living in a mobile home Archives

Mobile Home Factory Visits

January 9, 2017 No Comments

On our way out of town for a road trip we stopped by the mobile home factory in Riverside, CA to see how our little house baby was doing. The day we left for our trip, the house had only begun to be framed. The outline of the house was only clear to us because we have been staring at the blueprints for months and months.

Mobile Home Factory Visits

Mobile Home Factory Visit

We were beside ourselves excited to see our vision coming to life in person. It was actually being assembled in life size, and that small fact was blowing our minds! We took tons and tons of pictures, then we left for what was meant to be a 6 day road trip. And, well…what was meant to be a 6 day road trip turned into a 10 day road trip (whoops). I mean, how do you come home so quickly when you realize how much gorgeousness lies between Los Angeles and Albequerque, NM???

Mobile Home Factory Visits

When we finally ended our trip and were on our way home, we stopped by our house baby at the mobile home factory once more to find the two sides were complete shells. No tile and no flooring, as these are to be added when the coaches are assembled onsite, but an entire shell! Everything was about ready to be shipped to our property.

Mobile Home Factory Visits

We got to cut through the plastic seal and walk through our home. Yay! Dan had a few changes and corrections that held up delivery a bit, but the house was scheduled to be delivered. Whoop whoop! It’s all happening!!!! Yay for our new, simplier life. I can’t wait to live in this place!

Mobile Home Factory Visits

The video below is super shaky, but you can see the half of the house where I seemed to forget to take photos. I think I must have been overwhelmed by it all.

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Removing an Old Mobile Home – Part Two

December 13, 2016 No Comments

Removing an Old Mobile Home – Part One

As I turned onto our street, I could see that the trucks were removing the old mobile home. Hooray! One side of the coach had already been pulled onto the street. The second side was being maneuvered onto the back of a truck. This all happened very fast. It was about 10 mins before the second side of the home was pulled completely onto the street.

Removing an Old Mobile Home - Part Two

I feel so lucky to have arrived at the property in time to capture this amazing process, in photos, for my husband who was out of the country for work.

Removing an Old Mobile Home - Part Two

As the trucks pulled away down the road I felt a rush of excitement trickle through my veins. The removal of this old mobile home is yet another large step toward simplifying our lives and beginning our next chapter in our new custom mobile home. I stared in awe at the now empty lot and imagined what the new coach will look like.

Removing an Old Mobile Home - Part Two

When I drove away, I pulled out of our community and onto our main canyon road. Way in front of me I could see the mobile home caravanning toward the freeway. I sped up a bit so that I could join it’s procession out of the canyon that was home to this coach for the last 40 years. What a spectacular moment. The home is to be repurposed and given to a family who needs a dwelling down in Mexico. So all in all, everyone wins. This old mobile home, that had lived out it’s glory days here in our canyon, will have it’s own renewal. Pages are turning, chapters are ending and beginning, all is good. Goodbye old coach! May your story get sweeter as I know ours will.

Removing an Old Mobile Home - Part Two

Buying a Mobile Home

Removing an Old Mobile Home – Part One

November 28, 2016 No Comments

Removing an old mobile home is a much quicker process than I ever imagined. Two men disassembled our old coach in one workday. They started by removing the carport and awnings. Next they separated the mobile home at the seam, then pulled the sections apart. This unit is a double wide so it was split straight down the middle. Each open side was sealed with a black plastic tarp and it stood in place for almost two more weeks.

Removing an Old Mobile Home - Part One

I was anxious for this part of the process to be over. Our initial estimated move in date was pushed back months, and months, due to escrow hurdles and design time for the new mobile home order. So even though this process is speedy, I was beyond ready to see an empty lot. I drove by our new property twice a day to see if the old mobile home had been taken away but sadly, all was quiet. Just this separated unit stood waiting for a ride down to Mexico.

Removing an Old Mobile Home - Part One

Until one morning – I ran into one of our new neighbors while dropping my daughter off at school. He very casusally mentioned that there were two large trucks parked in front of our property. I high tailed it out of kindergarten drop-off and was very lucky to witness what happened next!

Removing a Mobile Home – Part Two

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Buying a Mobile Home

July 19, 2016 No Comments

We bought a mobile home in a trailer park! Let us just stare at this statement head on for a moment and get some of the obvious concerns out of the way. Is buying a mobile home our dream situation? No. Did we imagine ourselves living in a trailer park? Definitely not. Are we going to be comfortable here? Yes. Are we excited about it? Absolutely!

So here is the scoop – Buying a house in Los Angeles is not exactly easy to do unless you have a large income, bought into the housing market pre-1997, or you have a rich uncle who is willing to front you a down payment. We are in a funny spot where we could buy in a less than desirable neighborhood and be comfortable, or we could buy in a great neighborhood and be handcuffed to the hustle (aka: working our asses off so that we can keep up with the cost of living). Neither one of these options really toots my horn. So, what to do?

Buying a Mobile Home 1

Years ago we heard of this little trailer park and at the time I was not open to living there. Since then, priorities have changed greatly due to changes in health and focusing on child rearing. Finding a way to live a less stressful life in an urban city seems a lot more appealing than it use to. This trailer park I would say, on a trailer park scale, is a solid 9. There is a pool, a gym, a natural lake, it’s in a highly sought after school system, and it is surrounded by gorgeous mountains.

I was pleasantly surprised that there are a ton of young families similar to ours living in this adorable community. We found an old coach (yes that is what they are called) on a lot that allows for a small yard. We decided to re-build so the standing coach will be torn down in the next few weeks.

Buying a Mobile Home 2

Here is where the magic comes in…New home in the mountains, with a yard, and a pool for less monthly than what we are currently paying for rent. I’m floored and extremely excited. My kids can stay at their school and my husband can feel free to explore his career options while we enjoy daily life and still travel. Less stress, less pressure, and more living – SOLD.

The old coach is super groovy, and by groovy I mean it is outdated and has a lot of character. Not the kind of character that I could personally live in comfortably but I still have an appreciation for what it is and the life that has taken place inside of it. We have taken lots of pictures of the old coach so that we can look back and see how far we have come with the space.

This is where our new chapter begins.

Buying a Mobile Home 3

Buying a Mobile Home 4

Buying a Mobile Home 6

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