Posted: 10/31/2009 1:29:51 PM EDT
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We just went and looked at a Modular home for sale.
I already knew that my Credit Union and the VA loan we are approved for don't want to deal with modulars, some banks will. Does anyone know if they will last and what to expect on interest rates for these? Thanks |
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VA may let you get a modular. I think there has to be other modulars in the area, but you can use your VA loan for them in some circumstances. As far as quality... the "real" houses they're building any more aren't very well built. At least the ones I've seen. I'd probably take a modular home on a permanent foundation over one of these subdivision houses that they throw up in a week. |
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Trailer without wheels. One step above a cabin tent. Not exactly. There are modular homes that are supposed to be better built than stick built homes and there are manufactured homes which you're talking about. Stay far far away from manufactured homes that come in two pieces. My first home was one of these and it was terrible. |
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Some modulars are no more than steel framed double-wide trailers with plastic walls. I looked at several manufacturers & found 8 out of 10 were junk that would need a ton of poles underneath to hold them up.
Mine is by Design Homes & is better built than most site built. Double rim joists, 2X6 walls, 2X10 floor joists, & awesome insulation. The guy that did our energy audit said it was one of the tightest he had tested & had no idea it was a modular until I told him. Just do some digging around & make your own decision about the quality of the place. |
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Quoted: Trailer without wheels. One step above a cabin tent. Nonsense. A good modular can be superior to stick built in many ways, built on a jig in climate-controlled environment and perfectly square. Modulars run the gamut from crappy double-wides to homes of VERY high quality. Manufactured homes don't conform to any uniform description. All depends on the make and the price you pay. This is an example of a quality modular: http://www.heckamanhomes.com/homes.html Read up on them, and compare them to your garden variety subdivision home, then compare prices. |
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I live in a modular home built to UBC specifications. Make sure the place your are buying is built to UBC Specs and not to HUD specs. When most people here modular home they think of a manufactured home; however mistakenly. Around here its defined like this:
Mobile home: self explanatory, trailer with a tounge you can buy license plates for. Manufactured home: Built on a steel frame to HUD specifications. Modular Home: Built on a wood frame (mine has floor trusses) to UBC specifications. We had this place built in 2002 when we were younger and had little money. Its holding up great and has no more or less problems than any other house built in our subdivision. It was less expensive than having it done by a stick builder and went up much faster. We got to design the floor plan and they built it to our specs after engineering it for us. I am very happy with my modular home. Plus, the banks around here understand modular construction and we suffered no penalties in our loan because of it. YMMV. |
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I did my residency in Clarion, PA. A few Manufactured housing places around there. Our Secretary (at the office) was married to a supervisor at one place. She offered a chance for us to tour their products.
I was impressed...very impressed. I had figured (and given her grief) they were close to mobile homes....no, they were very well made. Basically a bunch of well put together boxes that you can attach in various configurations. The framing was better (as mentioned above) than a lot of stick built homes. I'd have no problem buying one (or getting one put together) on a solid foundation. AFARR |
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I've owned two. One was supposed to be "better" than stick built. Neither were, both were un-maintainable crap. Lots of staples.
Both difficult to sell and finance. Run, run now. Even the crummiest stick built will be easier and hold value better in the long run. |
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Trailer without wheels. One step above a cabin tent. Bullshit. Depends on the manufacturer. Exactly. I just bought one from a snowbird couple who had it custom made. They spent 6 months a year in it. Solid throughout. Better than some of the actual homes I owned. They are built so much better now with all the options. I will never buy a house again. In nice climates, MH is the way to go. 
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We rent out a modular/double wide. The only thing hookie about it is the interior walls, doors and trim. Also the drywall cant be taped and mudded so you get these strips to cover the joints. I had to cut and modify the hell out of some of the interior doors I bought at Home Depot as replacements. |
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If it comes in on a trailor, and the trailor stays and serves as part of the structure, it's a manufactured housing unit.
If it comes in on a trailor, is removed from the trailor and the trailor leaves empty to serve again, it's a modular unit. 
ETA: Manufactured units only have to meet Fed standards/codes, modulars have to meet Fed and state standards/codes. |
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I sure somewhere there's a company building modular homes that are just as good as a quality stick built home.
