Baby Boomers are aging and they make up a large segment of mobile home park residents. Will mobile homes meet their needs in the years ahead? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review if mobile homes can fit the needs of seniors and offer a great living experience for them.
Episode 369: Are "Trailers" User Friendly For Aging? Transcript
Baby boomers were those born between 1946 and 1964. I'm a baby boomer and I'm proud of that status, and I used to be part of the largest population demographic in the United States. Now, millennials have taken that number one spot, and baby boomers have been relegated to number two, but there's still the second largest segment of the US population. But since we house a lot of people who are baby boomers in most Mobile Home Parks, it begs the question, can they age properly in Mobile Home Parks? Are mobile homes conducive to those who have differing needs as they age? This is Frank Rolfe, the Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast. We're gonna explore how well mobile homes adapt to those who are aging. Now, we all know that the baby boomers right now range in age from around 60 to 80 years. The life expectancy of most people in the United States is around 80 years.
So definitely a lot of baby boomers who live in Mobile Home Parks will at one point probably have to leave possibly to go into assisted living, possibly into nursing care. So how long can they live in there before that will be required? How well do mobile homes fit in with an aging lifestyle? Well, let's look at some of the finer points. Number one, and this is very important, everything in a mobile home is on one level, we're the only form of housing in America that is always just one level. Yes, there are a few two bedroom mobile homes out there. I'm sure you've seen on dealer sales lots. I've only ever seen one in 30 years in a Mobile Home Park. They're frightfully expensive, well over a $100,000, but your classic single wide, double wide, even triple wide is all on one level.
And we all know that seniors often prefer housing on one level because they have trouble going up and down stairs. So that's a positive feature of a mobile home. So I think we'd have to give mobile homes definitely a check mark for that one. And then also, it's easy in mobile homes to add grab bars, grab bars are things that allow you to grab onto something if you feel like you might fall over. And we all know that slips and falls are a major health risk for seniors. And mobile homes, it's very easy to attach those grab bars. You can definitely find the studs in the walls to go ahead and attach them safely to bathrooms, hallways, kitchens, bedrooms, it's not an issue. So there's another plus. They don't have thick plaster walls that are really hard to attach things to securely. Now, mobile homes are very, very simple to add such features as grab bars. So there's another positive.
Also, the hallways in most mobile homes are wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair if that should be necessary. Now, I can't say that for all mobile homes because those built back in the '50s and the '60s, and the ones that were typically only eight feet wide, those corridors probably don't. But virtually all of the home is built since 1976 under the HUD seal ERA. Should have hallways wide enough to allow for a mobile home, and that's great. So there's another check mark as far as mobile homes fitting in well with people who are aging. Another item is that mobile homes have a very small footprint. They're not large, they're small by square footage. They can be large. You could have a large double wide mobile home that's over a 1000 square feet near in 2000 square feet in size. But most mobile homes out there are not that large.
And as a result, it requires less cleaning ability and also lower utility cost. So once again, check mark for that. That's definitely good as you age to have lower utility bills and less requirements for strenuous cleaning. And then here's a huge one. This one's very, very important. And that is that mobile homes and Mobile Home Parks are probably the lowest priced detached housing in America by far. Right now we live in a world in which single family homes are between three and $400,000 based on what market you're looking at. And the average apartment rent is over $2,000 a month. Contrast that to the average income of a retiree. Most people on social security make $1,200 per month. That $1,200 would not even pay the apartment rent. It wouldn't even come close to any of the costs in the single family home. Yet, you can live in most American Mobile Home Parks on 1200 a month and still live very well. The average lot rent in America is $300 a month. If you made $1,200, well that $300 a month would actually fit into the ratio of 30% of housing costs. No one else can touch that. We are literally the dollar tree of housing.
And I think no one would dispute that. Even if you are in a mobile home on disability, which we have some residents who are, you can still make it happen. You can still live in that mobile home happily and pay your bills and have no issues whatsoever despite the fact you have very, very low income. And that is extremely important to most seniors. When people make the transition to retire, which most people do beginning at the age of 62, then what happens? Well, the majority of their income goes away. They get a hold of social security and they get in the pipeline to get those residual monthly checks, but they see a substantial drop in income. And as a result, Mobile Home Parks are perfectly situated for those people to withstand those big cuts in their budget. Additionally, other seniors who live in brick homes, sell those in retirement, put the cash in the bank and then buy a mobile home for cash. And again, it's the low cost of mobile home that allows those people to actually be able to afford retirement, afford to be seniors. So they're just delighted with that price relationship.
So what's the downside then? If mobile homes are so good, if they check every box of everything that we know that seniors need, then are there any negatives to mobile homes? And the answer is one big one. And that's the simple fact that mobile homes sit about two and a half to three feet off the ground. Now why do they do that? Well, contrary to what most people think HUD required them to do that back when they invented the whole HUD certification process. They've never allowed mobile homes to be removed from those boat trailers they arrive on. So it's a pretty safe bed. If you see a mobile home in a Mobile Home Park, it's gonna be up in the air. And that's a very unique feature, which is very unlike a single family home where you may just simply step a few inches over the threshold and be inside.
With a mobile home, I've gotta get two and a half or three feet in the air, that would necessitate stairs. Now, before you say, "Well, that just ruined the whole thing now, because even though they live on one level, they have to get up to that level." But in many cases, that can be worked around with the addition of a ramp. You'll often drive through many Mobile Home Parks and see a smattering of ramps. These ramps allow easy access for seniors into those mobile homes, including those who are already in a wheelchair. So that's how you get over the one big hurdle, the Mobile Home Parks and seniors is simply by building a ramp. Now, you'll be shocked, most Mobile Home Park owners will happily build a ramp if asked to do so because they don't wanna lose any customers. You lose probably about $10,000 when you have a customer turnover, particularly a situation where a customer abandons the home.
So it's just a bargain to go ahead and build the ramp. And additionally, there's a very large number of nonprofits who will also do that for those who simply ask free of charge. If you can get over that one hurdle, though, what you have in the form of a mobile home is probably one of the most successful housing options for seniors today. And that's why in most Mobile Home Parks, I would imagine you would often have a tenant base, which would be as much as 50% of those who fall into the baby boom category. These homes are well positioned for the future. Of course, they're also adaptable back to a younger audience in the years ahead. But the good news is, at a time when baby boomers are the second largest population segment, mobile homes fit their needs very well indeed. This is Frank Rolfe from Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast. Hope you enjoyed this. Talk to you again soon.