What to do with old mobile homes?

...........sometimes called trailers and other times manufactured homes.

In Arizona a mobile unit older than 1976 cannot be un-affixed from land to be affixed as “real property” to another parcel. It is likely few lending institutions will lend on such a property even if it stays on the existing lot.

Many communities are raising farms of these structures. Large hulking pieces of metal are sitting on, often, abandoned property. This does not make for a safe or attractive environment.

Send it all to the dump :(

.................Well.. I suppose you could try the dump. The dump comes with costs; dump fees and landfill

overfill issues.

Recycle, Remodel , Reinvent

These structures can be taken apart with a couple of hard working folks in a weeks time. We are currently working with a property owner and the City of Douglas to transform an abandoned trailer park. The park had 7 units, 1 of which is new enough to be remodeled and remain on site. The others need to be removed. We hired a 2 man crew to start dismantling and sort the parts.

We've gotten metal from both units. One unit was assembled on the outside with screws. The sheets of metal drilled off cleanly....We have choices;

scrap for cash, reuse, or bring to the dump.

This is the case with much of the other material. Sinks and plumbing can be reused , some lumber also. Windows will reuse to some extent but they are generally single pane and not very good insulators.

Upon starting the project folks began popping by to inquire about the trailers. We informed everyone that they were no longer able to be Real Property but they were welcome to take them anyway.... Most folks left realizing they couldn't use them.

However, there were a couple savvy ideas:

A private party has committed to removing 2 of the units to bring to Mexico to provide much needed affordable living.

Another party in New Mexico has taken the steel bases from the units we stripped. They are going to be used to build new manufactured homes with insulated panels.

This leaves 2 remaining units

.....and I believe we are going to strip them. We plan to reuse some of the material on a lot with one of these old mobiles. It is a double lot with trees and roses. There is also an old 1974 single wide. This is our city green project. We've got some exciting plans for this property.....I'll blog it soon.