Texas Homes

[Susan]

Still trying to find out who might be considered good manufactures for the Central Texas area. We have read really good things about Patriot, and think Fleetwood might be OK, as long as we get the upgrades to 2x6's, better insulation and upgraded flooring.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. We've heard to take our time and do research, which we are trying our best to do.

So glad this forum is on here to help everyone like us out. We live in an old house (1910) right now, so at this point, almost anyting would be an improvement from this drafty house that seems to have constant plumbing problems! LOL!

Thanks!

[John]

You live in a state with a lot of manufacturers and their plants. It depends on what you are looking for and how much you want to spend. Patriot seems to have a good reputation where Fleetwood does not seem to have the support they should. On the higher side you might want to look at Palm Harbor (Austin plant), Karsten through Homes Direct (San Antonio, Austin), Franklin. On the less expensive end Sunshine, Solitaire. I have found all of these homes to be of good construction but you will be best served narrow your choices down and go visit the plants. Be as carefull with your dealer selection as your manufacturer because they are just as important.

[lacey]

i second what john has said. we've done extensive research into patriot homes and visited the plant in waco. we believe they make a good product. we also visited the karsten dealership in austin, (b/c they have a particular floor plan we really like). the main drawback to karsten (according to what i've read on this board and r. eaton's books), is their longitudinal floor system. however, karsten does many nice things like wooden shelving and poles in the closets rather than the usual wire systems, solid wood cabinets, etc., and you can do some upgrading (like 3/4 plywood floors). their website is: www.thekarstenco.com. i don't care much for the exteriors.

i believe every word when it comes to finding a dealership you like & feel like they are dealing straight with you. find the dealership you like first, then find a floor plan. we've had some experiences over the last 14 months with different dealerships --we ran into so many inconsistencies and untruths--finally found one dealership we really really liked and then they quit carrying the product line we wanted.

starting over, again....good luck to you.

[Susan]

Thank you so much for your recommendations! We love the Karsten homes, but they may be a little out of our price range. Solitare is just too plain, but a well built home. We have not had a chance to get to Waco yet to view a Partiot home. Any thoughts on Nationwide? We have found a Palm Harbor we like, but it's construction package really isn't all that much better than the Fleetwood we like. And they are giving us a really good deal on the model, so we can't upgrade construction, flooring, insulation, etc. If we ordered the Fleetwood, we could make those upgrdes.

We are not finished shopping by a long shot, but any thoughts on the Model Palm Harbor vs. the upgraded Fleetwood?

Oh, also we are working w/an agent for a repo place for Country Place/Palm Harbor and she has told us she works only on salary, not any comission. Her comission is based on the number of homes she sells. She was not at all pushy, but she kept stessing the "noncomission" part a little too much for me to take her seriously. Any thoughts?

Thanks again for all the help! Eveyone on here is a Godsend!!

[lacey]

hi susan
just a point of clarification--you don't have to go to waco to see the patriot homes. you can see those at a dealership, but the factory is located in waco. you can tour that factory, but must be accompanied by a sales person.

i don't understand your comment about the sales lady that does not work on commission--only works on salary, but her "commission is based on how many homes she sells". i think palm harbor makes a good product. there are many plants for palm harbor and certain models are made in certain plants. i would only buy a mfg home that has been upgraded with all the things so often discussed on this board (3/4 plywood floors, 2x6 exteriors, osb wrap, etc). by the way, palm harbor has a low complaint rate. if i can find that article where the different manufacturers are rated by complaint percentage--i'll post the link.

[lacey]

this is the link to an article by consumers union. page 8 has a chart of complaint percentages per 100. lowest is elliott, which is solitaire.

let me know if the link does not work!

http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/mh/paper-1.pdf

[jgn]

Susan:

I agree that the Solitaire is well built but plain and they allow very few upgrades. Looks like the best home for the money but the appearance leaves a lot to be desired.

PH has a number of different plants and types. The Masterpiece homes are the middle of the line while the Elite and Select are upper end. The Masterpiece is built arount Ft. Worth and the Elite and Select (plant 7 and 5 I think) are Austin factories. Upgrades on both homes are just about anything you want to add. PH company owned sites stress the salary or Customer Satisfaction Index and that is partially true because they get a small salary but make their money selling homes be it commission, bonus or what, but it is not straight salary. Every manufacturer has complaints but PH has very few that I have seen.

I am not a Fleetwood fan because I think there are better homes out there with a better support system, and regardless of what you buy you will need support. Fleetwood seems to have the most complaints and two web sites dedicated to them about their problems that I don't believe are internet hysteria, http://www.fleetwoodhorrorstories.com/, Oakwood seems to fall into the same catagory. Yes the house has a lot of room and priced right but it is still a lot of money and you will need factory support which they seem to lack. Look at the overall package, Home, setup, dealer and factory after sale support, not just the price and eye candy.

Do a lot of looking and ask a ton of questions because someone here has experience with what you are looking at. One thing PH tries to do is sell you on their finance and insurance package, you can do much better outside.

[Susan]

Thanks for the link, however when I tried pulling it up, it kept saying the site was under construction.

I love the PH model they are trying to get rid of, however getting a model frightens us a little because we can't do the construction upgrades we want such as 2x6 exteriors, etc.

Thanks for the help!

[lacey]

try the link again--it's worth reading this article if you can pull it up.

http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/mh/paper-1.pdf

if that fails, do the website--

www.consumersunion.org. you can use the search function to enter "manufactured housing"-- they have several articles there.

i think you have to have acrobat reader however to pull up the files. maybe i can copy the file and post it. read page 8, which has the consumer complaint stats.

[rmurray]

Here are a couple of links to CU's indexes of articles...

http://www.consumersunion.org/other/mh/tips.htm

and

http://www.consumersunion.org/other/mh/brochure.htm

These are in HTML and will open on any computer...