For sale: Trailer w/ocean vu, $1 million obo

[Mizmoon]

So wonderfully Californian, Marsha Weidman's home has it all--along the beach, far from noisy traffic, with a Jacuzzi used to watch sunsets over the Pacific.

For this, she and her husband recently paid $1.05 million.

For that, they got a trailer, built in 1971, without any land.

Plus, the family must pay "space rent," which at two Malibu parks dotted with seven-figure trailers ranges from $800 to $2,500 monthly.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/chitribts/forsaletrailerwoceanvu1millionobo;_ylt=Am8ZGOPkCk2H56_bULUlDicDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[Squatch]

1. Better link?

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Saw That Yesterday. Unbelievable!

Being in debt to one's eyeballs is now fashionable, i guess.
The Professor

[SoCalDem]

3. I once located a 3 br manufactured home right on the beach

for $25K...in Baja ...

[expatriot]

4. I hope they really love their jobs and the pace of their life.

To think how much they'll spend on the mortgage and "space rent" every month.... probably close to our entire living expenses for a YEAR. And we get the ocean any time we feel like it with a two and a half hour drive to San Diego.

[mike_c]

6. let me guess....

Two and a half hours to SD-- are you south of Ensenada? Or over toward San Filipe?

on edit-- man, those folks in the OP are NUTS!

[expatriot]

17. my login has misled you....

For some long forgotten reason, I chose expatriot as my login back 2002 yet I am not expatriated. We live in Yuma, Arizona which is 2 and half hours from SD going 80 on I-8. I probably exagerrated a bit, depending on what their mortgage payment is... it is more likely to be 2 months of their housing costs are equal to our entire living expenses for a year.

[mike_c]

21. yep-- I assumed Baja....

Probably out of wishful thinking-- I LOVE the peninsula. Still, your essential point about the OP remains. I'm in a sort of similar situation-- 8 miles or so from the Pacific, a nice bike ride to the beach or 10 minutes by auto, and I'll bet they pay as much in a month or two for their housing costs as I pay in an entire year. Easily.

Home prices in my part of norcal have skyrocketed in the last few years. I wasn't in a hurry to buy a house when I got here eight years ago (good thing too, considering my recent divorce), and now I'm right on the edge of being priced out of the local market, despite having one of the better jobs in the area. Most local folks simply cannot compete with "equity migrants" from socal. But even if I did buy a home here, my standard of living would be shot to hell in the current market-- my monthly housing cost would at least double. It's just not worth it to me.

[MadHound]

5. Geez, man is it going to be a disaster when this bubble bursts

A cool mil for a trailer? I don't care what the view is, I don't care what kind of remodeling work you've done, it is still a damn trailer. These people are damn fools, and are going to take a serious bath when reality hits them upside the head.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. These 'trailers' are better looking than most new McMansions

There was an article a few months ago in the SF Chronicle with pictures. Trust me, the only thing that makes most of these places 'trailers' is the fact they're on leased land.

It's still a nutty phenomenon.

[sandnsea]

8. These are remodels

Brand new homes built on 1971 trailer axles, with 1971 trailer taxes.

[Dora]

12. Did I read that right?

These people are paying 1971 trailer taxes on a completely contemporized and remodeled home that's valued over $1M?

If that's right, then that is sooooo wrong. How can this go on?

[sandnsea]

13. I think so

Unless they've changed the law in some of these states. Trailer taxes are like car taxes. Unless they've rewritten the tax laws, these homes are still listed as trailers and taxed accordingly.

[RebelOne]

19. In the state of Georgia, where I live in a mobile home,

I pay a yearly ad valorum tax. It goes by the age of your home.

[Gormy Cuss]

14. Yes, you read that right.

Prop. 13 preserves the tax rate unless and until the house is demolished and replaced. If every wall but one is torn done, it's considered a remodel and the taxable basis remains the old rate. Expanding the square footage does increase the tax, but nothing like the rate that would be incurred if the house was sold outright.

[SW FL Dem]

18. Prop 13 also increases the tax if the property is sold

If the trailer is taxed as real property (rather than as personal property) the buyers would be taxed on the full purchase price.

[sandnsea]

20. Are trailers taxed as trailers?

Like a motor vehicle, or real property? These are in mobile parks, not on private land. I bet they're taxed as trailers, 1971 trailers.

[Gormy Cuss]

23. Depends

If new after 1980 OR attached to a permanent foundation, they are classified as real property. If the unit is older than 1980, they are assessed an in-lieu of fee.

edit: the county determines the rate of the in-lieu fee. I don't know if remodeling a trailer and expanding its footprint can be done without converting to a permanent foundation. Also, a voluntary conversion to real property can be made as a condition of sale, for otherwise a very hefty sales tax is due.

[unrepuke]

10. A Redneck's dream = a million dollar trailer! McMansion, LOL...

good name for these cardboard TajMahals they're putting up all over my neighborhood; definitely NOT the high rent district. Wall-to-wall palaces covering every square foot of the property.
x(

[Gormy Cuss]

15. Taj Majals...

Useless turrets and multiple roof line changes seem to be a mandatory design element, not to mention the faux tile roofs. Gee, I wish I owned a 4000 sf Taj close enough to the neighbors to reach into the neighbor's kitchen to borrow the Grey Poupon. :sarcasm:

[unrepuke]

25. It isn't the roof lines, nor even the chip-board fireplace chimneys

that get me - it's the half dozen dazzling brass&glass chandeliers for porch lights.
The Vegas Mob must be contracting their lighting.:wow:

[shraby]

9. A fool and his money are soon parted.

[shanti]

11. interesting article

i followed links and found that the manager of this property is the gg granddaughter of the last owner of the malibu spanish land grant. he bought malibu for about 1 mil! check out the adamson house, now owned by the state. beautiful tilework and architecture.

[radwriter0555]

16. And Malibu SUCKS. It gets landlocked several times a year when the rain

hits and the rock slides close the ONLY road and out, heading south.

You couldn't give me real estate in Malibu. Been there, done that.

[jmowreader]

22. Okay, I see what's going on. This isn't so bad

It's a tax dodge, nothing more.

It takes advantage of a loophole that's literally big enough to tow a trailer through.

According to code, if a home is constructed on a steel frame capable of being moved on the public highway, it's officially a mobile home. Note that it says NOTHING about the home sitting on the frame being the one sitting on the frame when it left the factory.

So here's whatcha do. You buy an old, beat-up mobile home. Tow it to somewhere really nice and set it up. (They will take the axles with them--you don't need them once you've placed the home, so the people who own the truck own the axles.) Then tear the part you live in off and build a house you like better on the frame. Presto: million-dollar trailer.

And the best part? Your taxes are completely predicated on the age of the frame!

[Must_B_Free]

24. these places are literally on the beach

not across PCH;

the part I don't like is there is no guarantee that they won't reclaim the land for something else.