EPISODE 7: Mobile Home Myths: Trailer Trash – Part 2

Intro: Hey look, it’s the Doublewide Dudes!

Mousetrap: Ooohh watch out! All right ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to the Doublewide Dude’s podcast. This episode we’re going to have a good friend of ours Leroy jump on and talk about his experience on how it’s like living in a mobile home and talk about the stigma that we’ve been covering and which is Trailer Trash. First off, how are we doing AP?

AP: I’m doing real good, real good. Watching those downloads climb, we’re over two hundred sixty now Mousetrap.

Mousetrap: Oooooo, that’s exciting! I hope those numbers continue to rise. I feel like the more people we can reach the better but yeah it sounds like you and Leroy had a real good conversation AP.

AP: Yeah, yeah we did. I’m glad he was able to come out here and join the podcast with us. I was really surprised by the outpouring of comments and folks we had after that first episode of Trailer Trash. You know a lot of folks grew up in manufactured homes and if they could go back in time from what we’re hearing from these people they wouldn’t change a thing.

Mousetrap: Right they’d do it all over again. Well let’s jump right into the interview where you guys can hear firsthand from Leroy and what it’s like to get into mobile home and some good details in there on the whole purchase experience. So thanks again for tuning in and I hope you enjoy.

AP: All right Leroy, well thanks for joining us today, how was your day with man?

Leroy: Man, it was awesome! I got to work on a dragster and hopefully we can get ya’ll guys name on the side of that. I think that’d be pretty cool man. Guys over at Collier Racing would be happy about that, that’s a top dragster so it’s a seven second car.

AP: Yeah, I showed my son the pictures of those things he loved it, what kind of car is that exactly?

Leroy: It’s a top dragster. They have different classes for something like that and in that there’s real competitive, real high volume, natural aspirated car, you’re talking running a low seven seconds in a quarter mile easily.

AP: So super fast.

Leroy: Super fast.

AP: Awesome, well we are really glad you came out here and you know we’re tackling the stereotype and the myth of trailer trash. And I know you’ve been raising your family for the last ten years in a manufactured home and you and Michelle are in the process of buying a brand new manufactured home on a acre of land. So, right off the bat how do you feel about the stereotype of trailer trash Leroy?

Leroy: The stereotype on the whole trailer trash, it’s pretty funny. I think people who’ve never lived or visited a trailer or a mobile home or manufactured home at that don’t really know exactly what they’re talking about. It’s like much like in my field, like we were talking about the dragster, is like saying get your oil changed at Jiffy Lube, isn’t like getting your oil changed at the dealership

AP: Right.

Leroy: There really is no major difference.

AP: So to you a manufactured home is just a home?

Leroy: Right, correct.

AP: I’ve been fortunate to meet your whole family, Michelle and the kids and you know I guess I can’t tell the difference between your family to that was raised in any other house. So I guess when you raise them right it’s more how you raise and then the home, right?

Leroy: Precisely.

AP: So, how is living in a manufactured home benefited your family or what’s it meant for you and Michelle and the kids?

Leroy: You know it’s meant a lot, you know living in a manufactured home you know there’s a lot of comforts believe it or not. As far as maintenance there’s not as much maintenance as people think on a mobile or manufactured home as there is with a regular on site built home. As a matter of fact I have a buddy of mine who moved into a newer house then when my house was built and he’s had probably three times more issues with his home versus my mobile home. And living in that mobile home versus his site built home, it’s freed up quite a bit of money for a family of seven, for us to take trips out of town and live comfortably and basically my door opens like his door.

AP: Right, I like that. I like that a lot. Yeah I know you have five kids and I got four, and kids are expensive.

Leroy: Yes they are.

AP: And they like to do things and they don’t understand that you know if you’ve got a high mortgage you can’t go out, like that trip ya’ll took to go pick the, what kind of flowers was it?

Leroy: They were tulips, I’ve never been to a tulip farm before and it was kind of a spur in the moment you know the kids, the kids and my wife decided, hey Dad let’s take a trip during spring break to Dallas and go pick tulips. And like I said it spurred the moment have we had the situation been a little different and you know paying a little bit more on taxes in the city or you know on a on a bigger not so much a bigger house but a site built home I may not have been able to do that trip

AP: Right.

Leroy: And me thinking I wasn’t going to enjoy it, I enjoyed.

AP: Right, so y’all made the decision to get into a new home and for you and Michelle, the decision ya’ll made was to purchase a new manufactured home on your own piece of land. So when ya’ll were discussing home options, what made ya’ll want to go back to manufactured home?

Leroy: Well you know that’s a good question and to answer that honestly, it was a rainy day, we were making this decision on whether to go ahead and purchase another mobile or manufactured home versus a site built home and we happen to be driving down the highway and we looked over at a new subdivision being built. Mind you it was a rainy day and we counted at least ten houses that were getting wet.

AP: Right

Leroy: You know and we kind of laughed and it was like you know I wonder what happens that wood on a site built home versus on a mobile home or manufactured home that’s built inside of a building, were weather isn’t going to affect it.

