WZII On FHA Foundation

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Kris Kelley

WZII On FHA Foundation

Post by Kris Kelley » Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:40 pm

Murray,

We are looking at an "on frame" modular with Palm Harbor. This is supposed to be engineered at the factory for Wind Zone II and welded to an FHA approved modified slab foundation. This would be deeded like a typical SFR. Can we expect to see a difference in insurance premiums or not?

Please advise and thank you.

Kris Kelley
Seadrift "on the coast" Texas

rmurray

Re: WZII On FHA Foundation

Post by rmurray » Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:48 pm

Best place to get the exact answer is your agent...Ask at your PH office about the special policies they now offer on your modular home...Have you considered a Discovery Home a true off frame modular home..Remember..in my area there are NO ON-frame modular homes...But on frame does not enjoy all the advantages of the mortgage world as an off frame home homes do..This is even true with PH's mortgage company Bank Source Mortgage..

Kris Kelley

Re: WZII On FHA Foundation

Post by Kris Kelley » Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:08 am

Murray,

We looked at Discovery briefly. At $90 per sf, it's a no go for us. In Texas, we are used to affordable housing and have long enjoyed the most reasonable housing prices in the nation. Out of major markets and especially on the coast, we are in big trouble at the top of this RE bubble. Labor is in short supply and site building is pushing 100-110 per sf; if I did all the contracting and slung a bunch of the hammers and nails myself, I'd be pushing mid 60's. We are looking at $45 just on material costs.

I'm also concerned about the bubble and don't want to get hung at the top with over-inflated construction costs. With 20 years in the appraisal business, I'm seeing some leaks in the dam. I just don't want to get drowned when it breaks. I visited with a builder the other day and his sentiment was the same, concerned.

Regarding PH, I'm trying to stay as far away from their virtical integration as possible especially concerning financing.

KK

rmurray

Re: WZII On FHA Foundation

Post by rmurray » Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:48 am

The life of being an appraiser....Of course of all folks you should be aware of the differences that lenders see in on and off frame modular homes....With 20 years experience do you really feel new home construction will ever go down??? I do not the supply of building materials is and will be tight for the next few years...Labor is and will be flooding to the Karina area creating shortages everywhere else...Shortages cause higher prices not lower...Of course market conditions could make all new home too pricey to sell which will push site builders out of existence...All the more reason to buy from quality well funded larger organizations...

Bank Source Mortgage is a large mortgage company that PH bought 51% of the ownership a few years ago...They fund hundreds of non-Palm Harbor mortgages every quarter....I hope you have not had bad experiences with them....Lately for their most aggressive mortgage programs for mods they have been requiring appraisers to appraise with ONLY modular comps...This has caused a few problems for us in the field because there are only a few modular homes in the market...When looking at the sales records appraisers are telling me it is hard to tell if a home is stick built or modular...Thank goodness we have a few back up lenders who allow the appraiser to follow the law in his state and use his best judgement

I would buy a very well equipped manufactured home long before a on frame modular....That is only 1 person's opinion....You cannot go wrong with PH product..

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