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Finance and Refinance, General Info, Production

Helpful Hints: Maintain the Condition & Value of your Manufactured Home or Mobile Home

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The Manufactured Housing Institute has issued a helpful guide for Manufactured home buyers. This guide shows buyers what to expect from start to finish, when purchasing a new Manufactured Home. The guide even includes information about qualifications and information that buyers need to know when considering a Manufactured Home Loan.

Today we are sharing one aspect that was highlighted  in this guide;  Manufactured Home maintenance.

MHI believes that “All homes require a certain level of maintenance to protect your investment, maintain their beauty, and keep the home in good operating condition.

At least once a month:

• Check/replace furnace filters

• Clean range hood filter

• Check weather stripping around door and window seals

• Check AC A-coils to ensure they are not clogged

• Clean vinyl floor coverings and vacuum carpets

At least twice a year:

• Inspect shingle roofs for missing or damaged shingles. Vents and flashings and caulked joints should be resealed once a year or as needed

• Check dryer vents to ensure they are working and free of debris and that they are not vented to or leaking moist air under your home

• Check AC condensation drain to ensure it is working and not clogged

• Clean out floor heat duct registers

• Check the underside of the home and repair any openings in the special material that protects the home from moisture

At least once a year:

• Wash exterior siding

• Inspect roof; clean off debris; rinse off with water

• Check exhaust fan systems

• Check anchor ties for snug but not overly tight fit

• Check heat tapes for proper operation

• Clean/check furnace

• Check/clean air conditioner

• Inspect and replace, as necessary, caulking around windows, doors and other openings

• Clean gutters

• Lubricate window guides with a silicone spray and ensure window latches are adjusted as needed

• Professionally clean carpets

Long-term absence from home:

• Turn off water supply: during winter, add approved anti-freeze in kitchen, lavatory and toilet traps

• Turn off water heater

• Close and lock windows

• Adjust thermostat accordingly for winter or summer months”

For More information, visit the Manufactured Housing Institute Website here.

Now may be a great time to refinance your Mobile home or Manufactured home, or pull out some equity, to perform these repairs and ensure that your home stays in great condition. This maintenance helps you to avoid costly damages or repairs down the road. Contact California Manufactured Home Finance for more information on accessing the equity in your mobile or manufactured home.

April 28, 2009 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Laws & News, Production

Mobile Home Marvel with the Trailer Wrap Project

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Mobile Home Transformation by Trailer Wrap

Mobile Home Transformation by Trailer Wrap

Trailer Wrap projects make affordable and ecologically concious remodeling efforts possible, transforming  used 1970′s “trailers” into beautiful, environmentally sound modern homes (that could be featured in model home magazines).  From TrailerWrap’s website “TrailerWrap is a collaborative, design + build project that addresses issues of sustainable and affordable design in the context of the ubiquitous American trailer park. At the scale of an individual building, the project explores the potential for augmenting this affordable housing typology with outdoor living space, improved, energy efficient construction and high volume, light-filled interiors. At the urban scale the project reexamines the mobile home park as a model for equitable, high-density alternatives to suburban sprawl. In pushing the envelope of adaptable reuse, the TrailerWrap project seeks to create exciting, small scale, high density, and affordable architecture with a social and environmental conscience.”

On the flip side, some might say that such a project detracts from one of the main benefits of manufactured housing; the controlled environment that the homes are produced within, which ensures quality, affordability and reduces environmental waste.

Trailer Wrap Interior Photo

Trailer Wrap Interior Photo

Other’s may be conerned with the reduced functionality of the actual mobile aspect of this type of home. However, Trailer Wrap has prepared for such concerns and ensures that the homes remain mobile by definition and compliant with goverment mobile home codes. The Trailer Wrap website purports, “This project conforms to the code governing mobile homes because it doesn’t require traditional foundations and the unit retains a functioning chassis. Substantial concrete piers and demountable steel connections serve as wind tiedowns, but those tie-downs are permissible because they do not emerge above the ground plane and they can be disconnected from the chassis.”

More information on the Trailer Wrap project can be found on the informational pdf offered at Trailer Wrap.Net

April 23, 2009 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Laws & News, Production

Manufactured Home Builder Clayton will pay mortgage if buyer loses job

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According to The Daily Times, the manufactured home giant Clayton has plans to boost sales this year.

“We’re making this commitment: If someone buys a home and then loses their job because of the economic downturn, we will make payments on their home for three months,” said Kevin Clayton, president and CEO. “It won’t cost the buyer a dime.”

“We hope no Clayton homeowner ever needs this help, but we know by offering this benefit we can help ease some concerns and help more families become homeowners,” Clayton said.

The article reports that this program seems to have been manufactured with potential first-time home buyers in mind, who can also take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit passed as part of the Economic Recovery Act.

“Similar programs to help home buyers have given them a tax deduction, in effect reducing their taxable income,” said Clayton. “This program actually reduces the taxes they owe dollar for dollar over a three-year period. That’s a huge difference.”

The Daily Times reports that “Clayton’s Payment Protection Program, which will continue for 24 months, is applicable for new homes purchased between now and the end of June. If the monthly mortgage payment includes homeowners insurance and property taxes, Clayton absorbs those costs as well.

Chris Nicely, vice president of marketing, said the Clayton Homes program differs from some others that suspend payments after a job loss but add the missed payments to the back end of the loan.”

“The big difference is there is no cost to the consumer,” Nicely said. “If you happen to lose your job, even for a week, we will make three mortgage payments to help you get back on your feet.”

April 17, 2009 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

General Info, Laws & News, Production, Uncategorized

CertifiedGreen Modular Home Program™

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CertifiedGreen Modular Home Program™ Guide, by NMHC and SBRA*

The National Modular Housing Council (NMHC) has introduced a dynamic new program called the CertifiedGreen Modular Home Program™,created by the NMHC in cooperation with the Systems Building Research Alliance (SBRA). This program was created to draw attention to the inherently green nature of factory building: the efficient way that modular homes are constructed, the use and reuse of materials and the general conservation of resources that are hallmarks of modular construction.

CertifiedGreen™ is a national program for new homes that qualify in compliance with the National Green Building Standard recently accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).The standard was developed by a housing industry consensus committee representing architects, site and factory built home builders, environmental experts and building product manufacturers formed by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the International Code Council (ICC) to draft the actual standards documentation. The CertifiedGreen™ program was designed by and for the benefit of the modular industry, expressly to meet the needs of modular home builders constructing green homes.

According to the Manufactured Housing Institute, “With the National Green Building Standard as the program’s technical basis, CertifiedGreen™ homes meet a widely recognized benchmark for green building.”

The Program Guide contains additional information on what is required for participation in the program.

National Green Building Standard™, by ICC and NAHB (New Standard to be in stock beginning of March 2009)

A collaborative effort between the ICC and NAHB, the Standard provides the “green” practices that can be incorporated into new homes, including high-rise multifamily buildings, home remodeling and additions, hotels and motels, and the site upon which the green homes are located.

The green practices include lot design, preparation and development; resource, energy, and water efficiency; indoor environmental quality; and operation; maintenance; and building owner education. The four threshold levels, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Emerald provide builders with a means to achieve basic, entry-level green building, or achieve the highest level of sustainable “green” building that incorporates energy savings of 60 percent or higher. The Standard can be used by any builder for their individual projects, or be the basis for a local community or state green building program.

*Information on CertifiedGreen Modular Home Program™ was obtained from the Manufactured Housing Institute.

March 13, 2009 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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