I was looking into the possibility of being a first time home owner.
Seeing as this is a great message board to ask, I figure I seek out your opinions on Manufactured Homes.
Should I buy one or not? What are the Pros and Cons?
From what I can see, they look very nice and much cheaper in price. It just seems too good to be true.
The only drawback that I can find, is that you have to have property for it and that some look kind of like trailer homes, not that there is anything wrong with trailer homes…
Anyone out there live in a Manufactured Home and what do you think?
A relative bought one because she wanted something new for just a few more years until her retirement, when she expects to relocate. I’m not any real estate expert, but I wouldn’t recommend it for the long-term–they just aren’t built very well. Of course regular home construction isn’t what it used to be anymore either, but there’s lots of little architectural details in manufactured homes that’s done downright cheap and ugly. One example is that the walls are covered by some type of thick paperboard, and the studs seem to be 12 inches on center–so you can’t hang a regular picture just anywhere, because you can’t hammer a nail just anywhere, it won’t hold or even stay straight. It has to be driven into one of the studs that’s spaced every 12 inches. The wall panels are four feet wide and the cracks between the edges aren’t filled, they just hammer a piece of tack trim over it, so it looks like you live in a giant cubicle. The walls of the bathrooms are the same material even thinner, and right next to the showers–somehow I doubt they will last forever. There’s typically very little storage space also: each bedroom will have a closet, you might get a couple other little closets and that’s it. This was a brand-new unit and when she moved in there were lots of little nagging problems of things not-quite-done-right–doors mishung, cabinets missing trim pieces, electrical boxes all installed a bit crooked, many things in a difficult-to-use location, because there’s not really enough space for it. After a few weeks they sent people to fix them, but some things still didn’t get fixed perfect and couldn’t be, mostly due to the cheap particleboard and paperboard materials throughout.
I might rent one for a year or two if I had to, but I wouldn’t buy one.
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We’ve got several friends who bought mobile homes in order to save money over the cost of buying a house. They all regret it.
Mobile homes depreciate in value over time. They also start falling apart after a few years. But what do you expect from something that has been stapled together.
They are really not that much cheaper than a starter home anyway. My brother in law spent nearly 70,000 on a new mobile home. He could have bought a fixer upper house for that price.
Of course they add in such costs as skirting, stairs, setup fees, taxes, and septic.
I second MarkD’s question. I think there is a big difference between a trailer home (“double-wide”) and a manufactured home. While I didn’t actually look, I did, on my way down from Washington, see many Palm Harbor (I think) dealers who sell cedar manufactured homes. They looked like regular houses.
If they still exist, you might want to look into pre-fab houses - factory workers get paid less than building trades workers, and it is easier to build a wall on a roller belt than it is to build one outside in the weather.
The building trades unions hated these (duh), and may have gotten them banned where you live.
If they are still around, they are built of the same materials/methods of a stick-built house (concrete slab, reall windows and doors, real plumbing and wiring, etc) but they require much less on-site labor.
As for manufactured housing - there are widely varying levels of quality - some brands are better than others. One common theme is (or used to be) 3/4 size everything - furniture, fixtures, windows - take a tape measure with you!
I’ve lived in a single wide moble home for about 10 years. It is now 20 years old. I haven’t had any serious problems with it at all.
What was said about the pictures are true, but you can easily get around that.
From what I remember from morgage shopping, they told me that if the mobile home is on a foundation and not simply a concrete slab, you can sell it more easily because it will qualify as a regular house. I also remember someone telling me that a three bedroom mobile home will resell a lot beter then a two bedroom.
Some places will charge you fees for set-up and skirting, but I know of a few that don’t, it’s all part of the deal.
We are not able to afford a regular house, but the trailer works well for us. I prefer to own my moblie home then to rent something else.
