If I buy a mobile/manufactured home...

[Peepa]

What is there to look for?
I''ve been hearing it''s a bad investment but seems like it''s better than renting?
Any of you live in one? Pros/cons
Any advice, info will be helpful.

 

[neatfreak]

Which one are you considering? There is a big difference between a mobile home and a manufactured home...

 

[mimzy]

i don''t think it''s a bad thing as long as you don''t have to pay a slot fee every month, because often times those are as much as rent from what i''ve heard.....which makes it a pretty crappy investment as the resale isn''t good.


but i''ve also seen some BEAUTIFUL manufactured homes that look just like contractor built homes.

 

[VRBeauty]

Garenweb.com, in the home forums, has a forum on manufactured homes that you might want to look at for starters.

As Neatfreak said, there's a big difference between mobile homes and pre-manufactured homes. My parents live in a neighborhood where the homes, all built within the last 20 years, are a combination of stick-built (traditional construction) and manufactured homes. They live in a traditional home; their close friends (former neighbors in their old hood) had a manufactured home put on their lot. The manufactured home is absolutely beautiful, but maintenance turned out to be a huge problem because the materials and manufacturing techniques were so different than those used in a stick-built home. Their next house was not pre-manufactured. Having said that, there are a lot of people in that neighborhood who have been in their manufactured homes for a long time, so I have to assume that the problems aren't insurmountable.

How exciting that you're thinking buying a house! It's a journey that involves a lot of research and learning, especially if it's your first home purchase. Good luck!

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

Don''t do a mobile home, they are the only type of property that consistantly decreases in value and as such are a very poor investment. It has also been my experience that they have a lot of problems.

I don''t know much about prefab housing, so I will stay out, but in this economy which may continue for some time, you really should consider resale value.

Unless you own the land, you usually have to pay a lot fee as well, which can cost as much as rent.

 

[VRBeauty]

Major typo in my earlier posting! A great place to go for home-related discussion is gardenweb.com''s all things home forum:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 6/13/2008 5:03:59 PM
Author: SanDiegoLady
I for one have seen some INCREDIBLE manufactured homes that are equally as beautiful as a contractor built home. You can put them on a solid foundation with a crawl space and they are just as nice. No, the resale isn''t as good. My girlfriend and her husband live in one and until they told me it was a manufactured home, we didn''t know. Theirs is built on their own land on a solid foundation with a crawl space. Its fabulous. Several I have seen have had garages built on them to match.

We have looked at one that''s 2500 sq ft. for a very long time. The kitchen alone is larger than our current living room/dining/kitchen area. Marble counters.. huge pantry, tons of light. Large bedrooms & bathrooms. The options are vast.

Anyway.. if you go look at them, they will glady give you information on them.

I agree. Hubby and I have an acre of land being offered to us that we will probably build a manufactured home on. There are many options as far as floor plans, etc. and since we will own the land we won''t have to pay lot rent. We won''t do a mobile home because in our area they decrease in value very quickly and are nearly impossible to resell. Good luck!

Jess