AdamW

I have begun to think about saving money for a house. I very much like the idea of purchasing land then having a manufactured home built on the property I choose. I have never bought a house, and am prepared to begin saving for a deposit. For those who do own, planning to own, or just knowledge on the subject, I am interested in your opinions.
The housing market is quickly becoming very appealing to me as a buyer, however I am unsure of how much I can take advantage of this market when building new. Also, my city does not follow the nationwide trends of dramatic price drops, however they have very minimally declined. This aspect of home buying will simply have to be monitored by me, as I am here and aware of the local market. I like the idea of staying green. Also, I'll be wanting to stay within my city's limits to take advantage of certain tax differences and also to avoid going with a septic system.
Any thoughts on manufactured homes? I'm just curious and interested in people w experience and hearing their points of views on these. smile.gif thanks

yamaha

Being in the service industry (appliance repair) I go into the "manufactured" Ryan, Heartland Homes, and other local contractors. They are subpar builds at best. To me they all look the same and use subpar components. I was talking to a customer last week on how their two year old furnace broke and they couldn't find parts for it because it was some closeout model. Remember, you get what you pay for. I would rather have something built to what I want rather then what the contractor wants.

AdamW

The companies I am looking at seem to have a multitude of options. They give you many many blueprints to choose front, with numerous options for each..upgraded cabinetry, wall paneling, etc. It almost compares to buying a car in that you can choose the make, model and options that will suit your lifestyle.
I am concerned about the comment, "you get what you pay for." I understand completely what you are saying here. This is really the kind of thing that I am looking for out of this thread; is it worth it? Also, and i haven't looked into this all that much, being single and not requiring large amounts of space, it's almost looking like I can invest an amount of money into a smaller space and provide myself with some higher end "luxuries." I don't know for sure though.

majik

I honestly don\'t know much on the subject, but my mom is a realtor and I can tell you a bunch about regular homes.

I don\'t think a manufactured home will appreciate in value anything close to what a normal house would. A home is a huge investment, and can be approached as such. In 20 years, it\'s not unreasonable to think a home value could double. Keep that in mind when you\'re researching.

Also, the mortgage rates are starting to climb. They\'re hovering just above 6% right now and have jumped well over 1% since January. I\'d research resale value and depreciation/appreciation of value. Spending $80,000 for land and a manufactured home vs. $110,000 on a house.... 20 years from now I see the $110,000 investment having a much larger return. I could be wrong, I don\'t know much about manufactured homes, just keep that in mind.

Use www.Bankrate.com to watch the mortgage rates. They also have some very helpful calculators.

AdamW

I am looking at your figures. Are you saying $80,000 for land + building manufactured home vs. buying $110,00 house? Or does that $80,000 figure represent the totaled price for the land and building? I haven't priced anything out but empty lots in the area, and here, land is relatively cheap. Lots in town are farrrrr below that $80,000 figure, in fact there are 43 acres outside of town (i know I said i was interested in staying in town) for just over $100,000.
Just looking for clarity because I haven't completely priced manufactured homes out.

I hadn't considered the notion of re-sale value. I guess I def should have. In all honesty I was thinking of building to stay permanently, but that may be naive thinking. Thank you for the insight.

ThisCelluloidDream

At The moment the best advice i could give you is to make sure you're a prime lender. if you're not buying a house in cash (and nobody does that) then make sure you have a credit score of over 680, so that you can get a prime loan from the bank you're going through. This allows you to really lock in on the low low interest rates that good ol ben bernanke have put in place to help stimulate the economy. If you're subprime WAIT AND DO NOT BUY A HOUSE. all those front page articles about people getting foreclosed? oh yea, subprime. Subprime is when you can get a loan, but can't lock in on an interest rate, and subprime rates have been increasing at an almost parabolic level for the past 10 months.

I'm in the market to get a house at a low price right now, because the market will start to go back up soon. My dilemma is that im in college, and not bringing in that much money. I'm actually looking into a lot of lease to buy options, where the bank owns the house still, but you lease it from them and pay off small bits of the principle while you do. Then when im out of collge and get a real job I can buy it from the bank with a conventional mortgage and live happily ever after in prime lending land!

bottom line: borrown prime
if you can't lease to buy
I just ranted! lmao.gif

Oh yea and great idea wanting to build right now, because there is a big problem with people finding work in construction industry right now thanks to the poor housing market. So b sure to shop around for good prices, don't be afraid to ask them to drop the price a bit. but yea, still make sure you're gettin a prime loan.

K IM DONE

majik

My subdivision is still being constructed, and because of the slow down they were selling homes DISCOUNTED about $30,000 (a $160,000 home selling for $130k). You pick the model, floorplan, features, and they build it. They sold over 40 homes in one weekend with their huge sale.

And I meant $80,000 might be the total cost of Land AND a manufactured home vs. $110,000 of a prebuilt home on a slab. I've seen small lots in my area selling for $35,000-45,000 for a half-acre or so. You could probably find more land for cheaper outside the city limits.

It also depends on your area. In Washington state, $200,000 buys you a 1,400 sq. ft. home. Here in Nashville, I can find you 3,000 sq. ft. for the same price.

In 20 years, are you going to want to be living in the same manufactured home, or will you outgrow it, wanting a family and more pets and something a little nicer? If you think you can stay in it for 40 years, go for it. It's all about preference... but I prefer to view it from the perspective of an investment. I can sell the house 20 years from now for a good profit... and if the house is paid off by then, I can pay cash for my next home and not have a mortgage payment.