We have a double wide and like it pretty well. Our old house was slowly falling apart, it was an old house when we bought the farm over 25 years ago and neighbors told us late it was the renovated chicken house. lol.

We knew being retired and limited income we couldn't afford to build. Had quite a time convincing DH this was the way to go as he had worked for Champion home builders some 40 years ago and knew how cheaply they were put together. When DD and I finally got him to go look at some he was amazed at how far they had come and decided we should go ahead and buy one.

It's all electric and we put in an outdoor wood burning furnace ducted into the existing duct work for heat. We use the indoor electric furnace when it's not really cold enough to fire up the wood one. Downside is when the electric is out due to storms we don't have heat. Need electric to power the blower on the wood furnace. We keep saying we need to get a generator for emergencies but haven't done so. Have lucked out and only had power outages 48 hrs at the most.

If we happened to sell this property sometime in the future and moved to a smaller acreage we have, would just put in a singlewide, easier to heat and cool and for the two of us would be fine.

Modular is what most of them are called now instead of Mobile.

we checked them out thoroughly when we were thinking of retiring to Florida but in the end what we found is that to buy a really high quality top of the line Modular you are going to end up paying as much money for one as for a stick built...we did a stick built but if it was well made, I wouldn't have any problems living in one...so many of them are real trash...they will start falling apart in 5 years time...and they will be a pile of junk long before someone pays them off.

I looked at buying one about 12 years ago when I was single and first started supporting myself. I think it's a great way to live within your means and own a place to call home.

We have been in ours for over 12 years and is still in great shape and I had it paid off before I retired from my job, 3 years ago.

We had planned to build and then Jammer had his heart attack and then I got cancer. So everything has been put on hold. My DIL mentioned that maybe we might buy a modular home instead. Then she spotted one that she thought would be perfect for us. She took me to look at it. It was nice, but couldn't compare to DS and DIL's house. The price? $140,000.00!!!! In our part of Texas we can build a pretty nice house for that amount of $$$.

We looked at some last winter...not for us.
We like a concrete or brick house.

I think it depends a lot on where you'll be living in it. Northern winters are not, in my opinion, the best place for them. Our extreme heat in the summer and cold in the winter would be really hard on them.
Leslie

I know DD#1 looked at a couple before she bought her home 2 years ago. She said they were fairly comparable in price to some homes. She didnt like the fact you have to have them in mobile home parks in her town and wouldn't actually own the land it was on, plus it would be nowhere near the yard she has now for the boys, then she heard they depreciate very fast?? No clue if that is true or not.
She didn't buy one.

I think there are plus's and minus's to them all....just depends on what you want and for how long.

I have a friend who sold her home last year and purchased 7 acres and a double wide. She had it underpinned and had a large front porch and a large deck built on the back. She loves it. So do I.
My dd and her dh lived in one for several years. It too was a nice looking one and seemed to hold up very well.

My biggest fear of them is how fast a fire can spread through them. I don't know if there have been any changes made concerning that, but years ago there was a tv documentary that showed how fast they were engulfed in flames.

Linda

I raised my kids (until they were 15 and 19) in one. We had a 14X80 and it was well built and was a nice one. It was underpinned with natural stone and we had a nice yard, etc. I did worry about fire, but I've also seen some site built homes go up in a matter of minutes, too.

It sat (sits) on almost two acres and is still lived in. It was a 1976!! LOL

If it had been taken care of (after we moved) it would still be a decent home for somebody. As for the depreciation? Bud, they sure do depreciate!! We were still offered a decent price for the place. (We refused and the next renters practically GUTTED it!) Oh well.........

That's what we live in, here and in FL. Works for us. The inside of both has had paneling covered over with sheet rock, and roofs put on them. They are old (1960's era!), but can't tell.
Here in MN, we have steel siding on them (we have 2 in an L shape with a 3 season deck crossing the inside of the L), and a regular peaked roof. No one can tell it's mobile homes unless they notice the width when they get inside.
JoanMN

I believe there is a big difference between a modular home and a mobile home.

Modular homes or pre built homes can be built right in an exsisting neighborhood. Many of them are hard to tell from regular homes.

Unless I'm thinking of something different.

Here is a link that might be useful: modular homes

You're right Pattico. We live in a modular and you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a "normal" built house. Ours is on a foundation. We have a garage. It's a triple wide and we really love it. It's in a neighborhood and we have 1.25 acres. It's got great insulation and stays very cool in the summer and nice and warm in the winter.

I've lived in 3 mobile homes in the past. My first DH and I lived in a one for awhile, my now DH and I lived in one on acreage when we first got married and then had a newer and larger one brought to replace the other. There are big differences between manufacturers... there are cheap ones and really nice ones. My only fear was being hit by a tornado while living in one.

