MH info,looking in process

[Bette]

Hi. I have been reading the info. here for awhile. Really great. Now it is time for us to ask for info. W will retire to Clearlake Ca. area next spring-summer.(hopefilly)
There is only 2 dealerships in area.Lakeport and Lower Lake,Ca. We have been talking with a lady Lower Lake. She really was pushing a Marlette out of Oregon, and it did seem nice with good construction,but would need some upgrade as per Randy's book. Now, when we called this week, she says they no longer sell the Marlette. A corporate decession(both dealers owned by same corp.but have different mgrs. Silvercrest and Skyline an possibly Karasten are now options.(Sorry for long story).We have lot so will be on private land. The buildable plot will take a 28x48 with a 20x22 garage(my husband has to have a garage). There isn't room for a septic so will have to hook into city sewer at bottom of street at $35000 to 40000. Havent even got to set up yet. Approx. $57000 plus home. Since we have to change models, hard telling. Forgot, they want $18000 for garage. All this sounds like a great deal of money to us. We will be retirees with fixed income. When we sell our house in So.cal. we have some equity but not a lot compared to othersas, we have a substantle mortg. Well after all this I guess I'm asking if these prices make cense in middle Ca? Any rec. about whick manf.to be best. She says the Silvercrest comes from Oregon. In sure there are many other questions to ask and I will probably ask them later as this not has gotten out of hand. Thanks for all the info.Bette.

[Pat]

Hello,
We also live in lake county California and will hopefully be building a MH soon. I Visited Lakeport, Lower Lake, Ukiah and Serenity Homes in Chico. We where really turn off by Ukiah and Lower Lake. It seemd like we where pulling teeth to get base prices on models. I had to ask how many base prices we could get a day. Used car lots all the way. Sorry if this burns anybody. Lakeport seemed like a good place havent looked into them to much we where kinda in a hurry that day. Serenity Homes in Chico is the best we found so far. The are a Fuqua dealer and are going to be selling Karten soon I think. They gave us the base prices on all the fuqua models right up front. We have a budget and didnt like having to ask how much is this one on every model. I think all dealers should do this. It seems shady that they dont. Of course you have to check there prices to others but it was all right there to see. Thats what I have found so far in this area. I would also be interested on others that live in this area. That just recenty built a MH. What price per sqft did you end up paying? On a flat lot with a septic. We are thinking around the 1600sqft range of home. The average stick built home around here is going for 185.00 a sqft. I know I wasnt that much of a help to your question but thought I would tell you about Fuqua in Chico.

[mac]

I hope W retires soon, myself, and I don't care where he retires to. My .02.

[mac]

Seriously though... Marlette is now part of Clayton - the plant is in Hermiston (eastern Oregon) and the build quality I looked at seemed quite nice. Fuqua seemed also to make nice homes. We ended up going with Karsten (Stayton, OR) plant. Our cost was $45/SF with setup on slab/block skirting, 2000 sf with some options. The Karsten plant in Stayton was Guerdon's plant until 2-3 years ago, and uses Guerdon's designs, I suspect. The Sacramento plant has different floor plans, and, I -believe- longitudinal flooring arrangement, which some people here say is inferior.
We've been in our Karsten, in NW Oregon, for two years - all is well - Santiam Homes is an outstanding dealer. If I could have done anything differently, I'd have got thicker floors of plywood (Karsten wouldn't budge on this). My son is grown and gone, so water on the floors won't be an issue.
Another maker we looked at was Silvercrest. We liked their quality but didn't see the floor plan we wanted (and didn't know to ask if they had one in their files unbuilt for a while). They have a floor option that I would have bought - 1-1/8" plywood on a steel frame. Just the floor material is $1 a SF at our Lowe's, so it would have been expensive, but worth it.

Happy house hunting!
Mac

[Bette]

Hi to Pat and Mac. We appreciate your info. The lady in Lower Lake gave us the base price for the Marlette. We really haven't talked to her about the others. Hope to go up there in Oct-Nov. I know she doesn't care for Fuqua as their man that did all the appraisals for set up just left and went to Fuqua. If you buy from a dealer that is not in the area, is there a problem with local set up people? Does the dealer bring his own set up crew? We evidently have a problem lot because of not being able to have a septic and will need a engineer for the sewer connection.
We saw the Karsten and liked them. Will check out construction. We can only build approx.1200 sq.ft. home. Thanks.Bette PS. We can get the Marlette if we open escrow by Oct.1. Im not confortable about doing this as we can't sell our home till next spring.

[rmurray]

Last thing you want to do is buy a model from a dealer who will be no longer handling the product...If you really want a Marlette..call the plant and ask about other dealers with in 200 miles...Remember the company has just gone through bankruptcy and was sold by the court to a new company...Nothing about Marlette will be the same except the name...Even the models you saw are of the old builder...

Most dealers can handle deliveries within that radius..a few dealers would want to keep them a little closer..but most can service this kind of area..

It is hard for me to comment on prices....CA seems off the charts to those of us in the rest of the world...For the money you are spending...you could have a castle in my area...

You should consider going to the book store here and investing is Randy Eaton's book...He is from OR and is very familiar with the product in your area...

You are doing the right thing...getting up to speed..ask questions...ask some more...Good Luck

[Annaz]

Mac...what is your opinion on your Karsten home since you're in one? They told us they use cresdeck flooring...not plywood...this is the dealer in Tucson.

[jgn]

The Karsten dealer I spoke with said plywood is offered as an option. Why a high end manufacturer would cut that corner does not make sense because plywood or OSB is the only choice for the long term.

[Annaz]

it's a 2002 and we had a 1997. The 1997 was better when Marlette built it. The quality of this home is awful. It sold to Oakwood. But I'm in Tucson and they have a Tucson plant, so it could be different quality where you are. I wouldn't buy another.

Structurally we don't have many problems, but many cosmetic problems...poor workmanship. Compared to our 1997 when Marlette built it, now our outlets are few, the drywall is awful, all the water lines are in the middle or front under the cabinets rendering those areas useless for storage, I have "writing" on my door frames from the factory that won't come off, they "forgot" to make it heat-pump ready so they did it after the fact, so I have the closet to the old furnace area still there, with an unfinished plywood encasement and the doorknob hits the plywood...basically they didn't finish it, they "forgot" my window sills, and because we stretched it from 28 to 32 wide, the a/c vents are in bad, bad places, the vents (when you remove the vent covers) are crushed and of course they assured me they were not only fine, but normal to be that way and couldn't be fixed. We had called the state on the dealer, because the dealer and factory were bickering over who should fix our crappy drywall job. The state was pretty quick. But Marlette is not what they used to be.

Just a heads up.

[Annaz]

creseck...Unlike plywood, it has no core voids, knot holes, splits or patches. it is solid thruout and provides a floor that is highly resistant to puncture damage from hi heels, piano or furniture legs. The floors are stronger because they large panels span more floor joists (from end to middle) and create a greater structural strength. It's surface finish is smoother and more uniform then plywood or OSB and has no wood grain to telegraph and show through lino floor covering. The hardness is 900 lbs and twice as hard as plywood or OSB and offers much greater resistance to denting or damage caused by falling objects. It says:

It says it suppors a drop load of 285 lbs, when exposed to humidity moisture it expanded less than is allowed under code, and limited water absorption to 8% and thickness swell to 3% during a 24/hr period during a 24/hr water soak.

Whatcha think?