Help!

[megan]

Anyone who can offer assistance would be greatly appreciated...

My husband and I are first-time homebuyers looking into manufactured housing in the Union City/San Lorenzo area of Northern California (just north of Hayward). We have a lot of questions...

1. How much does rent for the land in this area typically run?

2. How difficult is it to find a manufactured housing development?

3. The manufacturers we've looked into thus far are Advantage and Fleetwood. Has anyone heard anything about them or dealt with either of them? I saw a home in a park that Advantage was building and really liked it, but I don't know anything about their reputation.

4. Does anyone know what the resale value of manufactured housing is?

5. I saw on another website that the average cost of a small double wide home, 1250-1350 sq. ft., mid-grade construction would run $40,000. Does that sound right?

Thanks so much for any direction you can offer...and for taking the time to share your knowledge!

Megan

[Randy Eaton]

Hello Megan,

I like the Lifestyle series in the Fleetwood line, check them out. For a well-built manufactured home you will be around $40 per square foot.

Randy Eaton

[Sandy]

Megan,
In N. CA you are going to pay a lot of money. The price per square foot doesnt really matter, it depends on the location. I live in S. CA and paid with some upgrades $93,500 for 1456 sq.ft. Northern Cal is even worse. Look at some of the threads from others in that area. My sister in law looked in the San Francisco area and the price was $140,000 for about the same square footage. My friend here bought a Fleetwood for $86,000 which is really nice. Good Luck

[megan]

Can I ask a "duh" question??

When you say $93,500, are you talking the price of the home AND the land together? Or are you talking price of the home alone...and renting the property?

Thanks for your help

[Sandy]

Hi Megan,
Our home alone cost $93,500 and we rent a space in a park. Land in this area would be outrageous that is if it was even available. We couldn't even afford a reg house in this area which are upwards of $400,000+ brand new. My sister in law in San Fran, just the MH she was looking at was $140,000. In other parts of the country like the S. East I have seen people post that they got 2000+ sq ft homes for $55,000+. Which is really disgusting that they are so much more here in the West. I hope you can find better prices up there then we did down here. Good Luck!

[megan]

Sandy -
Do you happen to have the "lease to own" option? Or do you know of any areas that offer it?
Also, can you tell me what price range your park rental falls into?

I am brand new to this whole thing and have a lot of questions.
Thanks for your help

[Sandy]

Hi again Megan,
No we do not have any type of lease to own option. We only rent the space from month to month. Our rent is $650.00 a month which includes water. The trash and sewer is an additional $11.00. Our park is not as nice as some of the others in this area, for instance there are no sidewalks. And most homes don't even have enough yard for there to be any greenery. Ours used to be a senior only park so there alot of older single wides. We chose our park because of the location. I would rather be in a park that was in a great area with great schools etc. , then be in a great park in the middle of an industrial area with not so good schools. You would need to look for a MH communities that were more like a housing division. Our park is technically a mobile home park, it's called a MH park but there are more mobile homes than manufactured homes.
Sandy