FL set-up costs HELP

[Melanie]

I am looking in to purshasing a new home. I was told that the price of the home included well and septic. After the itemization another 50K were added to the price of the land and the home. It included 2K for a driveway, 2800 for land clearing, 2500 for the company purchasing the land, plus some other things related to the well and sewer. The original price of the home was over 94K for a double wide! The land was 49K and total with all the cost it came up to 194K for them to set everything up. Does this seem strange or correct? I would also know how to get retail prices on homes without going through the retailer so that I can be better prepared. Can anyone help?

[rmurray]

$2500 for purchasing the land.....GEEZ..another new one I have never heard from..

$50K for setting a home in FL..is silly high..

Go shop these items yourself...It is not common to quote the price includilng septic and well...but hook ups are usually included..

Shop around...check out the cost of this model somewhere else..Are you sure you are not counting the interest in the numbers you are quoting???

Shop the costs of each land item...

[Donna B]

We live in the Panhandle and we were renting a lot for our 1998 Fleetwood singlewide. Our only problem has been defective doorknobs.
We got a construction loan for .5 acre of cleared land in a subdivision that
allows mobile homes. The lot had a septic tank, county water hookup, and
electrical pole. Our loan for $60,800 covered the balance on our home and
the land, closing costs, with $2000 down.
We paid the following in cash:
Moving 35 miles and setup - $2500
Skirting - $1600 (paid too much)
Hookups to electrical, water, septic tank - $1100
Our interest rate is 5.8%, so I feel that we have a nice home for not much money.
You must be buying quite a bit of land.

[annaz]

Find somebody who will do site prep / pad for you. This should contain a driveway, septic, a level pad for the home. Some will do this AND the skirting. $2,000 for clearing JUST a driveway is completely ridiculous. You living on top of Mount Everest? The $2500 for the company purchasing the land is complete throw-away money. Why are THEY purchasing the land? Aren't you purchasing the land?

We bought a maxed out home w/$30,000 in options and our home (a Marlette) came to $87,000, with a $5500 site prep, well, septic set, FHA block skirting, a 24 x 36' garage and $63,000 in property and electric, etc. We spend not more than $175,000.

Find site prep/septic people that will do this, buy your own land and roll it all into the loan. Obviously their making a few large buckaroos off of them handling all this for you. Run...................

[Melanie]

Thank you all for your good and entertaining advice. We have been shopping around through real estate agents and I have talk to other people selling homes as well. But I do have some more entertaining news for you. We talk to Quailty Homes (a.k.a.-rip-off-people) today about a home that we had spec'd. The price for this one, a stripped down 80x32, Home-of-Merit was 3K over one I called a place in South FL about and the one in South FL had many upgrades and custom features. When I first talked to QH the price included; well, septic, set-up delivery, skirting, hot water heater, a/c, and steps. Now everything is itemized on a work sheet, that of course I can not take home to look over. But I remember some more items than the other day. There is a 1300 utility pole charge with 600 extra to run the line to the house. Cost for the pump, extra for the pump house and mulch. Cost for the pad, cost for plumbing, septic and water. Tests for the well and spetic. Permits and taxes for the trailer the spetic and the well, 2800. Anyway it is 50K worth of improvements on a 2-acre piece of land that costs less than 50K. They expected us to be happy about payments of $1200 on a 3% down FHA loan. Go figure! Tomorrow they will find out that they do not have a customer anymore.

[rmurray]

Try shopping C&G Manufactured Homes in Lake City..They are the largest HOM dealer in the area..

By the way...the figures you are quoting are all out of line...A $1200 per month payment on FHA relates to a loan of about $120,000..if the payment includes taxes..insurance..FHA insurance..principle and interest...A $194,000 loan would be closer to $1900/mo..

I am beginning to believe you do not fully understand the true costs of the program...for instance..the closing costs will be about 7%...the dealer can add these to his price and pay them to keep you from having to come up with the cash..Of course he cannot show them exactly that way..he adds money to a price on the way..

Also..there has to be some cost associated with a construction loan..With closing costs...and interest this could easily be as high as 10% additional costs that he might be pricing into the price..Then there is sales tax...he cannot show that as a separate line item..They are 7% in Florida..over $7000 in your home.....How about permits and impact fees..these would also be added somewhere in the loan..

The point is...there is no way to compare the cash price from dealer to dealer..then finance FHA...The best you can do is compare payments..which incorporates all of the costs into 1 easily comparable number..

[Mark]

Depends on the home you are buying.
Is it a mobile home or a modular? If it's a modular, is it on frame or off frame?

The dealer isn't going to pay the costs of improving the lot, those will be added to your loan.

Without an actual itemization of where that money is going, you can't tell what it's being used for.

Land clearing can easily be $2800, depends on what's on the land, how much has to be cleared and if the debris is being removed or not.

Septic can be as low as $1500, or as high as $10,000, depends on what is required for your area, and how much has to be done to make it work.

The $2500 fee for 'buying' your land seems bogus. Why are they buying it? Why are you charging you to do so? If you are saving construction loan costs, a quit claim deed is all you need, costs about $12 to file at the court house.

Here's approximately what it's costing me to do my off frame modular
Base price home: $75000
Modular conversion: $15000
Crane rental: $5500
Land clearing: $1900
Septic: $3800
Plumbing & Electrical: $1500
Underground utilities: $500
Sales tax (on material only for modulars): $3500

And I didn't even opt for the appliances except stove and water heater.

Keep in mind there are a slew of other fees as well. Appraisals, survey if you don't have one already, processing fees, flood certifications, lawyers fees, title insurance, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc..

There will also be expenses you will HAVE to pay out of pocket, septic fee is one that comes to mind ($250 here), before you can even start on the home. Insurance premiums, etc.

You need to find out exactly what costs are being quoted in that price, AND if those prices are locked. That is to say, if they allocate $4000 for septic and it costs $5000, do you pay the extra $1000? If it's less than $4000, will you get credit, etc.

I'll have about $118k in it, or about $42,000 over the 'base price' the home.
And that doesn't include the land!

FWIW, the insurance company has already 'appraised' the home between 160k and 196k, as being what it would cost to rebuild should the home be completely destroyed (such as by fire).