modern manufactured home

If you look at Google News, and search for mobile home, then all you see are stories of tragedy. Many mobile homes are still out there that do not meet basic safety requirements. Thee homes are predominately Pre-HUD homes that were never held to any standards when they were built. Pre-HUD means the home was built before 1968, and the HUD safety regulations were never enforced.

Manufactured homes that were built after 1968 have been proven to be just as safe as a site-built home. However, many people still have a stigma about living in a manufactured home because of safety issues. This is unfounded, and if you visit a mobile home dealer then you will learn the truth.

Also, anyone trying to purchase or refinance a loan for a pre-HUD mobile home will have a very difficult time because the bank considers the home to be a larger risk than a post-HUD manufactured home. Afte 40 years, you would be surprised to learn how many pre-HUD mobile homes are still out there. Anyone living in a pre_HUD mobile home would be well advised to bring their house up to code. And, if they can afford it, replacing a pre-HUD with a new manufactured home could save your life.

In the current economic recession, it seems like the average American is able to afford less and less.

These unfortunate circumstances have placed affordable housing in quite high demand. It’s no surprise now that manufactured homes and mobile homes are paving the way when it comes to reasonably priced housing. With this increased demand, there will be more and more Americans living in factory built homes. As ownership of manufactured and mobile homes has increased, so has the demand for Mobile Home Loans.

At the introduction of manufactured and mobiles to the housing market, most of the average mortgage banks were uninteresed in offering Mobile Home Mortgages. Most mortgage banks lumped Mobile home loans in the same category with car or vehicle loans. Much like vehicles, manufactured and mobile homes were thought to quickly depreciate in value, unlike a traditional stick-built home or condo that typically sees equity gaining over time.

Due to the lack of equity appreciation, for many years it was improbable that a manufactured or mobile home refinance or equity loan would be made available to owners of factory built homes at all.
As time went on, home values skyrocketed faster than general income could keep up with. The depreciation of manufactured and mobile home owner’s equity started to slow down.  Eventually the equity losses  stopped altogether. Manufactured and mobile homes soon were actually increasing in equity, in part due to the increasingly superior quality and safety of manufactured and mobile housing, coupled with federal and state laws governing the factory-built process.  While mobile home owners invested in their homes and continued to maintain and improve them, they gained precious equity.

Today, rate-and-term mobile home refinance loans and cash-out equity loans have become readily available to eligible owners of manufactured or mobile homes. It has become reasonably easy to locate what was considered “non-traditional” and even undesirable financing for manufactured or mobile homes.

As the current real estate market begins to recover, the manufactured and mobile home market endures the same loss of value as the “stick-built” and condominium homes. In the midst of the recovery, manufactured and mobile homes still remain viable for financing at terrifically competitive interest rates. These loans should be eligible for rate-and-term refinancing in the not-too-distant future and perhaps even “cash-out” equity loans in the somewhat-near-future.
There was a time when a manufactured or mobile home loan was frowned upon as a mere “car loan”.
Those days have long passed as manufactured and Mobile Homes have emerged as the last affordable housing in America with competitive financing available to qualified buyers.

Did you know… ?

if a manufactured home was built after September 1, 1958., alterations to the electrical, plumbing, or mechanical systems of a manufactured home require a permit and inspection from the Department of Housing and Community Development regardless of where the home is located.

Did you know… ?

a community park manager or management association must obtain permission from HCD or the local enforcement agency to move lot lines for individuals residing in the park, after obtaining a homeowner’s approval and meeting other requirements. See Title 25 California Code of Regulations section 1104(d) here.

Did you know… ?

the rules and regulations of a mobile home park must be given to the resident at the time of application for tenancy and with new leases/extensions. There is no requirement to post the park rules, however.

Did you know… ?

Mobile Home park management can require homeowners to correct violations of local and/or state regulations for the unit and accessory structures. Management generally cannot require a homeowner to make physical improvements to park-owned property or structures, including the lot.

