Reporter seeking opinions

[Ron Hurtibise]

Hello, all. I'm a reporter for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, which serves Volusia and Flagler counties, a strong market for manufactured housing in the 1980s and 90s. I'm planning to write a story which takes a look at the market as it stands today, several years after the boom.
When we wrote about the boom in the past, MH park developers commonly asserted that:
-- Manufactured Homes are better built than site-built homes.
-- This is because 1976 HUD codes are stricter than any local codes and protect residents from inferior workmanship.
I would like to hear from long time MH owners as to whether you believe your homes are better built.
Are you glad you bought a manufactured home?
What are some of the experiences that have shaped your opinions about living in manufactured homes?
Please respond either on this forum or to my email address:
[email protected]
Thanks very much.

[rmurray]

The best place to get current info that could be useful for your readewrs is in your market area...Posting here will get you little locla feed back...Your area is still one of the strongest markets in the US...

If you are looking for folks who are not happy...You will find them...happy folks spend little time around these boards...They are busy getting on with their lives..

Go back to the parks you interviewed before...Check with some of the residents...Check with the FMHA...

Above all be unbiased and fair...

[Ron Hurtibise]

Thanks for your reply..........I have been speaking to local people, as well as from a statewide perspective. I posted here primarily to see if experiences from other places mirror those here. I plan to be fair and unbiased, however, must note the intensity of feelings among those who are unhappy. Do you believe the percentage of unhappy MH buyers exceeds, falls short of, or is about equal to the percentage unhappy with site-built home experiences?

[rmurray]

With a very quick web search I came across a web ring for unhappy home owners...

http://t.webring.com/hub?ring=defect

Here there are 73 active web sites with housing problems..All the largest stick builders are represented...5 refer to manufactured homes and 3 of them refer to Oakwood Homes...They are not active in your area and filed chapter 11 last week....No other manufacturer is even represented..Remember Champion Homes is the largest builder in the US...w/ Fleetwood, Oakwood and Palm Harbor all in the top 10..

The basic answer is that there are many new homeowners with problems..but remember...there are about 1.3 mil new homes built every year and 200K Manufactured homes....In both businesses the number of dissatisfied is very small...

The simple answer to your question is that there are a few vocal dissatisfied folks in all forms of housing..Many of which have very legitamate complaints.....

[Jon]

Ron:
As Murray correctly points out, there is a small but vocal percentage of folks who express displeasure. While the high majority of folks are pleased with their purchase, the few who are not seem to attract a disproportionate amount of attention. Pleased individuals spend their time elsewhere. This applies not only to manufactured and stick-built homes, but to vitually every item produced. Such unhappiness is frequently rooted in an illogical or overly-inflated expection of a product's benefits or characteristics.
If one of your intentions is to compare manufactured homes to custom stick-built homes, you would be doing your readers a disservice by attempting to compare mass-produced homes against custom-made site-built ones. Would you attempt to do the same with a men's suit bought at J.C.Penny and one that was custom handmade by a tailor? Probably not, because most folks already know the outcome of such a comparison: The retail store suit would be a good buy for the money, but the custom handmade suit would be the quality winner---at a much higher cost. Therefore, a better comparison would be a broad spectrum of manufactured home brands against a broad spectrum of developers who construct stick-built tract or subdivision housing that employ various mass-production techniques. You may be surprised at the overall result.
In any case, and of the several qualities they possess, perhaps the singlemost important benefit manufactured homes bring to the market is they are a very good housing purchase for the money. I trust and hope your research will prove this point.
Jon---

[Mrs. X]

Excellent point! Another good angle to pursue, Mr. Hurtibise, would be those folks who have lived in BOTH types of housing, and their take on the subject. I know several people who fit this category and they ALL say that they were pleased with their "double-wide" experience - one of these people is a civil engineer who lived in an MH for 2 years while building his stick-built house. Another one is a custom-builder of very upscale homes ($500k) and up, who lived in an MH while working out of state for awhile. Another is a friend of mine who rented out her double-wide when she got married and moved into her new husband's stick-built home. They recently sold the stick-built to move back in the double-wide which, she says, she loves. When I told my attorney that I was considering a double-wide once I move out of my stick-built, I told him "you might think I'm crazy" His response? " Oh, HELL, no! I lived in a double-wide for 10 years and it was fine. No major problems. They're a great. I'd do it again in a heartbeat - just be sure it's not on rented land" He also mentioned that his aunt and grandmother live in separate double-wides on Lake Lanier (GA) and they love it.

Another case history: a coworker built a 3000 square foot house and then got a divorce. Wife got the house and he moved into a double-wide. He says he likes it, that it's very energy-efficient, roomy, etc.

So there are lots of stories like that out there. I think that's going to give your readers a more accurate picture of customer satisfaction that you would get from reading the horror stories on this site or elsewhere from people who have run into problems.

And one last thing - also on this site, a contributor mentioned a recent issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine (September, I think) which featured an article about a professional couple (physician and psychologist) who down-sized into retirement by buying a manufactured house. It was very attractive and the pictures proved that double-wides are no longer the trailers of yesteryear.

When will your article be published?

[Richard]

Sorry that I had to be dissappointed. I have had mobile homes (very happy experience), I have owned three homes I bought as either new or used (stick built - very pleased), I had my last home custom built on my property (very happy), and now I bought another mobile home (manufactured house) (very dissappointed).
I firmly believe that a great portion of the problems were brought on by the developer, but I do not excuse the treatment I got from the manufacturer.
Dealers can make or break the consumer, but if a manufacturer does slip through with a pooly built/constructed house that is just as devastating.
I do have one company on my side and fighting in my favor; The DAPIA/IPIA for the manufacturer is looking into a lot of problems I have with my MH. The manufacturer has a new quality control person; that tells me something, but the manufacturer will not admit any wrong doing and or appologize. There are eighteen or more complaints filed with the SAA in our state siting both the developer and the manufacturer in the developement. So I do not feel like I blew a whistle just for blowing. There is a lot wrong and we may never get to the bottom of it. I have had to go out and buy a pellet stove because my furnace (STILL) does not work properly and we are very affraid of the gas furnace so I turned the gas off.
A full investigation by the DAPIA/IPIA is closing in on the furnace problem and where the manufacturer refuses to contact me concerning my complaint, I have a few rabbits up the old sleeve to take care of things.
After thirty months, I am still working on getting this MH properly repaired.

[Mrs. X]

Richard, have you thought about just taking the gas furnace out and putting in an electric one? I know it would be more money you'd have to spend, but if it's a question of safety, then why not?

I know you've had a terrible experience with your Skyline and there are others out there with war stories to tell, but I still think that manufactued housing is a great bargain if you don't get a lemon.

I live in a stick-built home that has had a few problems, one being the roof started leaking when the house was only 3 years old and we found out that the "20-year" warranty on the roof wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Also, 5 years ago, we had to have the entire house replumbed to replace the blue poly pipe. A class action suit paid for the replumbing, but it was a 5-day ordeal of having plumbers in the house all day and me having to take a week's vacation in order to be there.

We've had a few other minor things that were wrong from the get-go and our neighbors have had similar problems so my point is - there are always going to be problems with both kinds of house - or with any product.

I hope you can one day soon get your home in tip-top shape, although we WOULD miss your postings on this website! (Smile..............)

[Richard]

I refuse to spend money on this MH. The pellet stove will go with me when we move out of this place. I will file for bankruptcy if that is what will get me away from this.

[Ron Hurtibise]

Thanks very much for your responses.
Ron