var json_comments = new Array("
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Coles_Law
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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When a tornado comes by, every mobile home is wind powered.

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4 replies
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SgtBeavis
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@Coles_Law:

There it is. The QOTD. Well played good Sir. (^_^)

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Alternate
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@Coles_Law: Mobile homes, taking you to new and exciting places.

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CumaeanSibyl
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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I wouldn't pay $100K for a mobile home, that's for damn sure. You can get an actual house for a lot less around here.

Plus, I've lived in an apartment that size (with my husband) and it's awful.

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7 replies
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pecan 3.14159265
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@CumaeanSibyl: I thought the size was probably at least reasonable, but I clicked on the link and wow, it's only 350 square feet. That's a dealbreaker! $100k for 350 square feet?! They're nuts.

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Real Cheese Flavor
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@CumaeanSibyl: For a single person it would not be that bad though.

But $100K for 350 square feet is insane. I'd rather buy an old railroad caboose that's been converted for a lot less (even when you factor in shipping/transportation): [www.ozarkmountainrailcar.com]

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Klaus_Kinsky
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@CumaeanSibyl: I spent less than that on a sailboat that can live off the grid. And when I'm tired of the view from my waterfront property, I move.

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egoods
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@Klaus_Kinsky: My car was 45k, and when my girlfriend kicks me out that's going to be where I live... not sure if that's relevant but it seemed to go with the conversation.

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Michael Belisle
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@CumaeanSibyl: But can you get an off-the-grid home for $100,000?

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DH405
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@Michael Belisle: I bought a good house for $51k here. $49k (Plus tax benefits) would have me off the grid VERY easily.

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Evil Otto - sleep deprived ftl
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@DH405: That's because nobody wants to live where you do. Up here you can't touch anything for less than $250k, and that's a tear-down, usually. Average home price is more than $400k. $100k, building equity, and pride of ownership sounds pretty good. You can live there while you're saving up to buy a 'real' house instead of building someone else's equity renting.

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iron_chef
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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it's good design. It deserves a better name than a mobile home.

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5 replies
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lmarconi
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@iron_chef: The idea is cool, but does anyone else get the feeling that it kind of looks like a dorm?

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subtlefrog
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@lmarconi: Yeah - in general, badly executed. There's probably a market for this, but less so among people who will live in 350 sq ft. of dormishness.

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s73v3r
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@subtlefrog: There's a movement called the Small Home movement, in which people choose to live in tiny houses, sometimes around 100 square feet. In some ways it seems silly, but then when I look at where I'm living now, it doesn't seem that bad.

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lchen
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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it's nice. i would live in it, my apartment is about the same size.

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Paladin_11
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Great. A higher quality tornado magnet. As if the originals weren't good enough at what they did.

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2 replies
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P_Smith
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@Paladin_11: In case you never noticed, not everyone lives in Oklahoma or Kansas. Or do you assume that tornadoes happen in mountain ranges too?

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TVarmy
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@P_Smith: Tornadoes follow the mobile homes. It's a fact. Tornado alley only exists because of all the mobile homes in the region. If they spaced them out over the continent, tornadoes would not be as big an issue. Sadly, the zoning committee in my town has yet to see my genius.

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yume_ryuu
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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I live in an apartment smaller than a trailer. If it wasn't so damn expensive I would move it to a non-tornado prone place and live there.

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3 replies
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rockasocky
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@yume_ryuu: We chose to live in Tokyo, we are fated to live in tiny apartments.

Unless you're filthy rich, then disregard.

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Rachacha
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@yume_ryuu: Based on the phone number associated with the owner, it appears o be located in Toronto, so you should be relatively safe from Tornados.

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yume_ryuu
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@Rachacha:
Well getting it from Toronto to Tokyo will be a little tough...
Oh and I guess finding space in Tokyo will also be a little hard.

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jamar0303
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@yume_ryuu: Finding space OUTSIDE Tokyo, however, is a piece of cake. Apparently there's so much land to go around in Shizuoka that real-estate companies in CHINA are buying it up.

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JeffMc
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@yume_ryuu: The nice thing about mobile homes is you can stand them on end in Tokyo. :)

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yume_ryuu
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@JeffMc: Yeah that would make sense, its such a sideways place anyway.

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srh
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Neat design. Nicely appointed.

Wait, what's that? 350 ft^2 and $100,000?

Oh.

Never mind then.

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1 replies
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Crovie
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@srh: That's about par for the course where I live. Well, if they actually made 350 sqft. apartments. I'd buy one.

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bohemian
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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The problem with classifying it as a trailer is it ends up with the stigma of a trailer. Most trailer parks are pretty lousy places to live. If someone wanted to mass produce these there would need to be some better alternative for where to locate them.
Having something fully contained and fairly off grid that you could put in a rural site might have benefit as a second home.

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2 replies
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pecan 3.14159265
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@bohemian: I laughed at their description that you could put it in the wilderness and the \"urban trailer park\" - there's no such thing, IMO. Most trailer parks are terrible places, I agree. And nearly all of them are far away from any areas of convenient public transportation (other than buses) due to the fact that it's generally always more expensive to live near a city rail system than it is to live far away from one.

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Anonymously
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@bohemian: Great, a trailer park full of smelly hippies.

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Elcheecho
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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i would live here for $50,000. $800 a month rent for 5 years comes out to $48,000.

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1 replies
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Elcheecho
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@Elcheecho: in that i could only see myself living there for 5 years.

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Heresy Of Truth
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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I love trailers and mobile homes. Part of that is I can pick them up dirt cheap, and rework them into what I want. I could add wind or solar to an existing trailer for far less, and be happy with my green options.

In my last trailer, I gutted the inside, and used recycled cabinets, and materials to redo the interior. I paid very very little to do so, as I did all the work myself.

