Anyone have a manufactured or modular home?

[SHales]

My dad and stepmom are moving back here from Oregon and have had their offer accepted on a house. The property is large, 3 lots. They are going to give me one and want me to put a manufactured or modular house on it. There is a person here that does stick build houses but 1. it takes forever and 2. is quite expensive due to having to ship everything so far. The nearest lumber yard is a 200 mile round trip.
I swore I would never own another house, my last one was a money pit but after 5 years of renting, I might think about it again.

Anyway, I don't know much about these but have looked online at some that don't seem bad. They have 2x6 exterior walls, 25 year roofing, ok windows and you can upgrade to granite counter tops if you want. I would have to see the difference in price of those installed in the home or aftermarket.

Pros and cons??

 

[southernlady]

Manufactured depreciates in value even on it's own land. Modular, however, will appreciate the same way a on site, stick built does.

 

[vivimolly]

Another thing to consider is financing, especially in the future. Modular homes are generally acceptable for regular mortgages or home equity loans, but the same can't be said for manufactured
housing.

 

[SHales]

Ok, I will check with the state on this info. There used to be a procedure where you could convert one to 'Real property' and they were considered and taxed like a stick built. I like the modular ones better anyway.

 

[Elizabeth N.]

The definition of a "real home" varies by state. In MT there are different categories of manufactured homes.

 

[SKMSU]

I had a manufactured home when I lived in Michigan. I bought it new, after I got divorced, and it had a regular mortgage. Like everyone else has said, they depreciate and when I moved to PA I couldn't sell it and couldn't find a place here that would let me move it to (even though my company at the time would have paid the cost of moving it). I ended up taking a 20K hit to protect my credit and the mortgage company still dinged my credit after they took the home and my 20K.

I did like a lot of things about the home itself though. Everything in it was new, quality brands, and nice. It had a huge jetted tub in the master bath plus a big stall shower. There were skylights in the kitchen and the master bath. It was loaded with insulation and was fairly cheap to heat and cool, and it had a nice fireplace.

Since you are going to put it on your own land, you would not have the selling problems that I did. Until it was time for me to move I really liked it. My house now, on the other hand, I have had to replace the roof, heat pump and soon the windows (speaking of money pits). But I like it too.

 

[southernlady]

I had a manufactured home when I lived in Michigan. I bought it new, after I got divorced, and it had a regular mortgage. Like everyone else has said, they depreciate and when I moved to PA I couldn't sell it and couldn't find a place here that would let me move it to (even though my company at the time would have paid the cost of moving it). I ended up taking a 20K hit to protect my credit and the mortgage company still dinged my credit after they took the home and my 20K.

I did like a lot of things about the home itself though. Everything in it was new, quality brands, and nice. It had a huge jetted tub in the master bath plus a big stall shower. There were skylights in the kitchen and the master bath. It was loaded with insulation and was fairly cheap to heat and cool, and it had a nice fireplace.

Since you are going to put it on your own land, you would not have the selling problems that I did. Until it was time for me to move I really liked it. My house now, on the other hand, I have had to replace the roof, heat pump and soon the windows (speaking of money pits). But I like it too.

We had the same issue! We lived in MI near Toledo, OH. Where in MI (generally) were you?

 

[Munchkin]

Modular can appreciate while manufactured will always depreciate!

This was a long time ago but right after H finished school we bought a manufactured home. It was a really nice one for what it was. We lost more than 50% of what we paid when we sold it 5 years later. It was a big hit, especially because we had done a lot of improvements. Honestly we were lucky to sell it at all! If you have a choice go with Modular! If you have money for anything extra, upgrade the important things like insulation/energy efficiency.

 

[SHales]

I appreciate all of your answers. This will likely be my last home (unless I carry out my threat to move to Ecuador) However, I do want it to be worth something to my kids after I am gone. It seems that people are having trouble getting loans loans on manufactured homes here that have been converted to 'real' property. That wasn't the case before the housing market went in the toilet. I am pretty sure I will go with a modular, they may be a little more money but I can go down in sq footage and end up the same when I buy.

 

[SKMSU]

We had the same issue! We lived in MI near Toledo, OH. Where in MI (generally) were you?

I was in Ypsilanti, off Michigan Ave near 23. I was able to rent it out for a while but eventually got stuck with it. My sister in law lives close to where you lived off Otter creek rd. Small world!

 

[southernlady]

I was in Ypsilanti, off Michigan Ave near 23. I was able to rent it out for a while but eventually got stuck with it. My sister in law lives close to where you lived off Otter creek rd. Small world!

Oh yeah, small world. My neuro was in Ypsilanti. We lived off S. Custer, just beyond the Monroe Fairgrounds (as you head toward Dundee).

 

[Spiky Bugger]

I had a manufactured home when I lived in Michigan. I bought it new, after I got divorced, and it had a regular mortgage. Like everyone else has said, they depreciate and when I moved to PA I couldn't sell it and couldn't find a place here that would let me move it to (even though my company at the time would have paid the cost of moving it). I ended up taking a 20K hit to protect my credit and the mortgage company still dinged my credit after they took the home and my 20K.

I did like a lot of things about the home itself though. Everything in it was new, quality brands, and nice. It had a huge jetted tub in the master bath plus a big stall shower. There were skylights in the kitchen and the master bath. It was loaded with insulation and was fairly cheap to heat and cool, and it had a nice fireplace.

Since you are going to put it on your own land, you would not have the selling problems that I did. Until it was time for me to move I really liked it. My house now, on the other hand, I have had to replace the roof, heat pump and soon the windows (speaking of money pits). But I like it too.

Hi, Susan! How are ya?!

We had a kind of similar experience with my mom's place...the one she and my sister bought without talking to me. It was in a mobile home park, rents went up, Mom wanted out and there were no buyers. We ALMOST had to pay to have it dragged out of that place to get out from under the space rent.

SHales...your situation will be different as you will own the land...but think about the cost of unloading a mobile home if you someday want it gone.

Sue

 

[bearmom]

My dad and stepmom are moving back here from Oregon and have had their offer accepted on a house. The property is large, 3 lots. They are going to give me one and want me to put a manufactured or modular house on it. There is a person here that does stick build houses but 1. it takes forever and 2. is quite expensive due to having to ship everything so far. The nearest lumber yard is a 200 mile round trip.
I swore I would never own another house, my last one was a money pit but after 5 years of renting, I might think about it again.

Anyway, I don't know much about these but have looked online at some that don't seem bad. They have 2x6 exterior walls, 25 year roofing, ok windows and you can upgrade to granite counter tops if you want. I would have to see the difference in price of those installed in the home or aftermarket.

Pros and cons??

If future investment value matters, never a mobile home. They aren't made as well as a typical stick built or modular either, so future maintenance may be more. The only time a manufactured mobile may make sense is if you are buying it with the land for an already depreciated value, and are just going to rent it out. They rent out for only a little less then a comparably sized stick built, but again, the future value will be less and maintenance will be more.

 

[vivimolly]

Sue - you must have owned your mobile home before the big blow up of everything real estate-related in 2008/2009. Prior to that mortgages were possible but that pretty much came to a screeching halt at that point and now they need to be financed through higher rate consumer loans.

 

[vivimolly]

Yep - people will frequently build a foundation and then build all around the mobile home and then are surprised when they can't get real estate based financing (mortgage or home equity). Mobile homes have a permanent "HUD tag" on them and the lender will always know it was originally not a stick built home no matter how much it appears to be one.