. And I just remember getting to shake his hand and congratulate him, "Hey, you've made this happen." And in that way you can buy this home, moving into a community, save money and moving into your dream. You don't have to spend all that money at once.
Brant Greathouse:
It's true.
Carl Moore:
And so some of the live numbers that I researched and found that are really preventing people from going to stick-built homes and that are keeping people thinking, "How can I just survive today?" I don't know what the future holds. Interest rates keep climbing. Every time I open the news, it talks about inflation. Some of those inflation numbers are crazy. One of the ones that I thought was most interesting, and I think they were trying to say eating out, but it is specifically said, "Food at work in school." And it's up 95%. I went and got a hamburger the other day, it was $10.
Brant Greathouse:
Yeah. What's the deal with all of this, "Oh, it's about 8, 9% inflation"?
Carl Moore:
It's just fast food.
Brant Greathouse:
No. In some instances, you're seeing 95% inflation.
Carl Moore:
Oh. And so eggs are up 43%, butter is at 33%.
Brant Greathouse:
Wow.
Carl Moore:
You want to save some money, this is not one that's a family friendly option, but pet food's up 15%. That's more than if you buy your food at the store and bring it home, it's only up 12%. So your dog's costing you more than your kids. Bread is at 14.8%, milk's at 14.5%. And then energy overall, just to keep your house warm, to keep your house cold, to cook on the burners is up 17.6%. And so they're talking about this inflation being 8%, but that average is in so many other things. But when we just break it down to some raw numbers, these are the things you can't avoid. You can avoid buying something new, or taking on a new car payment or... I love upgrading my phone, but I'm like, "You know what? My phone's going to be good for another year because I don't want to take on additional costs." But there is a plus side, sporting events are down like 17%. You can get into a concert for less. Smartphones are down about 20%. So there-
Brant Greathouse:
If it balances out there, I'd say mainly because they're having trouble getting people through the doors.
Carl Moore:
And I think that's exactly it. So this affordability, living inside of a community is something that's real and something that we're seeing people in droves, bring in stories where they're bringing in friends.
Brant Greathouse:
Huge, huge trends. In a time like this, in fact, we saw something similar to this back in 2008 where people were in just droves just moving into manufactured housing communities and now we're seeing the same thing again, and it's a smart move.
Carl Moore:
Absolutely.
Brant Greathouse:
It's a very smart move. And it's-
Carl Moore:
Plus you get to pick your neighbors.
Brant Greathouse:
Yeah. Come on.
Carl Moore:
Oh, that's so great. Well, I'm Carl Moore.
Brant Greathouse:
Brant Greathouse. This has been Meaningful Capitalism.
Carl Moore:
Thanks for watching.
