The Mobile Homes

Living in a mobile home is becoming more and more popular. These mobile homes aren't just trailers, which are perhaps fine for spending a week-end in, or for a short vacation, but rather small for a longer time. These are, in fact, real homes. Up to 10 meters long, they have to be towed by a truck. In spite of being smaller than a house, they can have up to five rooms. They are beautifully designed, air-conditioned and are fitted with all kinds of equipment —a refrigerator, toilet, bath and television, sometimes even a dishwasher and a washing-machine. Connecting water and electricity, plugging in a telephone and putting up a television antenna — all these don't take long. Then the mobile home has all the advantages of a permanent home — warm, hygienic, constant hot water — complete and comfortable.

But it has several extra advantages. The most important one is this: if you don't like your neighbours, you simply unplug everything, and tow your home to another site. This doesn't mean, however, that the people who live in these homes are permanently "on the move". Most of them stay in the same place for years. But they know that if they wanted to, they could move away the next day.

Keeping a dog is difficult for people who live in a flat. Here, you just open the door and let him out. And the children enjoy being able to play right outside the door. Living in the country is much healthier for them, too. If a man wants to change his job, he doesn't need to worry about finding a new house or flat. He simply tows his mobile home to the place where his new job is. New models come out every few years. Just like cars. If you have the money, you sell your mobile home and buy the latest model. You'll have no difficulty in selling your old one — there's a big market for second-hand homes.

Most people who live in mobile homes would prefer a permanent house if they had enough money. However, mobile homes are much cheaper to buy than houses. And yet, the low cost is deceptive as builders often use cheap materials and this means that doors, windows, paintwork and equipment soon have to be repaired. The prices of permanent houses rise over the years, but if you sell a mobile home again after five years you will not get more thanhalf the price back. The owners often have to pay high ground rents for their sites and there may well be extra charges for connecting water, electricity and so on.