A REALTOR'S GUIDE TO SOUTHLAKE MOBILE HOME PARK

Syed ( Sid) Farhan | 17 May, 2020

In the past 25 years, I have seen traffic and congestion grow in the Bay Area. Being a Real Estate Broker all these years, I have had numerous buyers who can afford to buy multi million dollar houses and many who just cannot. Either they cannot afford to buy, they will not qualify for a mortgage or I have had buyers who qualify to buy but will not, because, they don’t like borrowing for religious ( Islamic halal ) reasons. This blog is for the second category, if you can afford to buy you should buy a $1.5 million house and I can sell you one.

SOUTHLAKE MOBILE HOME PARK is a affordable solution to living in the bay area.

There are many Mobile Home Parks in the Bay Area. Most are 55+ parks , what this means is One person living in the home has to be 55 years old and over and the other occupants could be 35 yrs and over. Some Mobile home parks are All ages parks, means people of all ages can live there. Fremont, CA has three Mobile Home Communities . 1. Besaro Mobile Home Park- Age restriction 55+ This park is walking distance from the Lowry Masjid, perfect for aging parents. 2. Niles Canyon Mobile Estates- Age restriction 55+ next to the Alameda creek 3. Southlake Mobile Home Park- All ages . For the purpose of this Blog I will concentrate on Southlake Mobile Home Park, general advantages and disadvantages of Mobile Home Parks. If you want information about any other park in the Bay Area, shoot me an email a SAFarhan1@Gmail.com or call my cell 510-409-7315 and I will be glad to answer your questions .

SouthLake Mobile Home Park is located at 4343 Automall Pkwy, Fremont, CA 94538 . This falls in the Irvington High School District which has excellent rating great place to raise kids. Why are schools important even if you don’t have kids to raise? Schools are important because if and when you sell your house it will be easy to sell and you will get a good price for the house. Further, a school will tell what kid of neighborhood you are living in.

With the rising cost of living , it has become difficult for parents to live in the bay area. I have found SouthLake Mobile Home Park a Affordable solution for this problem . There is easy access to Highway 680 and Highway 880 for commuting to work.

The average rent for the Southlake Mobile Home Park is about $1,250 per month, I have seen some rents close to $1,600 and as low as $900 per month, depending on how many times the house was sold in the past. Because every time the house is sold, rent goes up 15% for the new owner. This is why some spaces have very low rent, because they never sold there house and some have high rent because these spaces changed hands more often. Further The rent increase is 3% every year and 5% every 5 years. Rent includes garbage and water. If you decide to live here, you will have to identify a house for sale, once you are in contract , you will apply with the Park Management to get approved as their tenant. After you have been approve by the management , you can close escrow and move into the house that you bought. So essentially the land belongs to the Park and the house belongs to the owner. These Manufactured Homes are on a temporary foundation, means that technically you can move the house to another location.

What are Mobile Homes? Mobile homes were built before 1976. After 1976 , these Homes are built per “HUD Codes” are highly regulated by the State Government and are called Manufactured homes or pre fabricated homes! As mentioned before In a Mobile Home Park, the Land is owned by the owner of the Park and the home sitting on it is owned by the tenant living there. These homes sit on a temporary foundation.

This park also offers a) Car Wash area, where residents can wash their cars. B) two heated swimming pools, c) Community Hall to have parties or community gatherings d) Play area for kids. E) Ample Guest Parking d) Motor Home and recreational vehicle parking. As you may know, there is hardly any Motor Home Parking available in Fremont, most storages have been sold to developers, if you are a resident in Southlake Mobile Home Park, you can rent a parking space for your RV at a nominal price of about $50 per month. F) Basket Ball Court g) ShuffleBoard court h) This park has a lot of ducks and a private lake in the recreation area. i) pet friendly with some restrictions.

Financing : It is difficult to get loans on these Manufactured homes, interest rates are higher compared to conventional loans on residential housing. That being said, I can still find financing for you just call for more information.

Myths : 1. you can be kicked out of the park if a developer decides to build houses, Yes, it could be argued that it is possible, but no I don’t think it will happen, Why? I talked with City of Fremont officials, they said This property is zoned Planned District P-69-2 with a land use designation of Low Density Residential which only allows the mobile home park on that land. If it is sold it would be highly unlikely that the property could be redeveloped as it would require a General Plan amendment and rezoning with City Council approval. Further,there is PGE easement almost half way through the park, that makes it less desirable to build multi story buildings so close .

2. Property prices don’t go up, False: if you see comparable Manufactured homes sold , prices have been consistently going up .

3. The Value of mobile homes is like cars, goes down. – False, it does not go down.

4. Life of a mobile home is less than a regular house- False, if you take care of them well maintained, like any other construction these houses last for a long time.

Does it make financial sense ? Lets put dollars and cents down :

Compare it to buying a Single Family Home. Okay, so Hypothetically lets say you buy a 1,800 sq foot Single Family residence in the Irvington School District, New construction. You could probably buy one for $1,300,000 . You happen to have $500,000 cash to put down, loan amount $800,000 Payment $3,648.41 ( calculated at 3.625%) Property Taxes $1,354.17 insurance $80+ $100 ( Water and garbage that you don’t pay in a Mobile Home Park)= total monthly $5,182.58

Now, Instead of buying the Single Family Home, you Do the following : You buy a run down home in Southlake Mobile home park, Assuming you get one for $165,000 , you go ahead and dump the old home and put a new 1,800 sq ft. Manufactured Home total cost ( Estimated) after move in $335,000 plus the original purchase price of $165,000 = $500,000 . Your Monthly payment is : $1,300 ( Rent) + $312 ( Tax ) +$ 45 ( Insurance) = $1,657.

It comes to mind that a) Rent is for life- remember on the Single Family Residence, the Property tax is for life also which is almost equal to the rent on Manufactured Home. b) Rent increases 3% every year – remember property taxes on Single Family Residences go up every year as well.