If you take away the affordable aspect of a trailer, then folks like me end up thinking, what's the point.

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DrLumen
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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\"it was built to the highest standards without compromise\"

That explains the cinder blocks and 2x4's holding up the 'porch'. Can you get it with a '72 Chevy up on blocks in the front yard?

A rose, or mobile home, by any other name...

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quail
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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In the 90's our local paper ran an article about a small minority of people who were selling their $300 to $500 thousand dollar homes and moving into trailers. They sounded like the happiest bunch since their cash flow went up like 100% a month. The article ended with all of those interviewed wishing they'd moved out of their expensive homes much sooner in life to live a simpler style.

But I must agree. It would all depend on where your trailer was parked as to how happy you'd be with it. Some parks are excellent, but most trailer parks deserve the stigma.

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4 replies
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bobloblawsblog
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@quail: actually, thats what were looking to do. we close on 10 ACRES dropping the $4k/mo mortgage

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bobloblawsblog
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@bobloblawsblog: Sh*t sorry, i meant were we close on 10 acres in dec and plan to build as we can afford it, so we can drop the $4k/mo mortgage til we can afford it - til then we'll live / work out of a old trailer (MANUFACTURED HOME if its after 1978) til the house is complete. and it will be 1200 sq ft and LESS to build , with land included, than this trailer @ 100k.

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Toffeecake
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@quail: Plus I bet it would be great for all those couples who's kids have grown and gone, or even older childfree couples. A lot of people seem to have \"too much house\", and really feel it in this economy.

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catastrophegirl chooses not to fly
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@quail: there's a whole lifestyle movement about tiny houses. and often you can get around city codes and taxes by putting them on wheels.
i've been fascinated by it for a while. [and of course went out and bought 1600 sq ft]

[tinyhouseblog.com]
[www.tumbleweedhouses.com]

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Radi0logy
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Damn hippies

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evilpete
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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How if I can get it air dropped on to 200 acres of that cheap Oragain/Washington state wilderness they sell on late night TV.....

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invormation
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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As a kid, I lived with four other people in a 750 square foot home off the grid...and it was actually awesome. If I wanted to live alone, this would be my dream house. I think it's beautifully designed.

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GitEmSteveDave_ Natural H1N1 Cure
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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I only buy my mobile homes from someone I can trust...and also someone who can take a crescent wrench to the face 5 times.

+ Watch video



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nightshade74
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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I know I know... but I just got emailed
this.... When you said \"trailer\"
I had to share this video....

_embedded
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1 replies
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mariospants
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Here's another nice one: Matthew McConaughey bought it:

[www.prweb.com]

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Yurei
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Nope. Because at the end of the day, it's still a trailer. And if this trailer's a rockin, don't come a knockin D:

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1 replies
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kalaratri
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@DrLumen: If it didn't LOOK like a trailer, I might consider it an option. The 'rents have a lot of land and are starting to reach the age where they need to be looked after, but I don't want to put an eyesore up in the backyard.

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SaraFimm
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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How does it handle below freezing and 120F degrees? It's only big enough for one person in my mind. Of course, I'm 6 feet tall so most places (and cars) are made too small for my size.

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2 replies
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Skipweasel
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@SaraFimm: The only time I've stayed in a mobile home it was freezing inside - wasn't even that cold outside! Don't know what the rules are in the US but in the UK they're exempt from the energy saving rules - or at least they were when the one I was in was built.
I've been warmer in tents.

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Verucalise (Est.February2008)
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@Skipweasel: Wow, you must have been in one shitty mobile home.


Grew up in those things, and although I never plan to live in one again- it wasn't that bad. Guess my parents did the best they could. They aren't super insulated, but usually not THAT cold! (and I lived in mobile homes manuf. in the late 70's early 80's.)


My parents own a brand new one right now, it's gorgeous on the inside and BOY DOES IT GET HOT! They build them much better than they used to be. Although I wouldn't own a trailer, I have definitely shopped around for modulars and doublewides.

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mommiest
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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There were a bunch of different models on display in DC at the Solar Decathlon a couple of weeks ago. All were small and utilitarian. Houston's entry may be mass-marketed in the future, and it is built to withstand hurricane-strength winds. I think they were estimating the cost at about $85K. They were all much bigger than this, too.

[www.solardecathlon.org]

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mommiest
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Sorry, I should have said Rice University (in Houston).

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Triesharder
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Umm....\"
Complete with dual flush toilet, gray and black water tanks, full kitchen with propane powered fridge and stove, microwave and richlite counters.\"

\"Quite possibly the world's first, completely self-sufficient, ecological trailer design, the miniHome features ....\"

Which is it?

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1 replies
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jp7570
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Urban or urban? Maybe you meant \"urban or rural\" or \"urban or suburban\"?

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Buckus
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Looks alot nicer than the typical mobile home. While small, I thought that just meant you were \"living green\"

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h3llc4t, breaker of office dress codes
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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It's cute inside. I've lived in tiny spaces, and if I were single I could probably do it. There is no way that the boy and I would not murder each other living in that thing though.
Plus, I doubt it'd stand up to a wave of zombies. They'd come shambling down the hill and that thing would go crowd surfing like a 15 year old at Lollapalooza.

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HalOfBorg
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Mobile homes: They are beer cans to tornadoes.

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celeb8
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Is that a combination staircase and bookshelf? A clever idea as long as the staircase isn't used too much...

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1 replies
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danno5-0
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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@celeb8: And as long as you don't have muddy feat.

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Bob Lu
November 13, 2009 4:35 PM
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Check this out

[www.greenbuildingadvisor.com]

The basic unit is about 720 sq.ft and cost about 75K. It is not really an \"off grid\" house but you can upgrade it with optional solar panels.

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