The Manufactured Housing Forums

I'm still not convinced that you can get a manufactured home that is of equal quality to a site-built home. We had a tropical storm blow through last week. By the time it got here there were only about 30 mph winds. I went by a mobile home lot the next day and saw damage...siding blown off, metal strips on the edge of a roof curled back. I don't know, I just still don't think I'd want to be in one in a bad storm, even a huge, expensive double-wide. What do you guys say?

A well constructed mobile is comparable to a well constructed site built as far as the shell construction is concerned. In a site built home you are either on a slab or have wood floor joists, in a mobile you have a steel beam floor support. Made correctly they are all good and the steel is stronger, less likely to warp and provides a superior base. One of the biggest problems with storms and mobiles is the distance between the steel foundation and the ground. In most cases you have skirting around the home that is not all that substantial and when a strong wind blows through the skirting it creates an uplift. You dont have this space in a site built home. I feel that if you had a basement mobile you would survive anything a site built would.

With a mobile you get a lot more house for the money but you will take a hit on the other end if you decide to sell. I know a lot of people have the opinion that both a mobile and a site built will appreciate at the same rate but I am not a believer in that opinion. Yes a well built mobile is every bit as good as a well built site built but there is still the opinion of trailor trash, thanks in part to our last unfearless leader and his comments. I have a site built home that has appreciated over 25% in the last nine years while my lake DW will bring what I paid for it nine years ago and that is land value not home value. I am not complaining and may replace it with a newer, larger home, but to say a mobile will appreciate at the same rate as a site built is not true in most circumstances but how can you build for $30-45 per foot.

For my take on this subject, please go to Manufactured Home Owners Forum and read my message of 9-29-02. Since posting that, I've seen two other old trailers in the same general area that are listed for $125,000 on property described as "potential commercial." As already stated elsewhere on this website, whether a house is manufactured or site-built, the LAND is the appreciating factor, NOT the house.

Myra, why don't you get on the internet and check out the real estate listings in your areato see what the prices of existing man. homes on their own land are. There should be some kind of a website you can go to - usually included as a link on a real estate agent's website. That's going to be the best barometer of value.

I DO worry about being in a tornado in an M-H, though.

Living in Oklahoma the only place I feel safe in a tornado is a silo. I wonder if stats have been made as to where homes destroyed by tornados are located. When I watch the news they always say xx trailers were destroyed and most of the time it is on flat open land. I feel it is more where you are located than what you are in that makes the difference.

Peggy: you are somewhat correct on the land that is appreciating but so does the home. Site built homes and land both appreciate, MH and land the land appreciates in most areas the home depreciates so the net result is a smaller appreciation.

I disagree with your statement about site-built houses appreciating all by themselves. If you have a brick house in the path of a new highway coming through and you put the HOUSE ONLY (house-to-be-moved) up for sale, you will probably get NO takers. This was illustrated in the post from "Atlanta" in the First -Time Homeowners forum on July 1, 2002.

As for the tornado question - I think you're right - it may be the area where the manufactured home is located that makes it so vulnerable to a tornado. Maybe if the powers-that-be didn't banish manufactured housing to the wide-open outlying areas we'd hear less about tornado-damage to these houses.

Actually..tornados hit the ground randonly....of course certian areas of the country are more vunerable..but they hit the ground at random..

Fully 85% of all land area in the country is rural...15% or less is urban...

This means 85% of all tornadoes hit rural areas...

In the US...25% of all homes are manufactured homes...but the urban areas have a very small percentage of manufactured homes...but rural areas are often over 50% manufactured homes..some areas this percentage can be as high as 85% of the local housing stock..

This means tornadoes will hit manufactured homes in a majority of cases...

Has nothing to do with the type of home...just the housing stock demographics...

I guess I haven't really been considering resale value, John, because I'm sick of moving and living in rent houses and am not really planning on moving anymore after this purchase, whether mobile or site-built. BUT, you never know what twists and turns life will take, do you? I'm mostly concerned with feeling safe in bad weather and with the house holding up inside also...cabinets, walls, flooring and such. I've seen some pretty crappy looking cabinets, etc. in mobile homes that have been lived in a few years.

Peggy, about value in my area...just yesterday in the paper I saw a new listing for a 32 x 80 double-wide, 4 bedroom, 3 acres, pond, and workshop. They are asking $98K. I doubt seriously they'll get it. A few weeks ago there was a nice DW in the paper with several acres, 3 or 4, can't remember, inground swimming pool, double carport....the ad said it cost $95K to set up and they would take $65K. I couldn't afford to have something like that happen! Also, a couple of years back there was a modular home for sale down the road (but it looked just like a DW) with about 4 nice acres, carport, porches, etc. I called about it and the guy had started out asking $80 or $85K. He was down to $65K by the time I called. We didn't bother going to look at it because we decided we wanted to get closer to town. That guy probably paid more than $80K just for the house!

Around here a site-built home with 2000 or more square feet, 3 acres, and a pond or swimming pool would easily get $100,000 or more, depending on location.

Well, I hope no one has been angered by my comments...I'm not trying to pick a fight, just trying to settle some things in my mind. Thanks for all your comments!

We don't do basements in this part of the country...too much gumbo mud and shifting ground, I think. Jesus must surely have been thinking of Louisiana when He said to build your house on the rock, not on shifting sand.

I'm wondering, though, if the "permanent foundation" that Randy has referred to here and details in his book is what I am imagining it to be. What I imagine is a solid wall of some sort all the way around the perimeter of the house...like cinder blocks or a low poured concrete wall, with vents. Then you could brick or whatever over that. Is that what he is talking about? That would make it safer, wouldn't it?

Hello Myra,

Your right on the money with your discription.

Randall Eaton

No offense taken here...
You have proven the point we all say...Location, location, location...You mention a home you rejected because of location...
Resale has nothing to do with what you paid for it...only what people are willing to pay for it when you sell...and location is the most improtant factor..

Those 2000 sq. ft. stick builts ( the 32x80 you mentioned is 2400 sq ft...20% more home)..for 100K cost new twice as much as a corresponding manufactured home..

In my area also there are many 2000 ft..20 year old stick builts for less than 100K...but 5 miles away....the same homes will be selling for $ 240K...All is location..

If you pick the place you put your manufactured home right..you will do fine..