A Realistic RE Deal and a great time to establish a new niche in the Real Estate and Lending Industry With Manufactured Homes.
The Oldest and Biggest Manufacturing Business in the World is Home Building. And it’s done in the open air, in the mud, wind, rain, snow, dust, dirt and ultra violet while almost every other manufacturing business is done in an indoor protected and controlled environment.
My advice to fellow Active Rain members? Spend a little bit of your blogging and social networking time hooking-up with and getting to know your local Manufactured Home Dealers and Contractor. You could be leaving $$$$$$ on the table and not even know it.
Manufactured Housing is here to stay. All signs show that the Manufactured Housing Industry is well on the road to becoming a leading player in the forthcoming housing rebound Nationwide. That’s right, those huge structures you see traveling down the freeways and highways could very well be Home Sweet Home for millions of Americans in the coming decades.
“Formerly referred to as “Trailers”, “Tin Cans”, “Match Boxes”, “Wobbly Boxes” and Mobilehomes, manufactured housing is now one of the nation's fastest growing housing segments thanks to the housing's affordability. Manufactured Housing Remains a Growing Force In Housing Market” states a report written by Broderick Perkins of Realty Times. He goes onto say, “As the new century nears, the manufactured housing industry is poised to cash in on the aging baby boom generation and their offspring who likely will increase demand for manufactured housing.”
According to: Kimberly Vermeer, Josephine Louie Source Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University URL Click here to download the full document
“Newer, better-quality units are now attractive housing options for young first-time homebuyers or elderly households seeking retirement housing. Older, lower-quality manufactured homes represent an important source of basic low-cost shelter for millions of low-income families and individuals.”
“This diversity contributes to the contrasting images of manufactured housing and its role in the national housing market. Because the industry has the ability to serve many distinct market segments, it is likely that manufactured housing will continue to be an important component of the nation's future housing stock.”
Finally, it is now becoming more and more evident as field construction (site built or stick built homes) costs of material and labor have increased and quality craftsmanship standards have diminished (as is evidenced by the preponderance of defect litigation law suits during the past 20 years) that a controlled factory environment with hourly checks and balances rendered by outside independent, government certified and licensed in house inspectors has become a very successful approach to raising the bar for a quality product in the housing industry.
Get To Know Your Local Manufactured Home Dealer Network. Feel free to visit our website at www.onthelevelcontractors.com or email me at onthelevel@cox.net and I will be happy to help you locate a Manufactured Home Dealer and/or Contractor near you. There is no charge for this service. We just want to help fellow Active Rain members in any way we can towards a speedy recovery in this unusually bleak and difficult market we’ve all been experiencing.
Finally, Financing a Manufactured Home has never been easier. With the help of FHA, HUD and the VA it is virtually painless to purchase and finance a Manufactured Home on private land for the same interest rate and terms as are available for conventional site built (stick built) homes.
For FNMA or FHA-insured loans:
For Reverse mortgage loans:
- http://www.reversemortgagewest.com
- www.themanufacturedhomelendingsource.com
- www.mh-lending.com
- www.multistatehomelending.com
For VA or Cal-Vet Loans:
OTHER STRATEGIC PARTNERS
Realtors:
http://www.homes4salesandiego.com/
Contractors:
www.chadofalltrades.com
No longer should today’s “Manufactured Home” product be branded with the outdated stigma of “Trailers”, “Tin Cans”, “Match Boxes” or “Wobbly Boxes”
Things have changed a little from days of old when first generation trailers were placed in little trailer parks as shown in the photos above. The exterior was usually metal or aluminum at best with 2 to 3 inch wall thickness. Interior walls were generally clad in very thin wall paneling or even a photo finished veneer or cardboard material emulating a wood finish. These tiny little structures were often augmented with tiny little cabanas or California rooms in order to expand living area. But this was rare as most spaces were generally too small for anything but a carport or a small deck. As you can see it was quite difficult to build with any degree of esthetics in the mix.
By contrast it’s almost impossible to ascertain whether the photos above are a site (stick) built structure or something manufactured in sections in a factory albeit the latter is the case. Nothing beats the quality control and consistent precision of today’s jigged and rigged factory built housing components where every piece is built in a protected and controlled environment with inspectors on site at all times.
whew... congratulations on the booming business.. :) you may want to go in and repost...in html mode :)
"The Oldest and Biggest Manufacturing Business in the World is Home Building"
Jesus was a carpenter, right?
The market for manufactured homes on foundation is popular on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and in rural Northern Virginia.
Once the structure changes from wheels to foundation, it's titled and valued in a completely different manner and becomes a viable product for agents and brokers to include in their portfolio.
I suspect that we'll see more and more of these properties in the future.
Since there is no way of identifying manufactured homes in our MLS, I suspect that there are more of them in rural areas and sold daily than many agents would know.
Konnie, Please enlighten me as to how to repost in t...in html mode :,
Thanks!
Jesus was a carpenter. He was also a fisherman and a great wine connoisseur.
Thank you Lenn. With the advent of the required 433A documentation in California and Affidavits of affixture (similar to 433A's) in Arizona, Oregon and several other states identifying and documenting Manufactured Homes is becoming very efficient.
PS: Did I graduate to 3rd grade English yet? LOL. You're great.
Lenn, thanks for the great post! This is definitely something to keep in mind, and wow, have the times changed in the manufactured home business...
Hi John..as an old Manufactured Home Realtor..I hope these new models come here too.Affordable Housing is there we just need t o help our buyer by introducing them to at least take a look at the New alternatives.
