I just found this forum and can't resist joining in. We (emptynesters DH and I) lived in 2 singlewides while waiting to build our home on a pretty 4-acre hill, and we really learned to appreciate both of them--except for 15-degree winds sweeping under the second one where it was parked temporarily. Now we're in a stickbuilt on the hill but have recently purchased a small singlewide on a canal in Florida, and I think we both like that at least as much in its own way. The big house simply doesn't compare as well as it should given its cost and upkeep, although I do love my kitchen. The little Florida SW was built in 1962 and never refurbished, so is OLD, and the original part is about 50' long and only about 10' wide inside. It reminds me of Lucy and Desi's long, long trailer. The saving grace is a sideways extension to the living room. Talk about synergy! Simply doubling the original tiny 10x13 living/dining area creates a large room that always surprises visitors, and us, because it feels and lives much larger than just twice the width. The other rooms are tiny but we don't feel cramped because the entire SW benefits from the feeling of spaciousness that one room gives. Another synergy that I have loved in all 3 SWs is the feeling of much larger size that the long hall gives, another reason we don't feel cramped. Our master bed is 40 feet away from front areas, after all, so no surprise that I never woke up when friends dropped by late the other evening. We call that the north wing. Our kitchen is half of a 7x7' square, sliced diagonally, and could be bigger. :) But it works better than I thought it would, and doing sit-down Thanksgiving for the whole family is a project I could pass on to someone else in favor of maintaining an open fridge with salads and sandwiches the rest of the time. An old, cracked covered patio looking out at the canal needs screening if we're to use it in the warmer months, and we have to find another place for the washer and dryer sitting out there for me to be happy with it, but the big negative is the second "bedroom." Like others mentioned, it's like a tiny train sleeper with a single bed, unusable for most friends who might visit, and it's too cramped and dark for us to imagine wanting to use it for anything but storage. Our fun with this little thing gets a big boost, of course, from the fact that we live in a considerably larger home most of the time, but we learned to really appreciate the larger SW we picked up for $2 while building and don't at all appreciate the mortgage we had to take out on the stickbuilt when construction costs ran over expectations. Selling right now is out of the question, but I'm already fantasizing about the possibility of someday ditching it in favor of a larger singlewide (maybe 14 feet wide even!) in a cool-summer area and keeping the winter one in Florida as long as nature allows it to remain in place (zoning probably wouldn't allow us to replace it if it were swept away). I do know I'd want a singlewide again, with views and sunshine from the windows on each side, but in my fantasies it's actually 1 normal-size unit plus 1 or 2 smaller ones joined around a patio with a pergola and beautiful views. Then our 40-foot walk to bed could even be 100. Or maybe not. :) The 13x13 living room in one of the SWs turned out to be one of my favorites ever, so I'd like to copy it for a sitting room. Cozy and terrific for conversation. And, of course, I'd be here getting tips on how to make it even more wonderful.

is this a single wide or a double wide? are you selling it along with the land it is on? 'used' manufactured homes are notoriouly difficult to finance. Especially a single wide and especially one that isn't included with the land. We purchased a used DW on five acres last year - there was also a single wide (used) and it was not even listed on the loan documents. We also paid about 30% down. And, finally, financing is getting less easy to obtain due to the mortgage 'melt-down' in many areas. I truly do not know if I would have been able to obtain financing this year as easily as I did last year. Getting financing on a used manufactured home is rather difficult ..... good luck, Carolyn

You are SO lucky to be renting! Imagine that you had saved a bunch of money in a bank, and one day you learned that everybody who had put their money into savings suddenly had a third of it taken away. THAT scenario is what a lot of us homeowners are living through. Imagine my situation. I owe $136,000 on a house that I could sell now for $90,000. I have to earn $46,000 to bring to the bank before I can sell my house. That is after I replaced the furnace, water heater, windows, doors, fence, porch, driveway, bathroom fixtures (except tub), kitchen cabs, floor, ceiling, lighting, electrical panel in the basement, and after repairing the roof, adding vents, adding attic insulation, stripping wallpaper, and re-landscaping. Does owning a house sound like an INVESTMENT? Not to me. You pay $700 a month, and can walk away with one month's notice. That is freedom. I have to earn $46,000 to unload my house, then find a buyer. Right now, I have it rented for $200 less than the monthly cost of owning it. My DH wonders if we will ever buy another house if we ever leave here (we live in and make mortgage payments in a different house than the one I described above.) If you want to invest money, find a different way. Savings bonds would be a better choice with housing prices still teetering. Think of a mobile home the same way you do a car. It is never worth again what it was worth the day it drove off the lot. My sis and mom bought one, and I just pray that the mobile home outlives my sis, because she will never have the $ to buy anything else. Another thing to know about manufactured housing is that it is made with materials that "off-gas." Chipboard and MDF and even plywood are held together by petrochemical glues. I read about 10 years ago that living in a mobile home had the equivalent effect on your lungs as smoking does. I could not spend more than a few hours in my mom's former mobile home without having asthma symptoms. The newer the home, the more chemicals continue to off-gas. We are now more aware of the effects of off-gassing, but I don't believe that the industry has eliminated the risk. Your baby may be healthier in an established building like your apartment than in a mobile home.

My subzero is going on 28 years now. And still going. Mine is also the model with the water and ice in the door. that wood in the kitchen looks beautiful and very appropriate for the PNW. So you may (probably) still get another 10+ years out of this. Some considerations are: If you did replace it now, what would you replace it with? If you were going to do, another subzero of similar size I would think about keeping this one until it dies. although making new panels would be an expenseI would check into the dimensions of panels for current models. What would the cost be for new panels that would tie into your new design. How does this size work for your new plan? Would you go smaller or larger.? If you plan on larger some day then your cabinets you put in with this one would not accommodate a bigger refrigerator down the line If smaller, say 36 inch fridge, you could either make filler panels around the new refrigerator later or even custom pullout spice racks. If you are not putting in another built in, the quality of a regular refrigerator would be very different. Plus you may not like the bulk of a regular refrigerator. if you do decide to replace it, I would definitely keep it in the garage as an extra frig. in my vacation house, I have gone through 3 frigs in 10 years. and they either die in summer when I have a house full of guests or in winter when there is nobody here and it leaks all over the floor. While waiting for repairs from the place i had bought #2 from, I was left without a frig for 6 weeks over summer. I hope you decide you love that warm wood, though.