Recently I was reading J.A.Jance's otherwise excellent novel Damage Control and she had screwed it up, confusing mobile homes and RVs. The Wall Street Journal makes the same mistake every year or so.
Here follows a primer for understanding the differences. A so-called "mobile home" is assembled in a factory, trucked to a site, set up, and remains there for the balance of its useful life. A "modular home" is built, but not assembled, in a factory, trucked to a site, assembled on site, and remains there until demolished.
Once assembled, modular homes look like regular homes. On the other hand, mobile homes are recognizably rectangular boxes.
Many mobile homes are located in mobile home parks, communities of mobile homes, also confusingly known as "trailer parks." I say "confusingly" because none of the units there will ever be towed or trailed anywhere. Mobile homes are also sited on farms and ranches, as homes for the farmer's grown children or ranch hands.
Almost any living unit that is (or can be) regularly moved from place to place should be called an RV, the exception being mobile commercial living units used at remote work sites: mines, oil fields, etc.
RVs fall into two major categories: powered and towed or hauled. Powered RVs are motor homes, Towed or hauled RVs are trailers or truck campers. In use, these are normally parked at campgrounds or RV parks. When not in use RVs are often parked in backyards, driveways or RV storage lots.
For pictures of the various types, see cruztalking.blogspot.com which is the other DrC's blog.