Cheers, Congratulations on the Feature Post, thanks for sharing :O)
On the Level-thanks for the great info and links. Manufactured homes are plentiful in my neck of the woods and I have sold several of them.
John -
You've give me a whole new way to think about housing and the use of manufactured homes for "get-a-way" or second homes. Well done.
Michael
I've been researching green modular homes and there are some great options available.
That's not what one thinks of when they think of manufactured homes
Hi -- Our area has several manufactured double wide and modular home subdivisions. They are not held in the same esteem as the site built homes but in a well planned subdivision of modern day manufactured housing it is hard to tell the difference between manufactured and site built.
So much expense is saved by the homes being put together in a controlled environment out of the weather where mold and other hidden building defects could/can occur and I'm sure the loss of stolen on-site tools, machinery is also greatly lessened. I think many areas of the country will be seeing more of these homes.
Sue of Robin and Sue
Wow - these are so interesting and BIG. Thanks for sharing!
Good information. I listed a modular home last year ans it was the prettiest modular home I had ever been in. Best wishes for a successful future.
I think I will pass. Nothing like a stick built home built by guys that are working hard out in the sun instead of a factory built home.
I have a hard time suggesting to anyone that they buy a manufactured home. I have seen lending get tighter and tighter year after year. I cannot in good faith sell someone a home that might not be able to be financed if they live in it 15 or 20 years.
Even Pulte manufactures many of their wall panels off site and they put them together on site, a different category, but times they are a changing.
Hi John and Janis. We have our share in the Tampa Bay area and include them in my business plan. ~ Lana
In the UK we called them pre fabs and they were thought of as lower class housing. We do not see any in my area.
Morning John, Wasn't aware how much these have changed and improved. We have lots of them in our area and they do require a bit of specialized education.
Fred, I listed you as a potential client and associate and will keep you posted. However, the beauty of the whole manufactured home phenomenon is portability so don't think you're out of the loop. The network of MH's near you is broader than you think. Don't let it keep you from moving forward if you have a potential client.
Michael, You're absolutely right. Check out my post on second homes when you have an opportunity. I've been in this market in the San Deigo area for years. It's a great business. You can buy old ones and fix them up or replace them for resale or you can put them in your rental inventory.
Cindy, Green is Gold in the MH biz. It's the future for all building. Glad to see it happening.
Sue, There will come a day when folks will think it prestigious to purchase their home from a factory in mcuh the same way as purchasing your auto from a high line dealer.
Lise, You aint seen nothing yet. Can you believe I've been working on multi-story (up to 4 story) 100+ unit stacked modular units for the hotel, resort and condo industry? I will send you some info on some of these projects and you'll be even more impressed.
Russ, As a general contractor, builder and developer for the past 3 decades I've have and continue to build my share of site built homes and they're great no doubt about it. In fact there are certain archetecural themes that just do better with this model. But the future is upon us and all those hard working boys building homes in the hot sun, rain, sleet and snow by and large envy the guys working in a safe and warm environment. The future of homebuilding is in factories like it or not and is sweeping the nation by storm.
Damen, Things have changed big time. You need to be brought up to date. You may be preventing some of your clientele from participating in the home ownership experience because of your lack of knowledge about the industry. I will list you as a potential client and associate and forward you some information vital to you and your clientele. Most importantly is to use niche lenders who specialize exclusively in MH's. Check out www.mh-lending.com if you want to educate yourself to better serve a potential client.
Lana, Boy are you telling me! I ran a 200 man crew in Florida after Hurricane Charley, Francis, Dwight and that other guest visited your beautiful state in 2004. I've never seen so many MH's in one area in my entire career. In fact if you pulled out all the MH's in Florida you'd be left with a ghost town in many areas.
Corinne, There's nothing low class about them in the good ole US of A. But I can certainly understand your perspective inasmuch as almost everything in the UK is built out of brick andmortar. I love jolly ole England. Just visited Wembley last October to watch the San Diego Chargers get their booties kicked by the New Orleans Saints. Wow! What a stadium.
Bill, That is exactly why I joined AR. I'm here to serve the AR community in any of their Manufactured Housing needs. I will list you as an associate and potential client. If you ever have any questions please feel free to contact me. I lived in Fort Meyers on the Caloosahachee River for a year working on temporary housing for FEMA after Hurricane Charley and all his friends visited you folks in '04. Wow! what a mess that was.
Congrats on the featured blog post. As an Encinitas resident and Broker, I know that in California there are a lot of particulars that are different with the manufactured home contracts. Glad to know you are available!
Hi Melissa,
If you're in Encinitas stop by and check out our little beach cottages sometime and say hi. We're located at 159 Diana St, #5 . Also I've got a little singlewide in Riveria on the market in case you know of anyone looking for a little weekend retreat or a place to stow a college kid or grandparent. Check out the AR link below for a more in depth preview. I will list you as an associate and potential client if you don't mind.
John
Mellissa,
I forgot to give you the link to a post I did about our little beach cottages. 1/2 manufactured home and the other half site built 2nd story.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1148482/when-the-cubic-foot-vs-the-square-foot-really-counts-big-places-on-little-spaces
Excellent post. What I have found is that high end manufactured homes can appear to cost more than conventional building, but they go up so much faster there are savings to be had. Thanks.
Hi Jeff,
I have yet to see a manufactured home cost more than site built and I've been doing boht for almost 30 years. But you are absolutely right about turn around time. Time is money so if you need to get somthing up in a hurry MH is the way to go.
Manufactured homes certainly are different than what many think of as mobile homes. I've been in some that are very nice.