See MRL sections 798.73.5 an 798.83 in the Civil Code for more information Here.

Did you know… ?

Contrary to popular belief, fixed rate financing IS available for mobile homes and manufactured homes built prior to June of 1976. Visit California Manufactured Home Finance’s website at  www.camhf.com for more information on financing a mobile home.

This concludes today’s Mobile home edition of  ”Did you know?”

Mobile home and Manufactured home communities provide desireable lifestyles at affordable costs, however, the nature of such community style living requires that each homeowner be responsible for maintaing their home and their lot to ensure that the community remains free of any illegal health and safety hazards.

To ensure that each Mobile Home park remains free from these hazards,  legislation was put into place in 1991 that ensures every mobile home park in the State of California is inspected every 5 to 7 years.

In the course of their research, the Department of Housing realized that most of the violations exist because home owners and park operators simply do not realize that the violations are illegal and dangerous. However, the following examples of common violations are offenses that must be corrected to ensure the safety of the home owners and the general public:

Broken Windows

Missing Steps

Combustibles stored under homes

Blocked emergency exits

Another common fire safety violation is the construction of a combustible accessory structure, such as a shed. The easiest way to remedy this violation is to remove or relocate the structure.

Awnings and screens that are attached to homes sometimes are added by homeowners that don’t realize that the home was not manufactured to support additional weight. For this reason, adding an awning or screened in area to your home must be done with a construction permit.

Other common violations are missing handrails and guardrails along the steps and porches of manufactured homes. The law states that handrails must be present if there are more than two steps attached to the home. Guardrails must be present on porches that are 30 inches from the ground. While these handrail and guardrail requirements seem strict, statistically most injuries in manufactured home parks are caused by falls in and around one’s own home.

These are the typical, correctable violations that are most commonly seen in mobile home parks.

Lastly, when an inspector visits your park, you should know that the inspector is not allowed to enter your home without your permission, however, the inspector is required to enter your lot for the inspection. The inspector must inspect the condition of your lot, your utility hook uips and the exterior of your home.

In the Manufactured Home Industry, there has been much talk recently surrounding the iHouse, manufactured by Clayton Homes. Clayton Homes has dedicated a website, ClaytonIhouse.com, to showcase their newest, eco-friendly, pocket-book pleasing homes.

From Mnn.com, ”The Clayton i-house is available is in two sizes at two different price points: The 723 square-foot, one bed/one bath i-house I starts at $74,900. The 1,023 square-foot, two bed/one bath i-house II starts at $93,000. Both homes can be configured in at least seven different ways and include eco-friendly and energy-saving features like low-e windows, dual-flush toilets, butterfly style rainwater-collecting roofs, tight insulation, zero-VOC paint, and more. Not included are optional bells and whistles like solar panels, bamboo flooring, etc. and the cost of shipping the prefabricated home to the placement site. ”

These purchase prices may yield monthly mortgage payments as low as $575 – $700!*

Right now, these small sized, economically made homes are of increasing consumer interest. In a less than stable mortgage market, the trends towards purchasing a reasonably sized home with a low-moderate sized mobile home mortagage couldn’t be more appealing to consumers, especially with homes this gorgeous & ec0-friendly.

*O.A.C, inquire for more details at (800) 882-1999 or visit http://www.camhf.com/

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

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

“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)”

“On February 17, 2009 President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law. Key provisions advocated by the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and its affiliates the National Modular Housing Council (NMHC) and National Communities Council (NCC) were included in the final economic stimulus package. In particular, the law authorizes a tax credit of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.”

“Does this tax credit apply to manufactured and modular homes? Any home that will be used as a principal residence will qualify for the credit including manufactured homes, modular homes, site-built homes, even houseboats!
This also includes homes placed on private land or in a land-lease  Community, a condominium, or a cooperative.Mobile Homes financed using a personal property loan are eligible.”

Read more of the original article via MHI at:

http://www.manufacturedhousing.org/admin/template/brochures/721temp.pdf