Investigate your potential new neighborhood prior to buying or moving a mobile home.
When purchasing a mobile home, it’s a good idea to do some research before signing any paperwork.
There are several things you can do in order to obtain information and a bit of background on both the home and the neighborhood you are about to occupy. A few suggestions for beginning questions are: What kind of park is this? What kind of neighborhood are you dealing with? There are several trusted websites you can visit that will help you get statistics when you start to consider your options. This will give you a good idea of the other residents and if there have even been serious complaints.
But don’t just rely on a few numbers or opinions. You might want to do a little investigating on your own. Try these tips:
First, drive through the park at different times throughout the week. This will give you a good sense of the daily routine. By going in the evening you’ll know what to expect once everyone is home from work: whether it’s a loud neighborhood, or not, or if you witness any disturbances. Drive through on a Friday or Saturday night to get a sense of the party life in the area. If you’re not one to stay up until 4 a.m. on the weekend, you might want to find out of the neighborhood is occupied by night owls or just regular homebodies.
Second, you need to know what your neighbors would be like, as well as what the park manager is like, since you’re going to have to deal with them both. You can collect this information at the same time. Knock on the neighbors’ doors and ask them about the manager and whether he or she is easy to deal with. This will give you different perspectives while allowing you to speak directly with your prospective neighbors. You can get a lot of first hand information this way!
Third, although we don’t suggest you interview kids in the area, they can give you a lot of information just by observing their activities in the park. Now, for a disclaimer: DO NOT sit in your car and watch them. This could make you look suspicious and frighten them. However, you can still observe (from a distance) if kids are smoking as they walk up and down the street of your potential new residence. You can listen to what they are saying. Are these using profanity? This will give you a good sense of what their home life is like, leaving you to determine if it’s an acceptable place for you and your family to live.
For more information on buying and selling homes, visit our home page.