MH e-books or videos for first timers

[Dallas]

Greetings. I saw that Dan had posted previously that he had made good use of some of the first time buyers books and videos and had recently moved into his new MH. It's good to see someone say that the e-books, books, and videos helped them out. It's our first time considering a MH so we need some of that valuable education.

I'd like to hear from others that have bought any of the e-books, books or videos off this site. Tell me what you think both pros & cons, where they might have really saved you money and time, or where they could have done better.

If anyone has any other e-books, books or videos they'd recommend, then list those too and where to get them.

And lastly, if anyone like Dan has used their e-books, books and videos and no longer need them and would like to sell them, don't hesitate to email me off the forum to tell me what you have and how much you're asking.

Dallas.....
[email protected]

[Tanya]

We bought Randy Eaton's e-book and are at the stage where we're fairly close to closing on our loan for a land home package. We found it tremendously helpful! Reading it gave us the courage to tackle this immense project. He lays out the entire process in step by step fashion and has great charts and check-lists that you can print and take with you when you go visit the dealerships. Personally, the part that helped us the most was the construction information. When we first started looking around MH dealerships, of course we were drawn to the prettiest floor plans. Then we read his chapter on how to check for quality construction and what kind of questions to ask, and we went back to those same dealers. This time, we were able to look at the models with completely different eyes. We looked under the sinks, behind the closet doors, started banging (gently) on walls and doors and so on and so on. It was a real eye-opener! We ended up doing a complete 180 about the brand we wanted.
The other chapters have been a terriffic general guide to the financing process, getting a good deal on a home, choosing options that improve the value of the home, finding the right people to work with, the site improvement process, and so on. We may not have followed the advice to the letter, for example, his suggestions about price negotiation, but we were able to comparison shop a bit, and found a dealership that is extremely professional and doesn't mark up their homes excessively. For example, they were able to demonstrate that other dealerships for the same company marked up their options, whereas they use the original factory prices. We ended up switching to them, even though the original dealership is in our area, and the second one is four hours away. It has been completely worth the trouble. They didn't give us the run-around about any part of the process. Itemized quotes were quickly and cheerfully presented, phone calls and emails efficiently responded to, and when we pointed out that we had originally been quoted lower prices for a few options back in April, they immediately re-quoted all of our options at the April prices, easily saving us $6,000! (we had given them a $500 dollar deposit to lock in the price of the home at that time, but we didn't know that included options, as well)
Anyway, back to the book: I highly recommend it. We also ordered the five videos for the site improvement process, but they were sold out. I've heard from others on this site that they found those helpful.

[Kevin C]

When do you expect the video's to be back in stock? If I have already sent in an order will I have to re-order.

I ordered Randy's books and found them most helpfull. Well worth the price. He thoroughly explains the difference between a quality home and a starter home. The only negative I found in the book was the ratings of some MH. One or two of the brands he rated as quality homes were not, and some he didn't rate as quality were. That could be due to the difference between the publication date and changes manufacturers made to construction. The books definately helped us to narrow the fileld down to three manufacturers. Now all we have to do is narrow it down to one and pick the "ideal" floor plan.