I want to own the land I live on and some places I’ve looked at have zoning that doesn’t allow you to place a mobile home, but will allow you to build a container home. Given that zoning constraint, is there a clearly better option?
Prefab >>>>>>>>>> shipping container, unless you meet the conditions above.
I also have a hard time believing there are many places with zoning constraints preventing mobile homes that don’t also have building codes that would prevent shipping containers, or at least make them even more expensive and difficult to turn into a residence.
Notbruce,
Maybe they allow manufactured homes placed on permanent foundations. That may still seem like a mobile home.
Yeah, that’s what I meant by prefab. A single or double wide. It’s very difficult to restrict those through zoning.
Manufactured housing can also be indistinguishable from site built to most people. Higher end, 2 story prefabs are pretty common on the east coast.
My land/house fantasies have turned more towards just a little old house that might need work. Those can be found just about as cheap as bare land.
I’m already living that dream. Mid 3 figure mortgage payments ftw!
I have yet to do any of the needed work.
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Some places only allow manufactured homes to be placed in mobile home parks, which I don’t want to live in because I want to own the land.
There seem to be some places which only allow houses built on-site. I’m certain I’ve seen some YouTube videos where container home builders described their plans as a way around that requirement.
Pics?
Why would you want to live in a place like that to begin with? That doesn’t even sound like zoning, it sounds like deed restrictions in some hellish subdivision full of Karens.
I’ve only read approx. the last dozen posts itt so I don’t know what all your considerations are here, but it kind of seems like you’re approaching all this backwards. Find out roughly where you want to live, then find land in that area where you can build (or park) whatever the heck you want on it.
Some of this terminology gets confused and misused, so I’ll try to explain what restrictions you might encounter and where they come from.
Unincorporated land will have the fewest restrictions, probably just a perc test for septic, if even that. Other than that, you can legally do wtf ever you want with a building. Unincorporated land is pretty much always going to be rural.
If you’re in any kind of city or town, there will probably be building codes. These regulate how buildings function - things like structure, fire safety, energy use, etc. - and they will likely be the most stringent requirements you come across. Most municipalities in the US have building codes based on some recent edition of the International Residential Code. It will be very difficult to get a shipping container to meet IRC requirements, particularly on energy use in most climates.
Many (but not all) cities and towns also have zoning restrictions. These regulate land use, such as allowed occupancies (residential, commercial, industrial), building setbacks, curb cuts, height restrictions, etc. It is possible, but rare, for zoning to disallow manufactured, non-mobile housing on a residential lot.
Finally, there are subdivisions with their own deed restrictions. As the name says, they are tied to the land deed and exist independently from any municipal regulations. This is where busybody neighbors find the authority to complain about what color your house is, how often you mow your lawn, what race of children are allowed at the neighborhood pool, and whether or not you can have one those déclassé double wides on your property. Subdivisions can sometimes be found on unincorporated land, but not very often. Most new residential developments of the past half century are subdivisions. The number and types of deed restrictions can vary widely, along with how strictly they are enforced.
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We have developments here that are similar and basically a rotation of a few designs down whole streets and across many blocks.
Yeah, those could have fooled me.
They all seem like there is something off about them at first glance, but I’m not sure I would have been able to come to the conclusion that they were prefab.
If someone asked me, “Prefab or not?”, then maybe I would have figured it out.
I flipped a couple houses in my mid-20s. I did a lot wrong in every facet, but still made some money and it was the best job by far I’ve ever had. No clients, no customers, no boss, no employees. It’s like playing poker only more interesting, fun, productive and less adversarial and exploitative.
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My first choice, which I mentioned early ITT) is non-rural Florida reasonably close to a decent poker room. The other places I have thought about (Las Vegas, the Midwest) are not places I would consider shipping containers.
I can use Hillsborough County, Florida (where Tampa is) as an example. They are subject to the Florida Building Code, which is based on the IRC.
In their code, the definition is listed as:
Manufactured home/mobile home shall mean a structure designed for and limited to single family and duplex usage meeting the Federal Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards, promulgated to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Only a few zoning districts allow “Dwelling, Single-family manufactured/mobile home”. More allow “Dwelling, Single-family conventional”. The same zoning that allows the latter also allows “Dwelling, Modular”.
I haven’t really delved into codes too much and have relied on testimony of people who have said they had problems placing certain kinds of homes on land they own. Mostly, it’s been people who wanted to live in RVs, mobile homes, or tiny houses and not people wanting modular homes. On the other hand, I have read people describing how they were able to get permits for container homes.
A shipping container seems like a good place in a hurricane.
In practical terms, I think the important difference is going to be whether or not it’s attached to a foundation.
Container home builders regularly tout their ability to withstand hurricanes if built on a foundation and properly tied down.
One big problem with your plan is that Florida sucks.
Live poker is awesome in Florida.
You’d think the point of an RV is to be able to leave before a hurricane hits.