moving MH to next lot

[lauren6]

hi all. ive read this site extensively and have learned quite a bit. I did a search on this topic and went back through all of '09 and '08 and couldnt really find anything. Heres the situation;

we are buying a lot to build a house on. Since we want to build-as-we-go, with no mortgage, it could take 24+months. in the mean time, we had planned to move an old MH to our lot.

the owner of the property owns the old MH , situation on the lot next door (about 300 -500 feet away). We have 2 options;

1. "rent" it for a year on his lot (meaning, we'd fix it up in lieu of rent; we wouldn't own it). approx cost: $2000, less if we 'cheaped out'.

2. move it to our property, then fix it up, we own it out right. approx cost, with moving and repairs $4500+.

I'd like to move it to our property, But, I'm getting quotes around $2k for moving alone. Honestly, the MH isn't worth that much.

How can we move it cheaper? Can we rent axles and tow it over?

We only planned to keep it for 2 yrs, but if its on our property and its already fixed up we could possibly rent it out afterward for income, maybe $500/mo. I'd much rater do this; it's just that the moving seems so expensive!

[Greg]

Hi & welcome. You are the only ones that can make that decision. I would add a few thoughts to your's. If you "Fix in lieu of rent" you may be doing more fixing of his than building of your's. Now if you move it to your land you may have the same deal plus you would now have a home to do something with after your's is built. As for renting it after you are done, I personally think that it might turn into a major headache plus the privacy issue.

Unless that particular home is a condition of the sale you may be money ahead to find another home that is livable and move that one. If you do have to take that one, you should be able to move it 500' with a farm tractor. You should be able to find either on Craig's list, through a "used home" dealer or a park that is scrapping a home. Greg

[Yanita]

Hi,

I am with Greg on this one. There are also other factors to include...moving this old home may cause even further damage/repairs. Are you prepared for the electrical hook up, septic etc...all this requires permits and inspections. Generally something "free" is not free after all.

I am going to move this to the off topic forum as this is not about repairs. please follow there...

Yanita

[flcruising]

Assuming this is a single-wide? Doesn't sound like it has to cross a public road to get to your lot, so, it wouldn't require a DMV permit. How is the ground condition? If it's hard and level, I could see it happening with a friends tractor or dually. Axles could probably be purchased or barrowed. The beam width of mobile homes, I'd imagine, are pretty standard, but a tape measure would tell for sure.

Honestly $2000 doesn't sound that high to get the house moved. I was quoted $600-800 just for a relevel last year, but that's for a double too.

[lauren6]

thank you for your comments.

it is a single wide. the road is dirt, not smooth or paved. the mobile home is $500 - works out cheaper/same to pay the $500 and $1500 - $2000 to move it a short distance, than to get a free one and move it further ($2500+).

I think anything free is going to need some work. i understand, and i hate the fact that any $$ into this is taking away from our house - but i dont see many other choices. we live in NJ now, new house is in NC. it's cheaper over the long run than hotels. perhaps a camper is a better alternative when considering all the add'l costs of the MH.

[Greg]

A good used RV may bring more money when it comes time to sell it, worth checking out. Greg