Age of home to buy ????

[danceman]

The wife and I are doing alot of research on buying a mobile (doublewide) in the Tampa area. I understand building standards for them were tightened in 1977, 1994,and in 2000. Yet I see some well kept homes built in the early 70's remodelled and updated,and more costly than some newer ones. Does this mean a say 1973 well kept and undated home and properly anchored is still unsafe as to a newer one perhaps not well cared for? I also understand Insurance on older homes might be a problem, We do plan to buy in Tampa, which is 15 or better miles from the coast. Thanks Randy & Dawn from Ontario Canada.

[admin]

Considering the older homes your looking at have survived through all the storms since they were installed it would seem that the chances of storm damage would be relatively small. We own a small park with 30 older manufactured home rentals in Central Florida. Over the past few years when we had those terrible storms I was unable to file a single claim for damage over our $500 deductible. Yet it cost me thousands of dollars to remove trees that the storms uprooted and knocked over.

I am not saying that your concern is unfounded but hurricanes in Florida are a fact of life... a trade off for our great winter climate. A direct hit can take out a steel and concrete structure as well as an older manufactured home... much like the possibility of loosing a home to tornado in Kansas.

Yes, at this time insurance options are limited for older homes in Florida. This is not limited to manufactured homes. I recently purchased a site built framed home that was originally built in the early 50s. The construction of the old home was done at a time when building was an art and the structure was in as good condition when I purchased it as the day it was built. It did survived years of Florida storm seasons, unaffected. We did quiet a bit if cosmetic work and updated the electric and plumbing only to find that our insurance options were limited to the same state pool that insures our older manufactured home rental units. There is a state backed company called Citizens that will cover your older Florida home.

We saw much the same problem with insurance in the years after Hurricane Andrew... after a few years of relatively calm weather the spirit of competition returned an open market to Florida insurance. I expect that we will see an easing of this problem as time goes on.

The foundation systems on older homes can be retrofitted to bring them up to modern standards. Most decisions like the one your facing decision are based on economics...your ability to pay. While most of us would prefer to purchase most items brand new with extended warranties, I'm sure you will find a very big spread in price between the older homes, including the price for insurance when compared with the full price for the brand new ones.

Let us know which way to decide to go. Thanks for taking part in our forums

[JDeborahCoss]

You can ask for an insurance quote before you buy. As for the support system, ask if you can look at the pier system, and also find out when the last time the level of the home was checked. Look for local info about the safety of your homes and if consumer digest has anything in particular to share with you.