You may hear “pad fee” or “pad rent” used to describe the monthly fee associated with owning a Mobile home (aka trailer).

Try not to confuse this fee with Strata fees. Mobile home parks are not Strata.  Pad fees are you renting the land for your mobile. Rent is different from a strata fee which is mostly about exterior maintenance. The thing they have in common is that they are both a kind of money you pay monthly when you own a property. Think of a pad fee as having to pay parking for your home with a couple of services thrown in. Pad rental fees are typically $350-450 in the Nanaimo area.

This is the thing that makes mobiles unique in real Estate, the lack of ownership of land. All the other categories include ownership in land in whole or in part. As they say “Land is the one thing they’re not making more of.” so as long as the demand for it (i.e. population) increases so too with the value of it. A mobile home is akin to a car in that it gets old and needs maintenance. Unlike a house, after a certain age (around 40 years) the money lenders shy away from them for electrical and maintenance reasons. So, in short, please understand that a mobile home is a depreciating asset unlike the other categories of real estate.

For more real Estate Terms go to Real Estate Terminology 101

Ryan Coffey