manufactured homes
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From: Red Bank
I think you are mistaking the difference between depreciation for tax purposes and appreciation of real estate. Any improvements will depreciate over time as they wear, get older, etc.
It is not that you put up a modular home and mysteriously your house depreciates while your neighbor has a house built on-site that continues to appreciate. The value is in the improvement plus the land, a neighbor of my parents put up a modular that drastically increased the value of their property, but also be prepared for a new tax assessment, the onoy way to avoid this in some cases is to leave a piece of the original home.
I have actually seen where they built the new home around the old home and then demolished the old one to avoid the new assessment and regulations of a completely new home...
It is not that you put up a modular home and mysteriously your house depreciates while your neighbor has a house built on-site that continues to appreciate. The value is in the improvement plus the land, a neighbor of my parents put up a modular that drastically increased the value of their property, but also be prepared for a new tax assessment, the onoy way to avoid this in some cases is to leave a piece of the original home.
I have actually seen where they built the new home around the old home and then demolished the old one to avoid the new assessment and regulations of a completely new home...
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Having been in Residential Real Estate since 1974 I have seen literally thousands of manufactured (trailers) and modular homes. I have been on both the buying/selling side, the financing side as well as building homes and I tell you emphatically that modular homes might appreciate and they might not!
I can say emphatically that manufactured homes, except in several resort areas of the country, definitely ARE PROBLEMS!
Federal guidelines don't even allow loans on manufactured properties under the same guidelines as stick built or even modular homes. Yes, you can get regular mortgages (vs. the chattel loans the manufactured builders give -think credit card loans) BUT there are lots of stipulations and limitations and most lenders won't even touch them.
Modulars might fall into that catagory as well, it just depends upon how they are built, whether you take advantage of those extra cost EXTRAs (that are standard items on a stick built home) like porches that Vanderbilt was advertising (in other words do they end up looking like site built trailers), and what is the composition of the surrounding countryside.
If modulars are common and an appraiser can use other modular comps then it probably isn't an issue IF they don't have the appearance and functionality of a trailer.
As to being built to higher standards - HOGWASH! That's marketing plain and simple. They are typically built to trailer like standards (except for the SIP homes) with profit being the primary motive.
I have seen some very nice modular homes that have had great acceptance in the marketplace and have performed well in the financial arena as well, but the majority don't.
DO NOT decide upon a modular based upon pricing alone. A good modular will cost you very close to what a stick built house will and yet will never have the ambiance. They are very simple in design and nature. There may be nothing wrong with simple and that might fit you to a T, but you always buy real estate with an eye towards selling. If you build or buy something with a limited appeal don't be surprised if you lose money or can't sell it when that time comes.
As far as real estate being a good investment and appreciating vs. depreciating. The rules of depreciation being wear and tear do not apply here like they do on a car. Since people buy by comparison if you have let your house "depreciate" more than the other homes in the neighborhood or other homes that would be your competition when selling then yes you will make less because of wear and tear depreciation.
Appreciation MAY happen with Real Estate and it is more of a given than, say, a car. It does happen more times than not, but you can't count on it. Poor old Las Vegas is going thru a decrease in values right now. Those poor people are only getting about a 30% appreciation rate right now and that is down from the 40% it was in the past few years. Other parts of the country, most notably in the north east, may actually have property values falling.
$$$ should not be the overriding reason for buying a home. Having a place of your own, living where you want, having the type of dwelling you want, getting out of apartments, these and other reasons like them should be your first concern.
I can say emphatically that manufactured homes, except in several resort areas of the country, definitely ARE PROBLEMS!
Federal guidelines don't even allow loans on manufactured properties under the same guidelines as stick built or even modular homes. Yes, you can get regular mortgages (vs. the chattel loans the manufactured builders give -think credit card loans) BUT there are lots of stipulations and limitations and most lenders won't even touch them.
Modulars might fall into that catagory as well, it just depends upon how they are built, whether you take advantage of those extra cost EXTRAs (that are standard items on a stick built home) like porches that Vanderbilt was advertising (in other words do they end up looking like site built trailers), and what is the composition of the surrounding countryside.
If modulars are common and an appraiser can use other modular comps then it probably isn't an issue IF they don't have the appearance and functionality of a trailer.
As to being built to higher standards - HOGWASH! That's marketing plain and simple. They are typically built to trailer like standards (except for the SIP homes) with profit being the primary motive.
I have seen some very nice modular homes that have had great acceptance in the marketplace and have performed well in the financial arena as well, but the majority don't.
DO NOT decide upon a modular based upon pricing alone. A good modular will cost you very close to what a stick built house will and yet will never have the ambiance. They are very simple in design and nature. There may be nothing wrong with simple and that might fit you to a T, but you always buy real estate with an eye towards selling. If you build or buy something with a limited appeal don't be surprised if you lose money or can't sell it when that time comes.
As far as real estate being a good investment and appreciating vs. depreciating. The rules of depreciation being wear and tear do not apply here like they do on a car. Since people buy by comparison if you have let your house "depreciate" more than the other homes in the neighborhood or other homes that would be your competition when selling then yes you will make less because of wear and tear depreciation.
Appreciation MAY happen with Real Estate and it is more of a given than, say, a car. It does happen more times than not, but you can't count on it. Poor old Las Vegas is going thru a decrease in values right now. Those poor people are only getting about a 30% appreciation rate right now and that is down from the 40% it was in the past few years. Other parts of the country, most notably in the north east, may actually have property values falling.
$$$ should not be the overriding reason for buying a home. Having a place of your own, living where you want, having the type of dwelling you want, getting out of apartments, these and other reasons like them should be your first concern.
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From: denver
trailer or a modular or manufactured home whatever?
anything delivered to the site in more than one chunky, assembled on site can be called a modular home?
there are savings in the construction loan, building permits etc.
anything delivered to the site in more than one chunky, assembled on site can be called a modular home?
there are savings in the construction loan, building permits etc.
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From: Clarksville, TN
Originally Posted by Scot,Jan 16 2007, 03:19 PM
Are you thinking of a MOBILE home? Like a trailer? Like a trailer park? Like where they shoot every episode of COPS... 
I think Manufactured houses are brought in big pieces and put together onsite... to the untrained eye I think it is impossible to tell. I have heard that they are actually better built since they have to not break on the trip to the house site.
I think Manufactured houses are brought in big pieces and put together onsite... to the untrained eye I think it is impossible to tell. I have heard that they are actually better built since they have to not break on the trip to the house site.
A manufactured home is brought in sections and set on a foundation. I bought one when I lived in Wyoming 20 yrs ago, because local builders couldn't keep up with demand for housing. It was a Boise Cascade, built 120 miles away in Utah. I've owned a half dozen homes, and I think this was the best built of them all. 6 inch exterior walls, all sheetrock glued, nailed, and screwed.
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