The Manufactured Housing Forums

Can someone please help me. Approximately eleven years ago my husband and I purchased a Redmond Home through a Company named Bell Mobile Homes. It was alright for about the first 3 years and since then we have constantly had to make repairs; first we replaced a tub and floor in the kids bathroom, one side of the electrical wiring went out, we are having to replace the kitchen floor, not to mention that once the house started to settle the vanity in the kids' bathroom is pulling away from the walls, all the electrical outlets are in the drywall not attached to the studs and we are going to have to replace our floor in the masterbathroom. Is there is anything we can do to get help in getting something done about our situation? I hve found another Mobile Home manufactured by Clayton that I checked out thoroughly for the things that were wrong with our Redmond and found the salesman to be quite helpful but I do not know if we can trade in our home that we have due to all the work we are going to have to do on it. Any information you can give us will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance

Urail Compton-Mackey

dear urail,
i am very sorry to hear of your problems.
lonnie skruggs wrote a book called, "Deals on Wheels" which tells a little about the question of selling your manufactured home (it's not a mobile home cuz those stopped being built after 1976-see the expert forum and the thread called "confusion.") this book can be purchased in the bookstore on this site and also on half.com and on ebay.com.

one thing i read here recently is to call the county or city building inspector and ask them if the home was inspected and in their documents. they are also a good source of where you might go legally to get repaid for your repairs and get other repairs done at manufacturer's cost. is bell mobile homes gone out of business? you might call the bbb in your area and find out their contact info and why, if they are, out of business. where i live in pagosa springs, colorado, bell country homes owned by dorothy bell was run out of town for her shady behavior by the county. if these are the same people, let me know and i'll tell the prosecuting attorney.

and that leads to my suggestion to sue them for repairs done and to fix what needs to be fixed. others on this site have done it and you can find their threads in all three forums (expert, first time and homeowners) in early may and late april.

if you quality, your state legal aid center will represent you free. to find out about legal aid, contact your social services agency (in the blue pages) and ask to make an appointment with legal aid to see if you qualify. also, i recently applied to a special fund for legal aid to buy my first home through social services. maybe your area has it too. if you can stand "NO" repeatedly, you can call all the attorneys in your area (yellow pages) and see if any will represent you pro bono. sometimes new attorneys or paralegals moonlight to get experience.

i found out recently that HUD, if they financed your home, is good at arm twisting the manufacturer and seller to make your home right. their site is www.hud.gov.

if you have any problems getting information i've mentioned, let me know, you can contact me directly and i'll help you.
sabrina
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This is well past any warranty period and nothing can be done now....Actually home maintenence is required for any home you own...

Your experience clearly shows the value of knowledge before the purchase...All manufactured homes are not the same...but...higher quality parts in the beginning cost more money...all prices are not the same...

When you buy your next home..I am sure you will have much better knowledge of the things that are important to you...

Trading is very expensive..You should try to sell your home on your own...Be sure everything is in good shape and looking good...

If this were my place, here is what I would do (we plan for ours to last the rest of our lives - 50 more years at least)

1. Tub/floor: It's always a good idea to make sure the caulk around the tub is in great shape. Don't let water get under it. When our home was made, the linoleum went down on top of the floor decking, which helped to waterproof it.
2. Electrical wiring on one side of the house: These are plug-in connectors under the house that may have built up corrosion, or simply came loose. Turn the power off, disconnect the connectors. They may need minor cleaning with a wire brush. Then coat them with silicone dielectric grease (available at auto parts stores) to moistureproof and seal them.
3. Master bath floor: See #1. Do not have carpet in a bathroom or kitchen, EVER. It will do nothing but trap moisture. Damage will result, and you won't be able to see it. In a site built house the same thing happens. It cost us $125 extra for linoleum in our master bath - worth every penny.
4. Settling and vanity: If your house is on a properly-done slab or runners, it should only settle a bit, at first, if that, and then no more. Ours, after 6 months, has just slight sheetrock cracks in a couple places. So, once they fix that vanity, that ought to do it.

Thankfully we did most of this research ahead of time so didn't have as many issues. Our floor was off at a marriage line about 1/8 inch, and up high, about 1/4 inch. The setup crew did a great job working with that. I really can't say enough good about those guys.

I bought a Clayton mobile home last year since then I have had bad luck. This is a bran new trailer. First off when the put my trailer on the lot it was raining. Now it rained for several days. That same day in the rain they leveled it. My roof looks like a roller coaster ride, I have had my master bathroom shower leak for about 7 months and my 2 toliets have leaked for about 8 months, there are huge chucks under my carpet, the floors you can tell where the boards are under the carpet. You can feel them it feels like they are coming up.
HELP ME I'm a single mother of 2 boys
Is there anything I can do. The company I bought this new trailer from is not doing anything. I have a child who has a health problem and I'm afraid with all the leaks we will be having mold, rotting in the walls ect.. Is there anything I can do Legal wise???

I'm curisous what ever happened to Dorothy Bell? I know Bell Mobile Homes and Bell Custom Homes have been renamed to Sierra Pagosa Builders owned by Chris Bell - Dorothy Bell's husband and Dorothy owns Sierra Pagosa Real Estate and they are still operating in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

What ever became of the charges against them and what were the charges?

Thank You,
Jodi