By Sandhya Somashekhar
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Vanessa and Jim Graziano walked appreciatively around the small Loudoun County house decorated in tasteful beige and ocher furnishings. Wine bottles sat enticingly on the granite-like countertops. A spacious wooden porch framed the front door.
But it was the more mundane details that grabbed their interest.
"Oh, honey. Look," Vanessa Graziano, 41, said as she tipped open a window. "Actual real windows where I can put up some screens."
Jim Graziano, 50, ran his palm along the freshly painted walls. "Sheetrock. How about that."
Their marvel stemmed from the fact that the small three-bedroom house also had wheels. It was a mobile home - built in a factory in Lancaster, Pa., hitched to the back of a truck and assembled in a matter of days on a narrow sliver of land in Leesburg's historic district.
Although it is surrounded by the white single- and double-wide caravans that have become an icon of low-cost living, this new version "is no tin trailer," Vanessa Graziano said. It might blend in on a cul-de-sac of ranches and Cape Cods. It boasts cathedral ceilings and crown molding. And at $80,000, it is a steal in a community where the average condominium sold for about $273,000 in April.
Across the region, mobile home communities have closed down as the owners of the land beneath them have sold to developers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 2,000 mobile homes disappeared from Washington area neighborhoods between 2000 and 2006. Their plight has worsened as local governments have banned new mobile home parks and limited the growth of existing ones.
But some in the industry see an opportunity to stop that trend as the lull in the real estate market drags on and demand for affordable housing rises. Hometown America, a large manufactured-housing company, recently installed 50 new-style homes and renovated a playground at its Fernwood community in Capitol Heights. The company has undertaken similar efforts at its properties in Alexandria and Winchester. Improvements are also underway at communities in Chantilly and Manassas.
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"Frankly, we're trying to compete with the market," said Melissa Pickham, property manager at Forest Park, a community of about 150 mobile homes in Manassas that also is bringing in some new-style houses. "We're trying to update the communities a little and keep them attractive, both for the people who are here and who might come here."
In part, park owners are trying to capitalize on the shortage of affordable housing in the region and the growing market for small, energy-efficient homes.
But they are also taking advantage of technological advancements that have made factory-built homes sturdier and more attractive, even hip. In July, a show opened at the New York Museum of Modern Art that displays five sleekly modern, eco-friendly prefabricated homes. Called "Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling," it includes a 196-square-foot "instant house" that was designed for use in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.
Still, it is difficult for some of the communities to shake long-held stereotypes.
"The hardest thing is going to be changing that negative feeling you get when you say you live in a mobile home park," said Carol Konkel, property manager for Leesburg Mobile Park. "But I think the time has come."
Another challenge, many in the industry say, is convincing perspective buyers that the property won't be sold out from under them.
Indeed, developers over the years have expressed interest in buying the Leesburg park, which sits in a desirable community within walking distance from shops and restaurants. Although no plan to redevelop the land exists now, town leaders as part of their long-range planning have envisioned single family homes and townhouses where the park sits.
"As a community, we want to identify what the best uses are of a property," said Leesburg Town Council member Kevin Wright. "A mobile home park is not a long-term answer there."
But changing the use of the land will be up to the owner, he said. And for now, the owner has signaled that he has no intention of closing. In fact, he is seeking to improve the property by bringing in nearly a dozen new-style, energy-efficient homes, all of them outfitted with front porches to give the community a close-knit feel.
The houses are neither luxurious nor hip, but they are a promising alternative for the Grazianos, who live in a tiny apartment with Jim's teenage son and cannot afford a traditional house in costly Loudoun. Including mortgage payments and the monthly $600 lot rent, they estimate the tan house would cost far less than the $1,270 a month they are paying for their apartment.
"We like to joke that it's not the size of the home but the love you fill it with," Vanessa Graziano said. "But at some point, it starts to feel like everything is just coming in on you."
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