What is a "mini home"?

What area are you looking in? Is a "mini home" a small bungalow? Can you show us an example?

Here's my favorite version of a mini home, but probably not at all what you have in mind. *Very* mini, and all recycled. I would love to find a way to use one of these little houses, they're so cute!

An artist living near us has one on her property and uses it as a studio/guest house.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tiny houses

There is a smaller homes forum on this site. You should post there too.

Oops - mini home is a very common term here - didn't realize that it wasn't used everywhere. They are small homes that are pre-fabricated and then moved to a lot.

Love those little teeny houses! I looked at one (not THAT tiny) this morning - too small. I love the thoughts of a tiny little cottage, but the bedroom wouldn't have even fit a double bed.

Here's a link to a mini-home on our local MLS site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mini-home

Ooh, I have no knowledge of these homes but my mom's family is all from Fredericton, Moncton, and Turtle Creek. One of my best memories as a kid is an exchange trip we had with a bunch of kids from Grand Manan Island.

Thanks for bringing back those memories!!

Really?? How cool! I lived in Moncton for a few years. I have lived in Fredericton most of my life. I currently live in downtown Fredericton. I have never been to Grand Manan Island - would love to go there.

Oh, what you are talking about is considered a mobile or manufactured home here.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't be able to use beadboard!

But if it was an issue, you can use the paintable beadboard wallpaper!

I have it for my kitchen, though not installed yet.

Yeah we call them mobile home, manfactured or modular homes in Ohio. Not sure how they got so many names!!!

Totally not what I was thinking! We call them mobile homes, as well.

To me, prefab means more like these in the link I posted. I guess these are more modular. Someday we're going to live in one...I hope. I don't care that my furnitre is no where NEAR modern, I'll make it work! :)

You can absolutely do beadboard in a mobile home. You can decorate the inside in whatever way you wish, it just can't take really heavy applications, like concrete floors.
Also, these babies can be put together to accomodate many size needs. A double-wide is very roomy.

Here is a link that might be useful: modern prefabs

Do your homework when choosing a mobile home or a modular home. They do make then with 2X6's instead of the stick built homes with 2X4's. I have seen some very beautiful homes, no matter what you choose, I know that you will be proud of your home. Here a link on HGTV Rate my Space of a mobile home with the beadboard living room. Oh, remember you can paint the walls with a primer first then paint, any color you choose.

Skeet

Here is a link that might be useful: Country Cottage, Mobile Home

Mobile homes and manufactured homes are different things. Mobile homes are made with axles and wheels - yes they are usually removed but theoretically they can be hauled down the road.
Manufactured homes are stick built homes made in an indoor factory type setting then semi-trucked in pieces to the home site. Some "brands" are low end and not much above the mobile home, some are pretty high end and cost almost as much as stick built. You usually still save some time over stick built though. I think the loan process can be different.
Valzone - I don't have personal experience, almost went that route in Nebraska - do a lot of research - its not a well regulated industry and can be very tricky.

The kind that I am considering definitely don't have wheels. They are built in a factory and shipped to the lot. Some are small enough to be moved on a trailer in one piece, and some are brought in several sections. I am putting a link to the types/styles you can get. The style that I am thinking of is very small - the kind that can be moved in one piece...I see that they also refer to them as single wide.

Thanks for the link to the Rate my Space home - that woman has made her home look cute. I am happy to hear that I could put up beadboard and even hardwood floors if I wanted. This wouldn't be my forever home, but it would be something for a couple of years until I get back on my feet, and it would sure beat paying rent. Even so, being able to make changes so that it suits me better would make a big difference in my comfort level.

Here is a link that might be useful: Maple Leaf Homes

Val, you mention this won't be your forever home, but just for a couple of years. Check out their resale value and DOM- I don't know if it's changed or not but the resale on manufactured homes used to be poorer than site built homes. I don't know if this has changed but about 25 years ago, yeah, I know in the dark ages LOL, there was a perception they weren't as well built and were more difficult to resell. This meant, back then, that they didn't gain value as much as stick built homes. I don't know if this has changed or not - or if it's valid in your neck of the woods.

Sky

I think you'd be better off buying a smaller 2 bedroom 1 bath house in a good location if looking at re-sale. If you bought one that has some space (yard wise) and a layout so there is later the possibility of adding on a master suite you would be better off as that would add value. Mobile homes tend to depreciate although the land it sits on will still appreciate if other land/houses appreciate in the area.

One other note is to check with your lender. Sometimes there are differences in how they handle loans on mobile homes.

What skypathway says about resale is happening right now in my area of NH and in my mom's area of Maine even before the market crashed. There just isn't as much demand for "used" manufactureds (even if there are never any axles or wheels, "mobile" and "manufactured" are synonymous here) unless they're in a perfect location on their own land and have tons of amenities like double- or triple-width, ensuite baths, etc. A leased lot in a park (even if it's dressed up pretty and called a "community") can be a kiss of death because you can really be up a creek if the property changes hands. A park here was purchased by developers and all the leases cancelled because the new owners wanted to put the land to different use - some people could not afford to move their mobiles and lost everything.

There's also HUGE variation between manufacturers and you really have to do your research, because some companies turn out real crap. My mom has a doublewide that is maybe ten years old and to repair all the things that have gone wrong with it would cost almost as much as a new one set on the old foundation! (I don't know the brand, I need to ask her.) Because of this, she's pretty much trapped in a house that's nearly unsaleable, and the yield from the land it's sitting on wouldn't clear the mortgage on it.

