Even with over 300 households currently in manufactured home communities in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the tried and true solution to the challenge of affordable workforce housing does not appear to be a priority.
According to Steamboat Today, the Yampa Valley Housing Authority, with city and county support, owns the Fish Creek Mobile Home Park that has 68 units. Even so, manufactured housing has not won much attention in community discussions around solving a growing supply and demand problem in the city, or Routt County.
Yet, opportunity exists to acquire homes at reasonable prices.
Pete Stimmel, owner of four manufactured homes, and the land beneath them in nearby Hayden, is looking to sell and asking $215,000.
“I bought it 15 years ago as a business investment, where it generates income (about $27,000 annually) through rentals,” said Stimmel.
“The homes are part of the old Rainbow Mobile Home Park, which is no longer intact.”
Stimmel says the property has been home to permanent residents and also to construction workers spending a season on projects like upgrades to the Hayden Station power plant. The homes are close to convenience stores and transit, and are served by municipal water and sewer services.
“A new owner could raise the monthly rents by as much as $100 and still be under the market. Or, a purchaser could almost live in one of the homes for free after collecting rent,” said Stimmel.
Christian Talli, a local realtor, has a similar scenario.
He has what he considers to be a rare manufactured home listing on the market in the Hilltop Homes neighborhood that also includes ownership of the lot. The cost? $275,000.
“Hilltop Homes is a neighborhood where many residents have taken the option to replace original mobile homes with stick-built or modular homes on the lots that were re-platted after the neighborhood was able to purchase the land from the mobile home park [sic],” said Talli, who formerly lived in the neighborhood.
“When you drive through Hilltop you see a wide variety of small footprint homes, from custom timber-frame homes to modest manufactured homes.”
While the home on the lot needs work, Talli says that the situation offers buyers the opportunity to lock up a lot close to schools while they save money toward a future permanent home on the site.
“And a local bank is willing to lend on the purchase,” said Talli.
A Practical Solution
As scenarios like the one in Steamboat Springs continue to play out throughout the country, MHProNews and MHLivingNews continue to cover the challenges as well as the numerous advantages that the manufactured housing industry provides in the U.S., making affordable, quality housing easily available to most of the population.
Giants and independents alike are actually “doubling down” on the manufactured housing industry, with ELS Chairman Sam Zell being quoted as saying during this interview, “Everyone calls them trailer parks. Pencil head, it’s not a trailer park.“
For more on manufactured housing being the solution that’s hiding in plain sight, see MHProNews and MHLivingNews Publisher L.A. “Tony” Kovach’s insight into the opportunity linked here. ##
(Image credits are as shown above.)
Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.
