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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 , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Finance and Refinance, General Info, Laws & News, Production

Foreclosure Rescue Scams You Need to Know About

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Business Pundit posted a very informative blog today about 5 Nasty Foreclosure Resecue Scams to avoid.

“ According to RealtyTrac, a whopping one in 54 homes received a foreclosure notice last year. That’s 3.1 million foreclosure filings.

Scared yet? An ever-increasing pool of foreclosure rescue scammers are drooling at the prospect of capitalizing off your panic. And so far, they’re doing pretty well. From forgery to title transfer, these scamsters–some of them former real estate professionals–are making an art form of the foreclosure scam.

So far, a few pervasive scams have popped up enough times in the media to be dubbed endemic. Here they are, in no particular order. Do yourself a favor and avoid these five nasty foreclosure rescue scams:

1. The Pay Me First Scam

Some foreclosure rescue scammers ask customers to pay them fees in exchange for delaying a foreclosure. It’s actually illegal for foreclosure rescue companies to collect fees before performing a service. They should be paid after negotiating new loans or monthly payments.

Unfortunately, some homeowners find out the hard way that paying companies before they perform a service leaves them without money or a home. The Star-Telegram reports on one San Francisco-area mortgage broker advertised foreclosure avoidance workshops on Craigslist. For a $2,500 upfront fee plus a $2,000 monthly payment, Freedom Financial Solutions claimed it would halt foreclosures by finding legal violations in homeowners’ mortgage agreements.

Instead, Cheryl Ann Montero, owner of the company, took an ownership stake in her clients’ houses, then filed for bankruptcy, which suspended foreclosures. Montero, who ended up delivering nothing to her clients, made off with $52,000 before declaring bankruptcy herself.

2. The Title Transfer Scam

This scam involves transferring the title of your home to the foreclosure rescue company. This is a very, very bad idea. If your name is not on the title, guess who owns your home? Hint: It’s not you.

Rip-off Report reader Cheri had a scam like this happen to her. Facing foreclosure, she contacted a mortgage rescue company. The scammers executed a buyback scheme that would allow her to re-purchase her house at a different appraisal value. In order to finish the deal, they said they needed to put someone else’s name on the title of the home. Cheri would be a trustee, “guaranteeing” her that she would maintain control of the property while staying inside a renter.

It turned out Cheri’s name never made it to the title. She was paying down a mortgage on a home she no longer owned. The scammers made off with the title, possibly some equity, and the willingness to evict her from the house.

3. Sending Mortgage Payments to a Fake Address

Some scammers ask to receive your payment in place of the lender. They claim they have a special relationship with the lender, or can renegotiate your mortgage if you send them payments. This is sketchy, to say the least. One California scammer, for example, made $1.2 million by pretending to be a lender—then fled to his native Mexico.

If someone tells you to ignore your lender letters, or to send the payments somewhere else, run the other direction.

4. Fake Lender Letters

Some fraudsters have taken to forging major lenders’ letterhead and convincing homeowners to sign up for “official” loan modification services. Mail, envelopes, and letterhead may look exactly like the lender’s, but the content will be fraudulent.

The Lake County News reports that one Los Angeles ring even filed a fictitious business permit. The swindlers forged lender and government envelopes with “Final Notice” written on the outside. The letters inside told homeowners that if they sent in their mortgage information, they could apply for a home rescue program.

Once homeowners applied, they received a confirmation note and a set of forged lender documents. In the meantime, they were instructed to send their mortgage payments to a “Payment Processing Dept” located at a scammer’s PO box, where the money was stolen.

5. The Obama Rescue Plan Scam

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that some rescue companies are charging as much as $3,000 to modify customer loans under the new Obama relief plan. The truth is that you can find out about rescue plan yourself, either online at MakingHomeAffordable.gov, through the Homeownership Preservation Foundation at 995hope.org, or by calling 1-888-995-HOPE.”

