At the risk of turning people off right here and now, I hereby confess I live in a trailer park. There. I’ve said it the dirty words: trailer park. Of course, my neighbours all quickly correct me: “They’re not trailers; they’re mobile homes!” They’re hardly mobile, being firmly anchored in the ground, so a better name might be immobile, the term I prefer. It makes people stop and think. “Manufactured homes” is another kinder term as is “modular homes”. One friend refers to our place “the ranch.” Regardless the name, it is what it is with the societal implication being: anyone residing in such a place is trailer trash, definitely on the lower economic scale.
How entrenched this is can be illustrated by my sister’s reaction when I told her I’d found my retirement home and it was a trailer. She retorted: “No sister of mine is going to live in a trailer park!” She relented once she visited and saw how perfect it is for my small family: my husband, my cat, and me.
I have my friend, Deb, to thank for finding our new home. Yes, it was advertised in the Penny Saver, and the price alone was the tip-off to as to its true nature although the sellers (who have since become good friends) described it as a 2 bedroom home which, in truth, it is.
Summer:
When we visited I knew immediately it was what we’d been looking for: well-decorated, the requisite number of bedrooms, 2 baths, washer/dryer on same floor [aside: I’ve never understood why laundry rooms are seldom right outside of bedrooms where dirty clothes are shed], all mod cons, lovely floors/carpets, a hearth-warming gas “wood-stove” in a separate rec room, a sun room, large deck, garage and two outbuildings housing garden implements and a riding mower. Bonus!
Another bonus was the yard: large, with flower and rose gardens and mature trees of pine, maple and birch! Our home is situated in an established, well-maintained “park” targeted to retirees. Located on the north shore of White Lake, we have easy access to kayak, swim, and sail…we’re not into fishing, but that too. It’s close to more than 10 golf courses – a bonus in the summer as we’re avid golfers. Everyone takes great pride in their property and it is the neatness, the prettiness of the place that attracts as many people as butterflies. Properties turn over quickly and people often just drive by, wistfully dreaming and waiting for a place to come up for sale.
We’d wanted country but without isolation. We’d wanted to continue to have a social life and there certainly is one here with Friday night Happy Hours and other such gatherings and outings. Neighbours are friendly and helpful. For example, Bob, across the street, when picking up his morning newspaper, also picks up mine and inserts it in my door despite the weather and his age (he is, as they say, getting on but getting on quite nicely). What a great guy! The majority of owners are retirees with a few pre-retirees in the mix who commute via the conveniently widened highway.
It is a tranquil place, close enough to Nature but without being totally wild. Deer abound as do other rural critters. In winter, snowmobiles zoom by on the nearby trail, and as winter deepens, fish huts sprout on the lake. It has an innate beauty; for example, today the boughs of the fir trees are laden with snow and the past two days of constant flurries have softly rounded everything in sight. But I digress.
Feb. 7, continuation:
Yes, it’s a trailer park. Everyone in our park has coped with having to publicly admit where they live despite the stigma of “trailer park” which implies if you live in such a place, you’re typically white, landless, and poor.
True: the residents here are typically white but a nice mix of cultures. True: we could be considered landless as we, similarly to condominium dwellers, do not own the land upon which our mobiles sit but pay a modest “rent” for our lots and routine services (water, snow removal, street maintenance, etc) as well as a modest amount in taxes. Poor? Au contraire, mon frère. I beg to differ. Typically, residents here have sold off more established properties in the city, pocketed a pretty profit, and invested in these suitable, spacious, modern mobiles which are quite modestly priced when compared to, say, local cottage properties. It’s more likely most mobile owners are laughing all the way to the bank. This life-style affords many the luxury of extensive travel, the choice to snow-bird in warmer climes, or to afford their choice of the latest toys (read: motorcycles, pontoon boats, RVs, snowmobiles, latest and biggest TVs, latest cars, etc.). Talk about the best of both worlds! If this is trailer-trash livin’, folks, gimme me more!
Our own local paper recently underlined this trailer park bias as revealed by Citizen's columnist Randall Denley in his Jan. 31 discussion of the need to develop the commercial strip in the Bell's Corners part of town. According to Denley, "This aging commercial strip is a textbook example of what happens when there is no planning or forethought. Just the fact that there is actually a mobile home park there tells you something about the tone of the place [my italics] and how little perceived value this land has." I agree. You won't see a mobile park in the tonier parts of town. But I'd suggest some mobile parks can create their own sense of "tone" and can add to land value as has happened in our park, where pride of ownership is a positive driver in augmenting the value of the "homes" as well as the landowner's land.
Fall:
People often believe mobile homes do not hold their value but that has not been the case in our park. While the level of appreciation may not rise at the same rate as would a standard Canadian house, there is still a slow and constant appreciation. The prices in our park have ranged from approximately $90K for an older, smaller model to the $185K range for the latest, largest model. There is one is currently on the market, but I guarantee it won’t be for long.With the greying of Canada, more and more seniors are looking for the lifestyle mobile park living affords. At a certain age, people want to downsize, they scale back, unload. And that’s another bonus to mobile living: while most are spacious, owners must still pare down from the contents of a typical standard home. This unloading brings a sense of cleansing and relief as many of us are burdened with years of accumulated stuff. On the plus side, our park’s become famous locally for our annual May garage sale; the bargains to be found here are incredible!
Despite the stigma, you'd be surprised at who has tried park living. For example, the unpretentious film actor Matthew McConaughey is known to move his RV to various mobile parks or to lease mobile homes. Hey, if he's the kind of neighbour one could encounter, count me in! The sister of Norma Jean (aka Marilyn Monro) lived in a trailer. The CEO of Volcom, a surfing clothing line, has a trailer. As for me, I'm a retired public servant who retired at the middle management level, and this public admission is akin to coming out of the real estate closet!
So if you’re nearing retirement or are retired, give this lifestyle some consideration. It's a very smart move and no, it’s not for everyone. But if you love nature, the great outdoors, pleasant surroundings and friendly faces, and the convenience of nearby towns and attractions, you will find you’ve hit the motherlode. Just one more thing: it helps if you're thick-skinned.
More reporting on park living, see: the good, the not too bad, and the ugly, and Randall Denley's Jan. 31 column.
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