We have been so busy trying to finish up everything that I haven't checked in on this forum in a while. To answer some of your questions Marys1000, My home is a display model off of the sales lot. We completely tore all of the sheetrock off of the upstairs rooms walls, ripped out the bathroom fixtures and flooring, and carried all of it out ourselves so the rafters could be folded down to move it. When I say we did sheet rock and the electrical ourselves, the upstairs is mainly what I am talking about. The foundation has a crawlspace. The downstairs was completely finished except for where the marriage walls had to be joined and finished. We stick built the laundry room and the garage. My husband is a licensed electrical contractor and also a carpenter. He did about 90% of the unfinished work himself. We paid approximately $94,000 from the sales lot. We have paid probably another $100,000 for the foundation, garage, laundry room, 2 bay shop, upgrades to floors, and finishing the upstairs. The 2 acres Of property we already owned appraised at $50,000. The house and land was appraised at $275,000. No, this was not a faster solution than a stick built house. But because it was a show model It saved us some money in the long run. And by the way, a lot of people can't tell that this is a modular.

The days of seeing gains like those in the above posts where an $80,000 purchase sells for many times that years later are over for at least 10 years. Don't expect any major real estate boom any time soon; real estate is going to return to what it's supposed to be for, a place to live and call home, rather then a slot machine that pays out. With that said, I got a super deal on a manufactured home built in 2003 with new 2 car detached garage on a .65 acre lot for under $40k. The modular homes in a new subdivision being built start around $100k and that's with no garage included and they are still selling! They don't look that much different, they have the same or less square footage, yet they are selling for more then double the price. I guess it depends on what you need. Do you need a basement? The manufactured homes around here will qualify for a traditional mortgage as long as they are anchored on a frost free foundation. Surrender the title and they become real property, treated as such. Why pay more for less in an environment where real estate is going to go down adjusted for inflation going forward? If you can find a good deal, go for it. A house is a place to live, a place to call home, that's the important thing.. not bling bling, unless that's your style.

Hi all -- back again after a few days off email. Oceanna, we did use a primer, mainly because we were covering semigloss (we did briefly scuff sand it, though, just in case) and because we didn't have enough extra white paint in the garage. Just one coat of Behr (HD) interior primer, which was enough to give us a mostly-white wall -- not perfect, though. (should we do it again, do you think?) but we will probably do two coats of whatever color we eventually choose. I am leaning towards a very light grey-toned taupe (BM Hot Spring Stones is the most likely culprit), but am not sure, and knew the hideous pink would affect any color I tried to test on that wall. So we had to get it to white, or mostly-white, to be able to figure out what we'd want as a permanent color. Satisfaction: enormous! I've never painted before, and it felt wonderful to figure out how to do it, to see the results so quickly, to feel like I can affect the quality of the space around me rather than hiring someone. Very empowering. (my kids were leaping around delighted, too, and demanding that their rooms get painted next. I am thinking of putting magnetic primer or chalkboard paint in their rooms -- that'd be really fun. And I like the idea of them doing it with me, although I'm not sure how well I'd like the reality, given that they're 6 and 3!) I might hire out the very long facing wall next to this one, because we'll probably paint that one a more neutral color than it currently is, but it's not anywhere near as offensive as the pink, so I'm in no rush. What I learned here made the whole process easier, esp the bit about rollering first and cutting-in later. Thanks again!

You mentioned that the smell is most noticeable around a light switch, and it has something chemical to it. It wouldn't be a bad idea to shut off the power to this switch, pull it off and inspect all connections for tightness or burn marks. Loose connections can cause a phenomenon called arcing, and when that happens it has a distinctive smell, which resembles the smell produced by a photocopier machine. If you find burn marks, replace the switch and cut off any section of wire that looks burned or discoloured.