Modular homes are usually only different in that they do not have axles (and therefore not mobile :-). They are still usually built off-site and put into place in sections. I had to look at Wikipedia since Patti mentioned them. Here is something very interesting I read there:

"According to manufacturers, modular homes are generally designed to be initially stronger than traditional homes by, for example, replacing nails with screws and adding glue to joints. This is supposed to help the modules maintain their structural integrity as they are transported on trucks to the construction site. Despite manufacturer claims that the modular home is initially built to be stronger than a traditional home, it is hard to predict the final building strength since it needs to endure transportation stresses that traditional homes never experience.

When FEMA studied the destruction wrought by Hurricane Andrew in Dade County Florida, they concluded that modular and masonry homes fared best compared to other construction. You can see the full report FIA-22, 2/93 at http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=2765";

I believe modular is way different that mobile home....but manufactured home is the same as mobile home....darn it I just asked my DD the difference when she was back! I asked specifically because a gal in town is saying she bought a modular home and turned out its a double wide manufactured home...there is something with this red or burgundy metal "tag" or "plaque" on them that shows it is a mobile home.

I live in a modular home. Like Angela says, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. We have a basement, a porch, and an attached garage. We were able to design the interior layout any way we wanted as long as we didn't compromise the "marrying wall" of the two sections of the 60' x 28' basic plan that we decided was the right size for us. We went to the factory where it was built and spent a full day choosing wallpaper, carpeting, bath fixtures, cabnets, siding style and color, window, doors etc. The roofing is 30 year, hot water tank, furnace and air contitioner are top of the line. The front porch and the garage were built on after the house was set by the company that built the house. We could have gone 2 story or L shaped or T shaped and so on. There were many basic plans to start with.

The main reason we went with modular is that we were living 400 miles away from our new home site and we just didn't feel that we could trust a local builder of a stick built home to do things the way we wanted when they knew we wouldn't be there to keep watch.

Cost wise, the base price for the modular was a little higher than stick built, but the modular people used better materials and fixtures as standard than the stick built people used. We are very happy with our modular. The company if anyone wants to know is Lake City Housing in Lake City, PA. Great people to work with.

I live in a 28x80 double wide mobile home.We bought it in 97' and it is really nice.People come in and are amazed at the size and that it doesn't look like a mobile.There are some things I would have done if I'd had the time to order what I wanted but had only 2 weeks to get out of the house we sold.Some of the upgrades would have been taped and textured walls,porcelain sinks and all wood cabinetry.Other than that it has held up very well and would do it again.Just like anything else,you get what you pay for and there are some cheap ones.

"...there is something with this red or burgundy metal "tag" or "plaque" on them that shows it is a mobile home."

The tag you are describing is the VIN number for that mobile home. Mobile homes are not considered real estate, and therefore can't be classified as such. When folks go for a loan on a mobile home, it's a personal loan, not a real estate/mortgage loan. The tag is the registration number, similar to a registration number for a vehicle.

Thats it! Thank you MrsMarv! I should have paid more attention!

Very nice indeed, but I'm to afraid of Tornados to live in one.

Gayle

This question has a regional component to it. I've done a lot of travelling and have seen some truly lovely mobile homes--both in mobile home parks and on private lots. However, I live in an area of the country where that isn't the case. Mobile homes parks here are not nice, they don't attract nice people to live in them, they aren't kept up--in short, they're pretty undesirable--even dangerous--places to live. You wouldn't be able to find a nice mobile home park anywhere in our area. So, I admit, that until I was old enough to realize that the trailor parks around here are NOT typical, I had a really dim view of all mobile homes in general.

It's probably hard for most of us to get away from our roots--I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable living in one, for a lot of reasons. The small size, the 'tin can' atomosphere, the depreciation problem, the (usual) lack of ground around them. And yes--fire and weather concerns would be scary, too.

There are many advantages to buying a manufactured home,
first of all you will be able to design your own home to your needs and
satisfaction. When it comes to floor covering, vaulted ceilings, the design of
your bathrooms, bedrooms, granite counter tops, fireplaces, your outside porch
scenery and not to mention your kitchen with stainless steel appliances.

Secondly when it comes to the comparison of manufactured
homes and site-built homes, they both use the same building materials in the
construction phases and the cost is lower. Construction costs per square foot
are anywhere from 10 to 35% less than a site-built home.

Seems spammish for a manufactured home seller to bring up six year old thread.

"Seems spammish for a manufactured home seller to bring up six year old thread." No kidding. Certainly one of the parts of Houzz that is distasteful, this "pro" designation, with businesses promoting themselves on the forums. Makes you distrust a lot of what is posted.

I flagged it and reported it as spam. It disappeared!

It hasn't disappeared, the pro poster only took out his link to his business. It's spam. He wasn't contributing any thoughts to an active thread, only plugging his business not answering a question.