manufacturedhomelivingnews.com Manufactured Home Living News
He’s known as the King of Rock and Roll.
His property in Memphis, TN – called Graceland – has attracted millions of visitors. He loved gospel music, and was a pioneer in rock too. His movies are still considered entertainment classics.
But millions don’t know the story about the home shown at the top, that Elvis & Priscilla Presley honeymooned in, which was a true mobile home. That mobile home was built in the 1960s, well before the national manufactured housing construction, energy, and safety standards went into effect on June 15, 1976.
This is the latest in our periodic series of true stories about the “rich and famous” who have or still live in a mobile or manufactured home. But as long-time readers and viewers know, we interview experts and ‘everyday people’ across the professional specturm who live in mobile or manufactured homes too.
Lifestyles of the Rich and Frugal: Manufactured Mansions Take Their Place in the California Sun
So if a google search on Elvis brought you here, and this is your first article on MHLivingNews, welcome. You can learn the difference between “trailer houses,” “mobile homes” and “manufactured homes” in the Walk-Down Memory Lane video, further below.
The mobile home Elvis and his wife owned in the photos shown were part of a recent auction.
The GWS auctioneers tell us that “The mobile home was on Elvis’ famous “Circle G Ranch”, near Graceland.”
“Elvis bought the ranch in the 1960s as a getaway that would still be near Graceland. After he and Priscilla married, they spent part of their honeymoon there, and originally started out using the ranch house immediately after purchasing the property,” said GWS.
The data GWS published suggests the mobile home sold for some $52,500.
Realtor, says that the “163 acres [was] adjacent to Graceland and [Elvis] called it “Circle G Ranch.”
MH Life Lessons, Takeaways
The first takeaway for the roughly 22 million who live in a mobile or manufactured home (MH) – and the tens of millions of others who could benefit from living in a manufactured home – might be this.
The rich and famous have often started, matured, or ended their careers in a mobile or manufactured home.
Some like entertainer Kid Rock live in a manufactured home when he’s in Tennessee, but he has other housing in Michigan. By the way, his teased Senate campaign is over, but Kid Rock says he still might run if the media and some politicians don’t get it right.
“Po-Dunk” Performer Kid Rock, Eyes Senate Run, Makes Manufactured Home Living Hip
If MHLiving is good enough for the famous,
if it is good enough for the millionaires and billionaires,
modern manufactured homes ought to be accepted by all other Americans too. Doesn’t that just make good sense?
Disgraceful
It’s a disgrace that so many in conventional and factory built housing are direspected for the kind of housing that they have. The CBS video on the page linked below uses some incorrect terminology, but it does have some interesting footage and makes several important points.
The shotgun house in the photo below is from Realtor, which they said Elvis lived in was built in the 1920s. There are hundreds of thousands of shotgun style site-built housing like it, in many states in the U.S.
What makes that single section – once known as a single wide – so different than a shotgun house?
Other than the fact that it would be hard to find a site-builder to construct a shotgun house today, but you can find HUD Code manufactured home builders who will construct a green, energy saving manufactured home that can have style and class. And per the U.S. Census Bureau, depending on where you live, you can have that style and class in a manufactured home for about half-the-price of conventional construction.
Tell Those No-Nothings to ‘Stop Being Snooty’
That person living in that mobile or manufactured home that some get snooty about may be a great person. Or they might be a war hero, or like some, it may be a person or household that is headed for fame.
But even if that person living in an old mobile home happens to be poor, and may always be poor, they need and deserve the dignity and respect of having a good place to call home too.
They should be celebrated for their housing, not denigrated.
Socialism and government handouts might seem to help some for a time, but they won’t lift people out of poverty, says Tye.
Some are beginning to realize that government – as opposed to private or faith-based – programs might actually trap people in poverty.
Free enterprise and owning a home are proven ways to improve life, Tye has said.
