Do you use a local bank or savings and loan?

It's my understanding that once it's put on a permanent foundation, it's considered "real property." Where we live, we see tons of manufactured homes, some of which sell for a decent amount of money because of the land that's included.

Is that not correct? We don't plan to buy anything for cash in terms of our living situation. It's either this or a stick built home with a traditional mortgage. We're still on the fence.

No MH ever has the value of a stick built home. They aren’t built to the same standards. If permanently fastened, they still are sold mostly for land value. The mobile home essentially has no real value, and will not ever appreciate or maintain value like a stick built home will.

Buy a mobile home for 100K with 15K worth of land, and in 20 years, you’re lucky if the whole is worth 60K. More like 40K. Put that 100K into an actual house, on that 15K land, and in 30 years, you can get at least that 120K back. More like 170K, with modest 3% annual appreciation.

Homes bank equity. MHs create no real equity.

Ask your local bank or savings and loan for terms on what you are considering and see how it compares to a construction loan and permanent mortgage for a framed house.

Thanks Virgil. I do know that these types of loans typically carry a higher interest rate. I have heard, however, that the option to refinance to a float-down, or lower rate, is possible once the land/construction portion has been paid...

Oh I know, I'm just curious to hear about others' experiences.

We're in Oregon and have a company called Adair Homes that is, I think, what Lyndee Lee is talking about. We, too, are investigating all options from MH's to stick built. For us, it's not about the appreciation of the "building" but having that land so that, in the future, we may pass it on to our kids and they can just pull out the MH and do something else. We are about 5 years from retirement and will have a substantial amount to put down on something. Out thought with a MH was that we would owe very little after a few years and then have no mortgage during our retirement years. I would look into modular home companies in your area too. Good luck!

Did you ever follow through on this project? I saw your comment on another thread about Karsten out of New Mexico, did you choose a MH?

Hi Mercedes! Funny you wrote this, our Karsten home is being finished up as we speak. The electrician will be there tomorrow and next week they're doing the final touches and building the deck. As you can see it's been a LONG road, the biggest hurdle for us has been the bank delays and appraiser. We are doing a "two close" loan which means once the Karsten is done we must refinance and re-apply with a 2nd set of closing costs. Waiting for all that to be done here hopefully in a month at most. It's been crazy and stressful but we're ready to move in! So far the home looks gorgeous but it will be even better when it's all finished. I'll keep you posted if you remind me :)

Ah I would love to ask a few questions about upgrades and your process. Who was your dealer? Have been researching a ton of MH styles and Karsten is one that has been recommended.

We live in Colorado and are currently looking at purchasing the land, then financing the home through the dealer until the home is built (something like that...we are in beginning stages :)

We used Fiesta Homes here in Las Cruces, NM. They do free delivery and setup but I believe it's within a certain radius... They've been great! The process is another story--it really depends on the land/the financing options/if the land is ready. Our land had well and septic on it which helped a lot in terms of cost. Right now we're realizing we have to pay for a lot of other things like the decks/steps, the grading of the land, gravel, etc that we didn't really think about much (they did give us an allowance for the decks but it's probably going to be higher). So keep that in mind, too. But I will say so far the house looks beautiful and we weren't able to tour the factory so they actually sent us pictures of them building it as they went which was really cool. Let me know if you have any other specific questions and I will do my best to help!

Who is the most reputable dealer of deer valley homes in the Birmingham area?