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Why Manufactured Homes?
Manufactured homes offer a multitude of economic and quality benefits
when compared to site built homes. However, there are many misconceptions in
the marketplace about what constitutes a manufactured home, and how
manufactured housing measures up against traditional site built homes in
construction materials, government inspection criteria and price.
Click on any of the links below for more information on what you can
expect from a quality manufactured home in the 21st century, and how the
industry and respected companies such as Ma Williams strive to achieve
excellence with every home we supply.
What is a Manufactured Home?
When building a custom home it is helpful to understand why
manufactured homes are more beneficial when compared to site built homes; but
first we need to define WHAT A MANUFACTURED HOME IS.
The manufactured home is constructed to comply with
the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards, a uniform
building standard administered and enforced by the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD Code). Over 97 percent of all homes constructed in
California factories meet this code.
Manufactured Homes are NOT the same as Mobile homes. Mobile homes
have not been constructed since June 15, 1976 at which time the federal
preemptive HUD Code took over.
What is the Downside to Manufactured
Homes?
Since the Mortgage Meltdown and related recession, establishing
value has become a problem in all realms of the real estate market.
Although unjustly, Manufactured Homes have taken a harder hit with
regards to financing. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who create the guidelines all
mainstream mortgage companies to follow, are charging from 50 to 100 basis
points more (or ½ to 1% increase in interest rate) for manufactured home loans.
Financing is also challenging to the industry. These days, all
appraisals are being reviewed by the underwriters at the bank level.
Manufactured Home appraisals have certain requirements over and above the
appraisals for Modular or Site Built homes. In current market conditions where
the sales are few and far between and values are depressed, obtaining an
appraisal may be a difficult task. Many underwriters are also taking an already
low value and reducing it further to protect the banks interests. In these
cases, if there are not enough comparable sales of manufactured homes that meet
the appraisal guidelines, it may be necessary to consider building a modular
home built to IBC Code. By doing this, it will reduce the requirements as well
as allowing site built comps to be used to establish value.
What Financing is Available for
Manufactured Homes
There are still many types of financing available
for manufactured homes if values support an appraisal for the lender. We have
lenders who provide FHA, conventional, and VA loans, to name a few. We also
have lenders who offer construction loans for a land home package.
As mentioned previously, appraisals for
manufactured homes require two comparable sales for value. However, using site
built comparables in addition to the two manufactured homes required is also
acceptable to determine an accurate value.
Manufactured homes placed on permanent foundations
on fee simple real estate become part of the real estate and therefore as the
surrounding area adjusts with the market, so will the manufactured and land
package. Although values at times decrease, such as in the housing market
crisis of 2008, real estate over time will appreciate as will a manufactured
home and land package.
Quality Construction and
Technological Advances
In the past 30 years manufactured homes have also made quite a
stride! QUALITY OF CONSTRUCTION AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES have
significantly improved the manufactured homes of today and thereby increased
the number of homes used for private property development.
Today’s manufactured homes have experienced a
major evolution in the styles and quality of homes being offered. Technological
advances are allowing manufactured home builders to offer a much wider variety
of architectural and exterior finishes that will suit most any buyer’s dreams,
all the while allowing the home to blend in seamlessly into almost any
neighborhood. Two-story and single-family attached homes are but two of the new
styles being generated by factory-built innovation. As a result, today’s
manufactured homes are offering options for the neglected suburban and urban
buyers. (See how modular homes are particularly well suited for this
market)
At the same time, greater flexibility in the construction process
allows for each home to be customized to meet a buyer’s lifestyle and needs.
Interior features now include such features as 8-10 foot flat ceilings and
ecologically friendly fireplaces to state-of-the-art kitchens and baths, giving
the homebuyer all the features found in traditional, site-built homes.
Enhanced energy efficiency in manufactured homes, achieved with
upgraded levels of insulation and more efficient heating and cooling systems,
provide another source of savings for homeowners, especially in this era of
rising energy costs. Smart buyers are turning to EnergyStar-labeled
manufactured homes for substantial savings in heating and cooling their homes.
“Ma” Williams, through Skyline and Silvercrest homes,
offer over 200 different floor plans ranging from 500 to over 3,600 square
feet. We offer duplex, two story, price conscious, and high end models! Feel
free to peruse the floor plans (which include both interior and exterior
pictures) we have to offer. (View our models and floor plans)
The majority of the nation's new homes are still are erected at the
building site by a large number of small builders, and technological advances
are slow to make their way through this fragmented building community. However,
innovative developers have looked toward prefabricated components and
subassemblies to better meet the demand for more affordable homes Among the
factors driving home builders to industrialize are: the decline in the number
of skilled tradespeople, difficulties with maintaining construction quality,
the complex system of regulations that control on-site construction, and the
need to construct homes at a competitive price. This is particularly the case
with affordable housing, where small changes in price have a huge impact on the
financial viability of a project. It is increasingly difficult for the
affordable home builder to deliver a quality product without having some, if
not most, of the components built off-site.