AP: Right controlled environment.

Leroy: Correct.

AP: Yeah, you know a lot of people don’t take that into consideration you know there’s a lot of benefits of building a home in a controlled environment, biggest one you know wood doesn’t get wet, you know what’s going to happen, are they going to build around it and you’re going to keep building that house. So a lot of benefits to that controlled environment and keeping the cost down more than anything, big benefit there what would you say to someone that’s considering possibly purchasing a factory built home as their new home?

Leroy: Man, I would say it probably be one of the best wisest decision they’ve ever made. Let’s just, you know let’s put, some people are better with numbers so let’s just say for example you get a site built home on one acre property, same size home as I’m buying that site built home could cost anywhere from two hundred to three hundred thousand dollars. You know I’m not going to spend even half of that on a manufactured or mobile home like we decided to make the jump and go ahead and purchase another mobile home which I’m glad we met ya’ll guys, the Double Wide Dudes man, ya’ll have been helping me out man, big time. So, you know it was a no brainer. Were getting what we want, we got to choose a fresh piece of property we liked, untouched, nobody’s ever lived there, nobody’s ever stepped foot there and it’s coming together rather quickly and really, really smooth.

AP: Yeah we were out there last week starting the land clearing and we had White Cloud Drones out there documenting the whole thing, but how excited are you to see your brand new raw piece of land start to take shape there?

Leroy: Man it’s pretty awesome, to go from you know fresh property looking like man this is going to be a mess to you know, wow this is already, it’s really happening within a day. It looks like you can’t you can’t even tell or even imagine that there was full of brush, full of trees and man it’s just it’s exciting and exciting to see everything go from fresh to where we’re going to be staying and living and living out the rest of our lives the way it’s looking there.

AP: Right.

Leroy: My kids are enjoying it, it’s something that the family’s able to see is something we can all share together and most important of all a memory that they’re never going to forget.

AP: Right, your son was showing me the pictures he had taken when ya’ll first walked around your acre right after closing and they seem pretty excited about it.

Leroy: They’re pretty excited, all were excited they actually showed him the video from White Cloud and man they were absolutely impressed with what they saw from the ground and then the aerial footage that White Cloud, Adam over there with White Cloud shot. So it’s been pretty awesome and the kids are excited they’ve all been taking pictures and you know nothing but smiles on our end.

AP: Yeah. That’s the favorite part of the business that we’re in. Behind every home purchase is a family achieving their dreams of home ownership and you know it’s been a real pleasure to get to know you, beyond just a customer, really a friend.

Leroy: Likewise man. I’m glad I came across ya’ll guys man. Everything’s been really cool, you know Mousetrap, you AP, all the guys there Jason, Ernest, all the guys you know we’ve been absolutely wonderful man, I couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys, more like a team you know to work with.

AP: Yeah, well luckily for you or we’re a lot better at building homes then I am at basketball.

Leroy: Well on that note, yeah I’m a lot better as a mechanic just like you are at houses and basketball let’s just say we need to stick to our day jobs.

AP: That way our boys aren’t making fun of us anymore. Well, awesome Leroy thank you so much for coming down and sharing your experience with our audience you know there’s a lot of people out there that they’re looking for an affordable place to call their home and they consider manufactured homes but then they start thinking about what everybody else might think or what the stereotype might be out there. What would your advice be for those folks Leroy?

Leroy: My advice to them is, don’t hesitate. On my end being on a normal person just like anybody else and as funny as it was being one of those stereotypes people twenty years ago didn’t know no better and now that I’ve done some homework and of course the help ya’ll guys informing me on how these houses are built now there really isn’t that much difference. So my recommendation is, don’t hesitate, ask any questions you want and you know hopefully here in the future you’ll be living in a mobile home yourself and save you whole tons of money.

AP: Money you can spend with the family, kids, and experiencing life, right?

Leroy: Exactly, exactly you know why wait until retirement to actually live life, why not live life in a mobile home or manufactured home and you know enjoy it all the time while you’re young enough to enjoy it and then retire and enjoy it even more.

AP: Yeah, well that’s solid advice like you said your door opens just like everyone else’s right?

Leroy: That’s correct and if I had to do it again, I would do it again.

AP: That’s awesome, well thanks again Leroy and we look forward to putting the whole package together and seeing the smiles on the kids’ face when you guys finally gets moved into your new home.

Leroy: Awesome man, it was my pleasure thank you.

Mousetrap: So there you have folks. That was Leroy and AP tackling the mobile home myth of trailer trash. Unfortunately, the stigma that still surrounds our industry but yeah you guys heard it from an actual homeowner. Hope that there was some good insight for you guys. Tune into the next episode, we’re going to cover tornado magnets. This is another myth where these mobile homes can’t withstand wind and tornadoes or hurricanes and things like that, so we’ll tackle that in the next podcast. Thanks again for tuning in, we’ll talk to you then.