The problem is that doesn't matter because it'll always have the same stigma attached to it as the other 99% of the mobile home business. I've worked for custom home builders, I'm a member of the log home builders association of north america, I've single-handed two houses, dropped secondhand mobiles on raw land and flipped a bunch of rehabs in my life, there is no circumstance in which a mobile home is a good option. If you're strapped for cash and want a place in the sticks, get a big RV and build a big garage or just put a shell up as you can afford it, or find a place that needs some work, if you want a cheap place in the 'burbs buy a rehab or even a condo, you can put money into those and get it back someday. The problem with a mobile home is it's basically like a car, it depreciates extremely fast and it never pays to keep it up or improve it, it doesn't matter how much money you pour into a manufactured home it will always be a trailer to a buyer. |
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http://www.claytonihouse.com/
I thought these were kinda neat... |
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Quoted: You're confusing a mobile home with a modular home.I sure somewhere there's a company building modular homes that are just as good as a quality stick built home. The problem is that doesn't matter because it'll always have the same stigma attached to it as the other 99% of the mobile home business. I've worked for custom home builders, I'm a member of the log home builders association of north america, I've single-handed two houses, dropped secondhand mobiles on raw land and flipped a bunch of rehabs in my life, there is no circumstance in which a mobile home is a good option. If you're strapped for cash and want a place in the sticks, get a big RV and build a big garage or just put a shell up as you can afford it, or find a place that needs some work, if you want a cheap place in the 'burbs buy a rehab or even a condo, you can put money into those and get it back someday. The problem with a mobile home is it's basically like a car, it depreciates extremely fast and it never pays to keep it up or improve it, it doesn't matter how much money you pour into a manufactured home it will always be a trailer to a buyer. A good modular home IS a stick built home. It's just not built 100% on-site. Swingset has a nice modular, and I had absolutely no idea until I was in his basement (yes - basement) one day, and he told me to look up. I could see where two sections were joined together. Even after he pointed it out, I still forget sometimes. He has a nicer home than than I do. |
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Holds value like a trailer and built the same. http://www.ice-edge.com/images/modular_homes.jpg Yeah, who'd want to live in this piece of shit trailer. You're citing non typical examples. Buying a modular as you have pictured will run you the same $$$ as a stick built and will not retain value the same. |
| Todays modulars are very impressive indeed. Here in South La., we are seeing them mre and more scince the hurricane. They are required to meet a certain windspeed rating, and a certain flying object rating. My biggest concern is longterm durability. How do they hold up fifteen, twenty , twenty five years down the line? |
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Quoted: You're citing non typical examples. Buying a modular as you have pictured will run you the same $$$ as a stick built and will not retain value the same. It will run you about as much as a stick-built (no argument there!), and it will retain it's value just the same. A good modular home IS a stick built home (there are tons of these around - I'm not picking non-typical examples), it's just not framed on-site. Around here, a home like this is treated exactly like any other home - for tax purposes, lending, insurance...everything. And that's because it IS like any other home, other than the construction time. If you're building a home, the advantage of a modular is time to completion and consistency - not price. If you're buying a home already built, there is no advantage - it's the same as any other house. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Holds value like a trailer and built the same. http://www.ice-edge.com/images/modular_homes.jpg Yeah, who'd want to live in this piece of shit trailer. You're citing non typical examples. Buying a modular as you have pictured will run you the same $$$ as a stick built and will not retain value the same. You make a blanket (and erroneous) statement, and when corrected you claim that an exception doesn't hurt your theory. Well, yes it does. The OP is asking about modular homes, not asking about buying the typical, average modular home. He is free (like anyone) to seek out the non-typical and the better companies. And, you should inform yourself on the industry because non-typical, quality modulars are getting very popular and even some of the companies who for years churned out trailer-esque models are using 2x10 floors, 2x6 outers, drywall throughout, copper pipes, house-doors, HUD-spec homes. The quality is going up, and I also debate strongly that the value is inclined to go down. My mom and I both live in a quality modular (Mine is a heckaman, hers a Unibilt), and our property values have both gone consistently UP since building 12 years ago, mirroring the values of all the traditional homes in our areas. If you walked into many modular homes, there's no way you could know you were looking at one. The quality, layout and construction have gotten good enough to blur the line to the point where there there is none. Lastly, on price, I think you're wrong there too. When we built our home was 25% cheaper than a stick built with the same features. That's considerable on a home of this size. |
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Trailer without wheels. One step above a cabin tent. Not exactly. There are modular homes that are supposed to be better built than stick built homes and there are manufactured homes which you're talking about. Stay far far away from manufactured homes that come in two pieces. My first home was one of these and it was terrible. My parents' house was modular, brought down in two halves, and it was built just as well as any other home. The whole neighborhood was full of them. The only problems we saw were caused by the dumbass crane operators putting the two halves on the foundation. ETA: I think we moved into that house in '87 and they just sold it about two years ago. It was still like new, and increased from about $80k to $200k in that time, which was typical or a little better than average around there. Even survived.. a tornado!  The stick-built houses they started building on site later as the subdivision expanded were of lower quality.
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Holds value like a trailer and built the same. http://www.ice-edge.com/images/modular_homes.jpg Yeah, who'd want to live in this piece of shit trailer. You're citing non typical examples. Buying a modular as you have pictured will run you the same $$$ as a stick built and will not retain value the same. False. In 2004, I bought a one year old modular (never been lived in, AF guy deployed during construction) on five acres near the summit between Cheyenne and Laramie, for the construction price of $159k. I sold the house in 2007 with about $4k in landscaping and home improvements, including a small tool shed that I used as my reloading room. We listed the home at $198k, and had quite a bit of interest in the home, and eventually sold it for $189k. I would say that home more than retained it's value. This story happens almost daily in Southern WY, and is not an atypical example of turning a profit on a modular home. |
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I owned a modular home for about 2 years. My only complaint about it was there was not a basement. It was very well built and had the most effective use of space I have ever seen in any home.