Some people run into more problems financing and insuring manufactured homes than they do site-builts, so you'll need to look into that.

I've linked the Manufactured Homes forum here at GW below.

If I were in your situation I would be looking at the small, slightly-older single-family houses that have been well maintained but are cosmetically dated - the "starter home" type. Many people can't see past Pepto-pink paint and 1960s gold-glitter-bowl light fixtures, but I know you can. If you think maintenance of a SFH may be an issue and you're not quite as insanely obsessive ;-) about your privacy as I am, a condo or a townhouse might be a worthwhile thing to investigate, especially as you only plan to occupy it for a few years.

Here is a link that might be useful: Manufactured Homes forum

Hi Val, nice to see a fellow Canuck on here! (I'm in western Quebec, just outside Ottawa). Manufactured homes are pretty common out here, as we are not far from cottage country and there are quite a few local manufacturers, Bonneville seems to be the most prominent of them. Many of these home are not 'mini' by any stretch of the imagination, but the ones that are small fit in well with the abundance of tiny postwar (and more recent) bungalows that are also common in the region.

I'm not sure the resale issues apply in your region - the Canadian real estate market is very, very different from the American one, and I'm sure the market in NB is different from the ones I'm familiar with in ON/QC so I can't really comment, but it's something to keep in mind. Are you looking at buying a lot in a park or a regular building lot?

I don't have any pics of prefab homes interiors, but if I come across any, I'll try to pass them along. If I were looking for ideas, I'd be combing some of the small-space living websites - Sarah Susanka's Not So Big Home forum and these blogs for starters:

http://smallspaceliving.blogspot.com/
http://smallplacestyle.blogspot.com/
http://www.boatshedchic.blogspot.com/

Hope that helps!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bonneville homes

I think people are confusing mobile homes with manufactured, panelized or modular homes.

The homes that are manufatcured/modular homes these days, are often better built than normal stick built homes. They are built in factories in sections, in a controlled atmosphere, using rigid standards. Unlike stick built homes that are built in the open, subject to any changes in the temperature and or weather. And, subcontractors with their own standards doing the work.

And mostly you can't tell they are manufatcured/modular homes once they are set on their permanent foundation.

Lenders have no problem with established modular homes, and there is plenty of financing for new construction also.

It's pretty amazing what they are building these days using modular pieces, compared to the "old days".

There really is a big difference between the types of homes referred to as manufactured homes as pamghatten explains.

However I do believe that valzone5 was referring to what is typically known as a mobile home. In this case a single wide. The MLS link was most certainly a mobile home/single wide and in the other link she provided the term "mini homes" was referring to these. That particular link did show the other type of modular homes as well, which I think accounts for some of the confusion.

I don't know the east coast of Canada at all, it's on my list of places to visit when I find some $$ to travel.

I took the liberty of going through the listings in your search. How about this great house? Wrong area?

What about the big old house at BURTTS CORNER? Is that in your neighbourhood? It also showed up in your search list.

Here is a link that might be useful: I like this one too!!

Thanks for the link mari - Wow - who knew the difference between modular and manufactured homes was so hotly debated, LOL! Good information on that forum though, as to what's doable. I had no idea that forum existed.

The resale value on what we call mini-homes (which are made at the same place as the manufactured homes, and are carried to their lot on a trailer, the same way the manufactured homes are) isn't good. You can increase the value a bit if you make improvements, but it won't increase in value like a "regular" house will. My real estate agent said that it would probably sell for what I bought it for, if I sell in 2-3 yrs. I see it as a bit of a savings account - in 2-3 yrs instead of having paid my landlord, I will have paid down my mortgage a bit, so that although I won't have made money on the house, I will have money above what I sell the home for. If that makes sense.

On Saturday I saw a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house. I am sure that to some people this would be a nightmare, LOL! But to me, I love the idea of a tiny little house - it would be my little cottage. Unfortunately the foundation was caving in, so it was a no-go. I wanted to look at another little 2 BR/1 bath house, but it sold for above the asking price before I could even look at it. I talked more to the RE agent about mini homes, and I have pretty much ruled them out. Within the city limits (which is where I would prefer to live) you cannot put a mini-home outside of a park. There is one park that is actually very nice, in a hoity toity neighborhood even. Wether I went with that park, or a less desireable one, the land lease is what kills me. $220 per month just to lease the land?!?! The very small, I might add, piece of land?! No way. Once you add taxes at $100 per month, that adds over $300/mo to my mortgage payment. Crazy. I'd rather get a tiny little house with a decent sized yard. Average sized homes are taxed at approx $100 per month, but at least I don't have to cough up hundreds more to lease the land.

So now I am waiting ever so patiently (or not, LOL) for a teeny little ugly house. Something that nobody wants. Something so ugly it would make the cream in your coffee curdle.

gwendolynne - I love that area! I have friends who used to live just inside the Quebec border outside of Ottawa. My brother lives in Ottawa. A couple of years ago he got married during Winterlude at a little stone restaurant in the market area. It was the most beautiful wedding that I have ever been to. The whole city is beautiful.

homemaker - those houses are definitely out of the area that I am considering, but thanks for looking for me! With gas being $5.30/gal, I have to stick to the city limits. Some day....ah...I dream of retiring to "the sticks" and living in a big old house. Of course, by then I'll need to be close to hospitals and won't have the stamina to constantly work on the house, LOL!

i just wanted to say that our house is a modular. stick built indoors, brought onsite and buttoned up. there are no wheels, never were. you can't tell that it wasn't stick built right onsite. there is no difference in the resale value. they can build anything in a modular now days.

good luck!