A few years ago I was looking to buy my first house. I looked at several manufactured homes / trailer homes. Initially you seem to be ahead because everything is so nice and new. Like Hermann Cheruscan said, you can buy a house for the price of a new mobile home. I chose to buy an older house that fit my income. This thing has been a money pit. I have lived in a trailer before. I don’t think they are the scorn of the earth. If you are planning to buy a piece of property, maybe you could pick up a cheap used mobile home to live in until you can build a house.
Good luck.
I have lived in my manufactered home (double wide) for two and a half years and could not be happier. We have 16 inch on center wall studs , just like the site built home going up next door. I can hang pictures anywhere on the walls since I have the same dry wall and tape and texture finish as a site built home. Once the house was set the only problems with the house itself was minor electrical which involved reconnecting some wireing involved with the lights. This was in the first few months and I have not had a problem with the house since.
We paid extra and put in stone skirting , stone steps in the front and a deck with steps in the back. We also put in a garage and landscaping.
My mother in law has lived in the same home for about forty years. This home was bought in the early sixties for $25,000 and is now worth about $100,000. Most people would say that this is great, but the house had its highest value in the early 80’s at $125,000 and has dropped since.
My mom bought a manufactured home last year and I flashed on all those trailer park stereotypes you hear about. Then I went to visit and from the looks of it, it’s an absolutely normal house inside and out. The only thing that gives it away is the hollow sound of footsteps on the floor and that ain’t so bad considering the cash she saved.
Most manufactured homes have model homes you can check out, plus you can always sell it/rent it out if you decide it’s not for you after all.
Manufactured houses (double wides generally don’t look like trailers, BTW, but many of them have nearly flat roofs that give them away) do seem to depreciate much of the time, unlike normal houses. The way some look like trailers can hurt when it comes time to sell it. I’m not sure about the newer versions that can pass for conventional houses complete with relatively steep rooflines, though.
BTW, you can arrange for deals to finance both the mobile home and the land at once. I used to work for a manufactured housing mortage company, but I learned more about the occupations and income level of typical buyers than the actual construction of those homes.
I live in a full-length double-wide which is currently about 20 years old. My family has been living here for ten years. The house is sound and has a pitched roof with faux dormer over the front door; if it weren’t for the skirting and the fact that the land we rent is in a mobile home park next door to flat-roofed single-wides one would think this was a “regular” house. In fact, it’s considerably larger than the “regular” houses that many of my friends live in (and that are in the same price range as our trailer). It has three bedrooms, a gihugic living room that we’ve divided into two living spaces, a kitchen, dining room, utilities room, and two full bathrooms. It also has picture windows etc.
The only problem with the house is that the walls are finished with paperboard, so you can punch your fist through the walls if you really want to and you have to prepare them with a special primer if you want to paint instead of wallpaper.
We bought it used, and it has not depreciated in value since we bought it, according to Dad (we refinanced this year).
I am a little fuzzy about your definition of a manufactured home: whether you mean a double-wide boxy thing or one of the nicer prefab homes llike happyheathen referred to.
For a first-time homeowner, a double-wide manufactured by a reputable builder may make a lot of sense. This is especially true if you live in a hotter real estate market that will generically increase the value of most everything. I have seen decent double-wides re-sell for a nice profit–though generally it has been proportionally less than for traditional stick-built homes.
The prefab homes seem to be better built, nicer looking, and are upgradable, so your risk is lower. And if that’s all you can afford, enjoy. But do check out some other alternatives such as kits and shells.
Four years ago, my wife and I checked out some attractive prefabs, but the transport and land purchasing and hassle we were not up for. Interestingly, the home we did buy had a 40-year old central section which is an early “pre-cut” design that was featured at the Seattle World’s Fair. That structure has been added onto twice over and has held up wonderfully.
I had a trailer on my site and traded it in for a manufactured (modular) home (both are considered manufactured housing). It is a two story cape cod and you would not be able to tell that it wasn’t built on site.
After the foundation was installed the home was delivered in two pieces, the next day it was set and looked like a home, there was some minor finishing work that had to be done but we were living in it within a month.