Manufactured and modular homes can be a great options for affordable, quality housing. Here's everything you need to know about what these types of homes are, and what to consider when buying one.
Manufactured, modular, and mobile homes all refer to various types of homes that are constructed in a factory and shipped to their ultimate destination. This is unlike a site-built home (what we would generally call a "house"), which is constructed on the plot of land it rests on.
A manufactured home is constructed entirely in a factory under federal building codes administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). These homes are built on a permanent chassis, allowing for transportation to the home site, where they are installed on set foundations. The land on which manufactured homes rest can be rented or owned by the owner of a manufactured home, which has implications on how the property is treated for loans, insurance, and taxation (more on this below).
Manufactured homes offer several advantages:
These factors make manufactured homes cheaper to construct than site-built and, as a result, cheaper for the end home buyer. Roughly 6% of the US lives in manufactured homes, and manufactured homes constitute nearly one in nine new homes built in the US per year.
Manufactured homes are generally considered personal property as opposed to "real property" - in other words, more like a car or boat than a house. Once a manufactured home is delivered to the lot it is to stay on and affixed to it, it can be considered or converted to real property (the process to do this varies according to local and state law).
This has several implications for potential buyers:
A few other considerations for quality to consider:
You may be familiar with the term "Mobile Home". Mobile homes refer to manufactured homes built before 1976, before the HUD issued regulation standardizing the requirements of manufactured homes.
These homes were often installed on wheel bases and therefore portable by towing via a truck or tractor.
Today, "mobile home" is often used colloquially to refer to a manufactured home. Some manufacturers may advertise their products as mobile homes, but in reality they are building to the HUD manufactured home specification.
A modular home is constructed in segments in a factory setting, following state or local building codes rather than federal HUD codes. These sections are transported to the building site, where they are assembled on a permanent foundation and joined to create a complete structure. Modular homes offer several advantages:
These factors decrease the overall cost and time to construction of a modular home substantially, while ensuring the end product may look similar or identical to a site-built home. About 1-2% of homes in the US are modular, but the segment is growing fast as a way to reduce building costs and environmental impact from construction.
Because modular homes are permanently affixed to the land that they rest on, the considerations for purchasing one are largely the same as those for a site-built home. Mortgage, insurance, and taxation should all be similar.
A few additional considerations:
The last piece to consider when buying modular or manufactured is valuing the home. Here's a full guide to understanding what you can afford and how to think about manufactured home pricing.
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