April 13, 2009 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

General Info, Laws & News, Production

Mobile Homes, Smart and “Upwardly”

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Mobile Homes are being seen in a new light all across the country.

This article in the New Jersey News publication highlights some of the new sentiments that are popping up in regards to Mobile Homes and Manufactured Homes.

“From the Depression to the recession, trailer parks have been reinvented. They’re now called manufactured housing communities, and belt-tightening buyers are giving them a second glance, even in New Jersey where the double-wide has long been an outcast. Within the past few months, two new communities have opened in the state, and some bankers say loans for mobile homes are up.”

According to our experience, the demand for financing in the mobile home loan and manufactured home loan market continues to increase.

“The manufactured housing industry has held up well in the recession compared to traditional real estate. Even with the flashiest new factory-built palaces, monthly payments rarely exceed $1,000, Salamone said.

The average price of a traditional single-family abode nationwide was $313,600 in 2007 while the median cost of a dwelling assembled off-site totaled $65,100.”

“Additionally, prices of mobile homes aren’t depreciating as dramatically as traditional pieces of real estate. A house that was $55,000 five years ago is worth $50,000 today he estimates, adding that his clients’ delinquency rate is 1 percent.”

It looks like, despite the recession and the troubled economy, it’s still an excellent time to consider purchasing a Mobile Home or a Manufactured Home and take advantage of the $8,000 Tax Credit.

April 7, 2009 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

General Info, Laws & News, Production

Ikea & Pre-Fab Homes

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Today we read a great an article unveiling the “BoKlok” homes that are being built by Ikea.

“Mention Ikea and most people will think of smart, stylish, and affordable furniture. The news that the company actually makes entire houses – and for over ten years now – will come as a shock to many. Since 1996, Ikea and its partner Skanska have been quietly experimenting with the idea of building affordable houses on factory floors. These houses, known as BoKlok – Swedish for “smart living”, are now available in five countries: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and the UK.

Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, had been mulling over the idea of building homes for a while when, in 1996, he sensed the right time had come, according to the company. The real estate market in Sweden, Ikea’s home country, was prohibitively expensive for many families. Demand exceeded supply in the residential property sector. More importantly, small households that compromise one to three people were, and still are, under-served by the existing market. In Stockholm, more than 85 percent of households were considered “small” in 2008 while 75 percent of the countryside fell in the same category…

When the BoKlok project began, the prefabricated homes were sold at specific Ikea stores. Currently, owners are chosen through a lottery system. “Interest in our apartments has been so great that, rather than operate a waiting list, we distribute apartments through the drawing of lots,” according to Ikea. While the concept remains the same, the design of the houses has been adjusted to the tastes of their target countries. What is best selling in Sweden doesn’t necessarily translate in the Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and UK markets.

In Sweden, Ikea offers three types of BoKlok homes – multiple family houses, apartments, and has recently added villas to its line. They all have high ceilings and extra large windows to allow in maximum light. Most are fitted with oak floors, tiled bathrooms, and Ikea kitchens. The villas come with maximum adaptability to customers’ tastes while the other two types have limitations. The homes are built in modules and then delivered to their final site.  Assembly, done by Ikea itself, takes a short time – just a day to install a six apartment building. “By the time the evening falls, the roof is on and the building is completely watertight,” according to the company. ”

Read the entire article HERE

March 19, 2009 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Finance and Refinance, Laws & News, Production

UPDATE – Fleetwood Enterprises in loan talks with BofA

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Update on Fleetwood Enterprises from Reuters

“By Chelsea Emery

NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) – Motor home maker Fleetwood Enterprises Inc (FLTWQ.OB) is negotiating with Bank of America (BAC.N) for bankruptcy financing and hopes to present a plan to a bankruptcy court as early as next week, according to court documents.

Company spokeswoman Rivian Bell was not able to specify the amount of debtor-in-possession financing being discussed. Such financing is a loan made to a company to help it fund operations while it restructures under bankruptcy protection.

