Manufactured to Modular

[rfporzio]

I currently own a great manufactured home on a super acre of land. I have currently looked into selling the home and replacing it with a modular. The two main reasons I am doing this is Insurance and depreciation. I'm finding it a little more difficult as the home gets older to insure and I would also like to eliminate the depreciation that goes along with a manufactured home vs modular. Rather than sell the home that I really like, I was wondering if there are any upgrades that can be done and then if it was possible to have the house re-certified as a modular. I do realize my taxes here will increase but I think the advantages would out weigh that issue. Thanks in advance for your help. It would save me some hassle rather than sell the house separate and replace it with an on-frame modular (high water table- cellar hole not feasible)
Thanks in advance for your help.

[rmurray]

Short answer is you CANNOT make your manufactured home into a modular home. They are 2 totally different codes inspected at the time or original construction for certification by totally different agencies of the government.

Your logic for changing has really only 1 reason. Insurance might be a little easier and less pricey but true depreciation would not. Value of the property is all local and a function of your local market. ALL houses DEPRECIATE when priced separate from the property they are built on. Priced as a package (land and home) percentage of depreciation or appreciation will be the same no matter which construction standard your home was built to. Again this is fully a function of the real estate market in your immediate area.

If I wanted to make the change, I would stick to OFF FRAME modular. They can be built on foundations entirely above the ground level with out any digging for a basement. In states that allow ON FRAME modular ( SC comes to mind) some insurance companies still treat them as manufactured homes. Also often on frame modular homes are appraised as manufactured homes for finance reasons.

Since you do not sound like you plan to sell your land and home anytime soon, appreciation or depreciation in NOT relevant. If you replace with on frame modular you WILL be able to buy homeowners insurance from a larger choice of companies at probably lower cost. Also you would be able to mortgage your land and home at more lenders and at lower interest rates. Pricing of homeowners insurance is very volatile right now. My home owners with Allstate (for now till next increase) has more than doubled from $ 380 to over $ 780 in the last 24 months. I live in the Augusta area of GA where prices have gone up a lot recently.

Only you can decide if the trouble and cost could possibly be worth it for you.

[fredcdobbs]

I agree with rmurray, if you do replace the unit I would NOT put a frame-on mod also known as "hudular" on the site. Frame-on's can come with negative baggage in some areas and besides insurance companies, I have had more than one local AHJ state "if it has frame, it's a Mobile Home, don't care what the book says".

Frame-off will fit into what you are looking to do.

[David Oxhandler]

"A rose by any other name......"

[rfporzio]

Well that opens another door for me. I didn't realize I had the option of an off frame modular without putting in a full foundation. I guess I could test the waters and see what I could get for my home and talk with a local builder of energy star modular homes and see what the numbers look like.
Thanks

[rmurray]

An off frame modular will require a full perimeter foundation, but only the footers will have to be below grade. Inside that perimeter there will be some piers similar to those required for the on frame or the manufactured home. There will be a crawl space about the same as the other 2 types as well. Good luck with your project.

[rfporzio]

Thanks, That all makes perfect sense. It would be really nice if they could do the foundation project without to much destruction to the existing slab. I'm thinking they could cut through the slab to install the below grade footers and then continue with the remainder of the project details. I would really like to figure out how to work around the insurance issue. I've owned stick built homes in the past, the last of which was custom built. My current manufactured home is by far the best decision I made. I recently replaced the poly carbonate skylight with a velux glass only because of its weathered condition but other than that I haven't had any issues with the home.

[David Oxhandler]

The rate of depreciation will not be effected by putting the current home on a different foundation.

Insurance rate may get a little better temporarily, There used to be two things we could always count on and those were death and taxes... a third leg has been added to that stool. We now can count on insurance rates going up each and every year. The cost of changing the foundation will most likely never be recovered from the insurance savings.

It would take several pages to catalog all the negative things that can happen when you lift up a perfectly good home. Over the years your home has settled onto the existing foundation. The associated changes to the wood framing and steel under-frame can not be anticipated until after the home is on the new foundation. There will be inevitable repairs and renovations. At that point will have no choice but, to pay for any additional costs.

You will have to abandon the electric and plumbing hook ups. You may even find that you have to pay for updates to local building and health codes that have been adapted since your home was originally installed.

If your home was installed properly and has been well maintained swapping the existing foundation will have only one result... a huge expense leaving a hole in your bank account or a debt with interest and monthly payments.

If it aint broken dont fix it