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We have found a 14x80 classroom trailer for sale that is in excellent shape but it needs to be converted into a home. Is this a crazy idea or can it actually be done??

One of the great things about Mobiles are their versatility. The outside walls are the load bearing walls, so you can do about anything you want inside. Add a wall, take down a wall, structurally it really makes no difference.

The issues you may have will be plumbing & electrical. I think if it were me I would PLAN on doing a total renovation, that way the walls would be open to do any utility work.

So YES it can be done, is it going to be worth the cost - you have to do some figuring and decide for yourself.

Greg

That is what we are trying to decide. The classroom has two rooms and a bathroom with a sink and toliet. It also has a sink in the open classroom part. It has no washer and dryer hookups. The price of the trailer is a little more than what we want to pay, however it does have the AC vents in the ceiling and it has tall ceilings for being a trailer. We are undecided right now.

One thing to consider is budgeting the classroom/renovation cost compared to a used mobile that needs TLC. "Deals" pop up all the time, so take a good look around.

We have looked and are continuing to look but the we haven't been able to find anything but a 12'x56' and that is just too small for our family. We are thinking about this long and hard before we make a decision because we want to stay within a certain budget...we want to be debt free within 5 years...so it is going to have to be a great deal!

As far as the actual work goes, Are you planning on doing that yourselves of hiring it out? If you are doing it work, the material prices I would put at between $5-10,000 (using prices here in the Northeast) . If you are hiring the work out, triple that.

Greg

Greg we would be doing all the work ourselves. That is what I was figuring it would cost. The cost of the classroom is about $10,000 also. We are still looking and hoping to find something that will work for us.

Is that with the land under it or the class room alone? Here $10K will buy a very livable home in a park.

Greg

Take a drive through local parks that you might want to live in. Ask the park manager or maintenance crew if they know of anyone who is selling, or may be a little behind on their lot rent. Craigslist around here usually has a few homes for sale, too. $10k around here would get you a very nice used home as well.

It is for the home only. We plan to move it to a park to pay off the small loan we would have to get and then find land to put it on. We have been able to find a few homes already in a park but they are above 20k. We are still continuing to search though.