Why they'd rather stay in a doublewide

“For Sale” signs hang in the front yards of several homes on Augusta Street in Bluefield, W. Va. It’s not because the homes are ugly, that’s for sure. The ones on Augusta and surrounding streets have character and charm. Most are brick; a few have vinyl siding; one is stone. Some have two-stories; some are ranchers. Some houses sit on flat lots, while others are on hillsides with a view. Bungalows stand next door to Tudors. There are also colonials and Cape Cods.

All have yesteryear’s charm, for that’s when they were built. With that charm comes architectural details that homeowners want. According to realtors’ descriptions, all have some combination of hardwood floors, tall ceilings, beautiful woodwork, French doors, fireplaces, sunrooms. It’s a buyer’s market in Bluefield. The asking price for one home that boasts “ready to move in” condition is $59,900.

With a home like this available in the city, why do so many people covet the doublewide, a manufactured home they take out to the country to set up?

It’s hard to classify a doublewide; there are many variations of manufactured homes. To me a doublewide is a cross between a one-section mobile home that has wheels and a multi-section, modular house that blends into neighborhoods of traditionally built homes. Of the two types, the doublewide is closer in kin to the mobile home. The difference between them is that the doublewide is twice as wide and doesn’t have wheels. What does have wheels are the two flatbed trailers that haul the doublewide’s two sections from the seller’s lot to the building site.

Sixty-six percent of the time that site is on private property. This relationship between a doublewide and its lot is called “land home.” It’s permanent, allowing the home to appreciate in value, unlike mobile homes that depreciate like cars.

Doublewides aren’t cheap either. Usually, though, they are an affordable way for people to attain the American dream of owning a home. Jim Walters advertises manufactured houses beginning at $20,000 and rising to $100,000. Statistics say the multi-section homes average $55,000, with the doublewide coming in under that figure. Even if you spend $40,000 for a doublewide with a Jacuzzi, vaulted ceilings, and dishwasher, you still have to have a place to put it. You also have to have a road, water and electricity.

That may not be a big expense if you plan to put the home in a doublewide-restricted park that provides services and roads. Most doublewides don’t go there -- they go out to the country where land is free or inexpensive. This is where a cultural rural practice, ancient in origin, comes into practice. It’s called “cutting off a piece of land.” Parents give their children a piece of the family farm to set their doublewides on. It costs nothing and lets the children stay on the land where most of the time they have lived all of their lives.

Also, if they are lucky, they can choose their home site: it can be beside the creek, on a hilltop with a view of the valley and the mountains that cup it, in a flat field, or near the main road for easy access. No matter where they chose to put the doublewide, it can be done. That’s one of the attributes of doublewides; you can put one anywhere. They are comfortable on terrain too challenging for a stick-built house.

In the country you are not restricted to the direction you place your house to get the best view. It doesn’t have to face the road or be symmetrical with nearby buildings or houses. But you do have to have a foundation and a road. If there’s not one already, you have to bulldoze one and gravel it. Then there’s buying a pole from American Electric Power and digging a well. A septic tank is also on the to-do list of things that have to be taken care before you can get your house.

If people buy one of the affordable houses in the city, they don’t have to go to all this trouble and expense. And the charming city houses already have basements, front porches, and decks; garages, driveways, and sidewalks -- outbuildings for storage. There’s garbage pick-up, too. It’s a short drive to hospitals, grocery stores, malls, Lowe’s and Wal-Mart, restaurants, schools, and the post office. Football games are close by and so are concerts and swimming pools.

The “For Sale” signs might come down faster if city realtors could figure out how to lure prospective homeowners away from Oakwood and Harry’s Homes lots.