You can go to my BP profile and see the posts I have shared, I made a side-by-side comparison of PDC and Tulum, they both have pros and cons, and it all depends on your needs/wants and expectations. 

I would say it depends!

You could use the city water to fill the tank when it is available then it can be relied on during the water supply down time.It could be a wash on the costs depending.

I know it would depends on the market but I would love to have a range just to get a better idea.

Depending on what campus you are near will make a huge difference and even more so, how close.

Your conclusion that you'll lose money either way depends on the timeframe.

I'm new to the manufactured home world,  but do come across really cheap mfh's that need to be moved and it costs about 3k (depending on the distance) to bring one in and set it up.

So your scenario works just fine. depending on timing it's conceivable that you might have two properties qualifying with your residency but waiting for the two year wait to end so you can sell the next one and take the 250/500k exemption.

For me, the post office delivers mail for the building to a unit depending on their mood of the day.

Regarding cash vs financing, a cash offer might be more enticing to the investor selling the property since it won't be dependent on an appraisal, but leveraging debt is where the real wealth will be built long term.