Fleetwood, which also makes manufactured housing, has asked the court to approve emergency funding to pay workers’ compensation benefits to third-party administrators, according to the company’s filing with the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in Riverside on Monday. A hearing was scheduled for 11 A.M. PDT today (Tuesday).

Fleetwood filed for bankruptcy on March 10, hurt by high fuel prices and the U.S. economic recession that had limited sales of its motor homes. The U.S. housing market decline has also slashed demand for its manufactured homes.

It is shuttering its travel trailer division and seeking a buyer for its motor home and manufactured housing units.

“There has been outreach to strategic and financial buyers and there has been interest,” said Bell, adding that she was unable to clarify further.

The Fleetwood case is In re Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc, US Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California (Riverside), No. 09-14254. (Reporting by Chelsea Emery; editing by John Wallace)”

March 18, 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

General Info, Laws & News

California’s Fleetwood Enterprises files Chapter 11

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(03-10) 14:20 PDT Riverside, Calif. (AP) –

“RV and manufactured housing builder Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday, citing unprecedented credit restrictions affecting dealers and customers following three years of restructuring as market conditions worsened.

The Riverside-based company said its motor home and manufactured housing business will continue to operate while it seeks buyers for those business units, but it will close its travel trailer division.

The division accounted for losses of $65.3 million in 2007 and $16.8 million in 2008. The closing affects three manufacturing facilities and two service facilities employing about 675 people. The company is also laying off an additional 65 corporate associates.

“Although we made substantial progress in restructuring this division and improved the product offering, current market conditions proved too severe to continue the turnaround,” Elden L. Smith, Fleetwood’s president and chief executive officer, said in a press release.

Fleetwood, which employs more than 3,000 people in 15 plants in 10 states, filed petitions in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside for itself and certain operating subsidiaries, but not any of its foreign or non-operating entities.”

Read the Full ArticleLINK

March 11, 2009 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Finance and Refinance, General Info, Laws & News, Production, Uncategorized

Lending Fraud Hurts Consumers

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In the world today, fraud in lending comes as no surprise to most Americans who read their daily newspaper or turn on the TV to catch the news. Unfortunately, fraudulent business practices have become a commonplace occurrence in corporate America.  Luckily there are several entities, both private & federal, that have stepped up in an attempt to minimize these crooked business practices & protect consumers from such underhandedness.

One of these organizations, called MARI or the Mortgage Asset Research Institute, Inc., has aligned itself with the manufactured housing industry. From an article entitled “Stamping Out Lending Fraud”, published by Modern Homes Magazine, the writer, Ann Parman, explains that “Recently, the Manufactured Housing Institute entered into an agreement with MARI with the goal of reducing the incidence of fraud in manufactured home loan transactions. Hopefully, the end result will be fewer loan defaults and, as a result, better loan terms for consumers. Higher defaults cost lenders more money, and that gets passed on in higher rates to consumers. In addition, the industry’s participation in MARI can help prevent consumers from obtaining loans that are too large for their budgets or for the homes they purchase, and therefore, increase their ability to build home equity.”

Essentially, MARI is an information service provider that collects reports of possible incidents of fradulent activities in the mortgage service industry MARI’s database collects & maintains two types of reports:

“1) non-public incidents of alleged fraud, material misrepresentations and other serious misconduct;
and

2) public sanctions against professionals and companies involved in the mortgage and financial services industries.”

The Manufactured Housing Institute has also created a Lender Best Practices (LBP) program, where participation in the MARI organization is mandatory. The article reports, “The members of the LBP Steering Committee felt it was important for industry lenders to become more diligent in both the detection and reporting of fraud,” said Don Scarmuzzi of DFS Consulting LLC who assisted in putting the LBP and MARI programs together.

If it wasn’t for organizations like MHI and MARI, the missteps of the past may have never been brought to attention , creating great strides towards corrections of these wrongdoings that only hurt consumers, in the end.

For more information on these organizations, please read the full article at:

http://www.manufacturedhousing.org/mhomes/images/lendingfraud.pdf

March 6, 2009 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

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