A Quality MH Could Be The Best Investment, Per University Research
As a recent university study revealed, owning a manufactured home could be a better investment for millions of Americans than owning a conventional house, or renting.
Giving people a foundation to build their lives around can be the start of something beautiful for millions.
It is past time to end the terrible discrimination against good people who happen to live or want their own mobile or manufactured home.
Back to the Rest of Elvis’ Mobile Home Story…
Elvis and Priscilla Presley honeymooned in the mobile home shown in this article.
Famous people who clearly had the ability to make other choices, have opted to live part of their lives in mobile or manufactured homes too.
The auctioneer said that “Elvis liked his Memphis Mafia around, and he figured the way to do that was to buy eight house trailers and have them installed on poured concrete pads near the lake on the property.”
We don’t know if GWS is correct in calling those 8 other houses “trailers,” or if they were mobile homes. See the graphic above, and the Walk Down Memory Lane video too, so you can learn more about those differences between mobile homes, trailers, and modern manufactured homes.
“The accommodations for the guys were set way back on the 163 acre property, however, Elvis seemed to have really loved hanging out with his buddies back” where those 8 homes were, said GWS.
So, “as a result, in March he ordered this two-bedroom trailer [SIC, see below] for him and Priscilla. In April 1967 when filming for the film “Clambake” was paused, Elvis was able to spend three straight weeks on the ranch, and it has been argued that that Spring was one of the happiest times of his life.”
“This mobile [home] is a chance to own a true piece of history, and a place which was once a key part of Elvis’ happiness. The mobile home was manufactured by Delta, and measures 60′ long x 12′ wide. It is in the original condition in which Elvis and Priscilla left it. The mobile home will come with copies of all paperwork, including a bill of sale which was signed by Elvis himself.”
Now you know, the rest of the story about this mobile home that Elvis and Priscilla loved.
You now also know that Elvis owned other a number of other factory-built homes that they used for their friends.
People, Experts, Personally, Professionally Speaking…
Speaking for myself, I’ve spent time in incredible mansions (not my own). I’ve owned and lived in fine conventional houses, one was in an upscale neighborhood, another that I owned was in a more modest, but nice new neighborhood.
My truly better half grew up in a magnificent home that by international standards would also be called a mansion.
Over the years, I’ve also owned 4 different manufactured homes. 3 of those 4 homes, were sold for a profit.
Decades ago, I lived for a time in a mobile home that a company I did work for provided for my use.
What we know from first hand-experience is this.
“You cook, clean, eat, live, and love the same in a mobile or manufactured home as you do in a conventional house.” ©
Don’t take our word for it.
Ask Elvis, if you have that vision for the great beyond, or ask the vibrant entertainer Kid Rock, if you meet him.
Successful Professional Couple Spotlights Modern Manufactured Home Living Realities
Or why not ask the millions who live in a mobile or manufactured home that may never be famous, but who love the place they hang their hats.
We all deserve to have a place that they or we too, can call “home.”
Yes, my family and I, we’re true believers. I’ve personally been to about 47 of the 50 states, and have seen manufactured housing in Canada too.
Thanks to our sponsors, client work and travels, there may be no one in America today who has interviewed or done more true-to-life stories on experts and manufactured home owners.
We’ve interviewed and done hundreds of reports on those who have lived in, or studied the issues and concerns people have about today’s factory crafted homes.
So we understand the reality that’s often so different than the outdated myths.
Your name is important, and you want it properly said and respected.
Similarly, we encourage people to learn the proper names for the different kinds of housing. Are there other good reasons why?
Steve Duke and the NFPA explain it.
If you are a journalist, your Society of Professional Journalism (SPJ) standards of professional ethics demands that you get the facts and terminology correct.
So when you get past the trash talk, and dig into the realities, you too may discover that the solution to the affordable housing crisis is hiding in plain sight. “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Historic, nostalgic, lifestyles of the rich and famous, and mobile/manufactured home living commentary.)