Along with these pressures, there have also been significant
incentives for the HUD-code home industry to produce innovative designs. While
in the past, HUD-code homes have developed largely apart from the mainstream
home-building industry, this housing type has been increasingly used by on-site
developers. As such, manufactured home designs have become more complex and
sophisticated to meet the demands of a more affluent customer base.
Inspection/Enforcement
Manufactured Homes tend to have a more stringent INSPECTION/ENFORCEMENT
process on the home than site built homes do.
It can generally be acknowledged that a building code is only as
good as the enforcement system that accompanies it. The manufactured home
enforcement program required by the HUD is a thorough and efficient system
designed specifically for the factory production environment. Uniformity and
consistency can be maintained better in the HUD enforcement system because of
two key factors. First, the inspections take place in the factory, during each
phase of construction, and follow behind the manufacturer’s own in-plant
inspection and quality assurance teams. This allows for more thoroughness,
since time is spent inspecting homes rather than traveling to inspection sites.
Efficiency is increased because travel time is limited and necessary paperwork
is minimized. Second, consistency is maintained because fewer people inspect
more homes. The enforcement procedure is much less susceptible to individual
interpretations, as would be the case with on-site inspections in every
jurisdiction across the country. Keep in mind that all this inspection process
by HUD is in addition to the inspections carried out by the manufacturer’s own
foremen and its quality assurance inspectors.
Benefits of HUD Code with
Building Departments
The benefits of the HUD CODE are numerous! The quality of
construction has significantly improved. The HUD Code allows for a more lenient
process for obtaining permits from your local building department. As a HUD
approved home, the entire plan approval process is bypassed because a
manufactured home has already been approved by a Federal Agency which
supersedes any local jurisdiction.
The federal standards regulate manufactured housing design and
construction, strength and durability, transportability, fire resistance,
energy efficiency and quality. The HUD Code also sets performance standards for
the heating, plumbing, air conditioning, thermal and electrical systems. It is
the only federally-regulated national building code. On-site additions, such as
garages, decks and porches, often add to the attractiveness of manufactured
homes and must be built to local, state or regional building codes.
Pricing Compared to Site Built Homes
So, manufactured homes are built with the same
materials as a site built home, endure a more stringent inspection process to
assure a high quality construction, offer the same or more technological
advances to improve the functionality, esthetics, and efficiencies of your
home, and the best part is that all of these benefits come at PRICES UP TO 45
PERCENT LESS per square foot than a new construction traditional
site-built homes.
Technological advances, evolutionary designs, and a focus on
delivering quality homes that families can afford are the driving forces within
the manufactured housing industry. That’s why more people are turning to
manufactured housing to deliver homes that fit their needs and wants, at prices
they can afford!
The affordability of manufactured housing can be
attributed directly to the efficiencies emanating from the factory-building
process. The controlled construction environment and assembly-line techniques
remove many of the problems encountered during traditional home construction,
such as poor weather, theft, vandalism, damage to building products and
materials, and unskilled labor. Factory employees are trained and managed more
effectively and efficiently than the system of contracted labor employed by the
site-built home construction industry.
Much like other assembly-line operations, manufactured homes benefit
from the economics of scale resulting from purchasing large quantities of
materials, products and appliances. Manufactured home builders are able to
negotiate substantial savings on many components used in building a home, with
these savings passed on directly to the homebuyer.
There are also Green (earth friendly) Benefits that
come from building a home in a factory environment. Prefabrication techniques
reduce waste, offer energy-saving designs and improve manufacturing and
construction efficiencies.
Time savings is also an advantage with factory
production. Custom Manufactured Homes placed on private property will normally
have a 3-6 month timeframe depending on the process. The main time benefits
with manufactured homes are the pre-emptive HUD Code as well as being able to
complete both construction on site and the home in the factory simultaneously.
The HUD code allows for homes to be streamlined through plan check at the
building department; these homes are federally approved which supersedes local
building jurisdictions. This timeframe would include obtaining financing,
permits, factory production time, and on site completion.
“Ma” Williams has enjoyed being in business for over 40 years! We
have a reputation for treating customers right and being a reputable
dealership! For these reasons and others, we have the distinct option to sell
homes built by the best factories in the industry and we are proud to offer
Silvercrest and Skyline Homes!
The Silvercrest Home is known in the industry as the most custom
designed and residential homes available today. They also engineer the most
cutting edge features and green designs on the market today!
The Skyline Home in a word is VALUE! The quality and price of the
home they build has not been matched by any other factory! And for service
there’s no one better! Skyline through consumer satisfaction indexes are
compared to “service focused” companies such as Honda and Dell Computers, just
to name a few.
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