I cannot say how they will hold up or retain value over a long period of time though. It was built in 2000, I bought it in 2005, and sold it in 2007. If you are looking at them as an investment, I would say you are looking in the wrong area, but that is just IMO. If you are looking at it for affordable housing, I would say go for it! |
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I owned a modular home for about 2 years. My only complaint about it was there was not a basement. It was very well built and had the most effective use of space I have ever seen in any home. I cannot say how they will hold up or retain value over a long period of time though. It was built in 2000, I bought it in 2005, and sold it in 2007. If you are looking at them as an investment, I would say you are looking in the wrong area, but that is just IMO. If you are looking at it for affordable housing, I would say go for it! No basement? Was that due to the home design or were basements just uncommon there? Our house had a basement (well, half, it was a raised ranch) and all the houses around us had basements. (obviously this wasn't in Texas) |
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I owned a modular home for about 2 years. My only complaint about it was there was not a basement. It was very well built and had the most effective use of space I have ever seen in any home. I cannot say how they will hold up or retain value over a long period of time though. It was built in 2000, I bought it in 2005, and sold it in 2007. If you are looking at them as an investment, I would say you are looking in the wrong area, but that is just IMO. If you are looking at it for affordable housing, I would say go for it! No basement? Was that due to the home design or were basements just uncommon there? Our house had a basement (well, half, it was a raised ranch) and all the houses around us had basements. (obviously this wasn't in Texas) It was just the design of the home. There were other homes in the area with basements, just not ours. |
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This looks intersting for 'modular' construction.
ihouse We have some close friends who built a 'modular' home over a basement foundation in compliance with HUD lending requirements. Complete with heat pump and water well. The place just rocks. Unless they told you it was a 'modular' or 'prefab' build you'd never know. With the heat pump and insulation, their utility bills are ridiculously low. Since the last power outage they've added a diesel powered whole house generator. The place is good to go for SHTF living. Surrounded by like minded neighbors with farm fields, livestock, water sources. Well out of 'freeway' range and when the roads shut down, no way can you approach without being real obvious. I think the next improvement will be the short wave tower. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Don't listen to me. Enjoy your trailer.  Educating some people is a waste of time. Yeah, I should check with you before I post. How did I make it 51 years being so stupid?  Well, ask yourself why you make a broad-brushed, clearly incorrect post, get schooled on the subject and then return to your original (incorrect) viewpoint. Instead of learning something, you bristled with hubris and chose to remain ignorant. Is there a magical age when you allow yourself to be educated? |
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Don't listen to me. Enjoy your trailer.
Educating some people is a waste of time. Yeah, I should check with you before I post. How did I make it 51 years being so stupid? Well, ask yourself why you make a broad-brushed, clearly incorrect post, get schooled on the subject and then return to your original (incorrect) viewpoint. Instead of learning something, you bristled with hubris and chose to remain ignorant. Is there a magical age when you allow yourself to be educated? I accept your apology. |
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Don't listen to me. Enjoy your trailer.
Educating some people is a waste of time. Yeah, I should check with you before I post. How did I make it 51 years being so stupid? Well, ask yourself why you make a broad-brushed, clearly incorrect post, get schooled on the subject and then return to your original (incorrect) viewpoint. Instead of learning something, you bristled with hubris and chose to remain ignorant. Is there a magical age when you allow yourself to be educated? I accept your apology. 
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Don't listen to me. Enjoy your trailer. Educating some people is a waste of time. Yeah, I should check with you before I post. How did I make it 51 years being so stupid? Well, ask yourself why you make a broad-brushed, clearly incorrect post, get schooled on the subject and then return to your original (incorrect) viewpoint. Instead of learning something, you bristled with hubris and chose to remain ignorant. Is there a magical age when you allow yourself to be educated? I accept your apology. No problem, glad to help a man display his character. It's the least I can do. |
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Quoted: Don't do it! I've seen some nice modular homes and IMHO you just have a fancy mobile home, be the pride of trailer park! Like Mater said "I'm happier than a tornado in a trailer park!" Trailers are not modular homes. Trailers are trailers....axles, steel frames, shitty thin walls, etc. Modulars are typically all wood construction - homes built (in sections or individual modules) in a factory. Two entirely, completely different things unless you buy a really shitty modular. If you buy a good modular (as has been talked about, linked to, and displayed several times so far) you would never know it was one unless you were there to see the parts delivered. But hey, Pangea is with ya in not knowing the diff so that has to feel pretty good. |
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The one-bedroom, 793-square-foot i-house has a base price of $74,900, according to the Clayton Homes Web site. The two-bedroom 1,023-square-foot version costs $93,300. Solar panels are extra. ripoff |