The Manufactured Housing Forums

Hi folk:

My husband and I won a bid on a foreclosure on a lovely 1999 Oakwood doublewide and 5 acres of fenced pasture land. The price is right if things are ok with it.

This home has skirting around it.. Looks to be in very good visible condition. We are planning (as part of the mortgage process) in having everything inspected.. for bugs, a/c and heating.. electrical, roof, underneath the works..

Questions:

1) Can you put an already setup double wide on a permanent foundation? and if so what sort of price should we be looking at??? We are in North Central KY if that makes any difference

2) Anything in particular we should be checking out on a 1999 Oakwood doublewide? I have seen that they are bankrupt and of course we are buying this AS IS with no warranties at all... just wondered if anyone had anything in particular to be careful about.

3) Is it possible to put a porch on the front and attached sunroom on the back? Is it a bad idea or a good one.. I would assume they would have to go into the existing roof to attach a porch room and the sunroom/extension roof...

Have already been told by the bank that we cannot have an attached garage..

Anything else?? this is our first mobile/manufactured housing purchase and we really don't know where to start. We have not yet signed the contracts because there are some clauses we don't understand in them (contradictory clauses in Freddie Mac foreclosure sale) so we have a day or so to look into it some more.. and of course more time before closing.. with earnest money at risk..

Thanks in advance for your help
JJ and Kim

JJ & Kim,

Did you actually go inside this home or just submit a bid? Vanderbilt Mortage (a subsidary of Clayton Homes) brought out Oakwood earlier this year and have acquired their foreclosured properties. Now to answer your questions:

1) You can build a permanent foundation with no problems at all since the home actually set on footers. This is called perminter blocking. It's had to come up with a price since you didn't mention this size of the home. Price also depends on if the foundation is going to be three or four block high.

2) Since there are no warranties with this home you will bare all the expense. I would hire a professional house inspector! This could save you alot of money in the future.

My business manager us to work for Oakwood a few years back and he has never spoken highly of their product. The floors would be my main concern. Oakwood used Novadeck flooring which is simply compressed particle board and will cause major problems if it get wet. I would keep my eyes wide open on this deal!!! Let me know how things turn out. By the way, did you buy the house through Vanderbilt Mortage?

Clarence Yeary - Kentucky

The term "permanent" foundation means different things depending on the type of lending you are doing...for instance..if you want to do FHA finance the home would have to be retro fitted to meet the requirements of a FHA inspector..Unfrotunately it seems that each inspector has a little different idea what is necessary...If the home is already on concrete footers..reto fitting should cost about $4000...

For conventional finance..permanent foundations means set to the requirements of the manual and the local code...with no running gear...the appraiser will make the determination...vinyl skirt is ok...home must have anchor system in place..Virtually any home set to local code will be ok...

I should think a garage is ok...just the garage would have to be there before the final package is financed...this could easily be done with a construction loan as a bridge to the permanent finance..This and any permanent property improvement should be OK in this situation..

Quality and condition are decisions you will have to make...the other post mentions the press board floors...Oakwood did not go broke by building great homes...

Thanks for your responses.

We have actually been inside the home. The carpet needs replacing because the owner's dog chewed a hole in it and soiled the carpet in other locations. There are two holes (smaller than fist size) in the wall board.. and fortunately there are 4 sheets of replacement wall board in the house.

You can see the place at http://hometown.aol.com/foxholler/farm.html inside and out.. did not photograph the bedrooms as there is nothing to see really.

Freddie Mac is selling it as part a foreclosure.

We found the BUILD tag in the closet and it said 1999 Oakwood and pretty much the rest was illegible (torn from the wall).

Need new appliances as someone removed the stove and refridgerator. Dishwasher and microwave are still installed.

Don't know the real dimensions.. is a Doublewide with 4 bedrooms and I know that still leaves a lot of possibilities of how wide and long it is.

When we have the right to do the inspections we will be measuring it with a 100ft measuring tape. We are planning on insect inspection as I think I saw signs of termites and am sure I saw a whole lot of ants.. where there are ants there are probably other critters. We of course are having the home inspected (A/C and Heating, structural etc.. and will pull up the carpet in a closet to see what is under it.

We are not permitted to change anything before we purchase it (makes sense to me).. so your suggestion of a construction or bridge loan makes sense.

Thanks for your comments.. anything else you can think of?
JJ and Kim

PLEASE read my post about buying a home...TIPS!
I told the story of what I found out AFTER buying MY used mobile home. Mine is a LOT older than the one you're looking at, but it may help you know where to look for trouble!!
Hope I help you out!!
Sincerely,
Krystal

Thank you Krystal.

I found the post and have printed it off.

We saw nail size holes in the ceiling in the LivingRoom/Family room marriage join.. wondered what they were. Fortunately I have already arranged to have someone reputable inspect the house for termites etc.. I also saw a big pile of dirt in the window (I am told this is PROBABLY ants) and some very active ants inside the front door.

We will inspect UNDER the house for sure... pipes, ductwork, wood etc..

Your post (and the others) plus the book I ordered on repair and additions should help out a lot... we will be checking on all this stuff BEFORE closing... who knows.. we might back out of the sale depending on what we find.

Again, thank you to everyone!
JJ and Kim

I looked at the web site....Of course you know you are buying the land..location and the home...as a package..the value is in the totla package..

The home is a basic..very basic Oakwood...it will have pressboard floors..one of your pics..from dining to kitchen..seems to show a bad floor already...It looks swollen near the floor vent...

I would expect to be making lots of upgrades in the future...the home could be a good buy if the price is right for the area...but..expect a lot of improvements in the future...

Good Luck..

If you are buying this home from FREDDIE MAC...It is already "permanently set" to meet the requirements of conventional mortgage sources...I can see that is is NOT FHA set...

If you are after a conventional mortgage you need to change nothing...unless you just want to...

We were out at the place today doing some measuring.

1) it is a 26 x 72
2) definitely has bugs and rodents
3) great price IF it is in ok shape
4) We peeked underneath.. it is on pillars. There has been some settling as front door looks like it is at a bit of an angle to the deck on front
5) definitely particle board flooring
6) mouse hole in floor in at LEAST one bathroom..
Mouse bedding in drawers in bathrooms... (insulation in a pile in the drawers)... our 10 cats will really come in handy here !! LOL
7) there is plastic on the ground under the home.

We signed the contracts.. will start inspections this week.

Born date is 1/24/99 made at plant #7 winterized to Level 3? (-25 degrees.

Anyway.. the inspections will tell all... I am concerned about the flooring myself ... just leary.

JJ and Kim

BTW... this is less than $50,000 including the land and fencing... unimproved land sells for $5,000 an acre in this area. Flat land (which this IS compared to other land near here) sells for even more. Taxes appraised in 2003 are 71,000 for this place (land and home).

We are counting on needing to make improvements to the place.... just don't know how MUCH improvement will be needed... THAT could break the bank.

Hope not!
JJ and Kim