Retiring Title to Manufactured Home

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Sylvia
Posts: 55
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:02 am

Retiring Title to Manufactured Home

Post by Sylvia » Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:43 pm

Well, we did it! The double wide home we purchased two years ago is now officially a traditional home according to the bank. The appraiser who came out for the bank for the last loan could not not find any comps anywhere that weren't stick built to compare to.
The full basement project aka the Pinnochio project in the final phase of making our much loved house a "real" home in full swing. We'll be adding an additional 1,120 sq feet of finished space.
The only thing that still hangs over our heads is the title. The bank now views it as a stick built, the neighbors view it as a stick built and we view it as a stick built, but the county assessor says it's a double wide.
Is there an advantage to retiring the title? I *think* it will keep our taxes low to keep it with the title until we sell it. Anyone else have experience with this?

rmurray
Posts: 1086
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 6:49 pm

Re: Retiring Title to Manufactured Home

Post by rmurray » Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:27 pm

Glad to see you signed up with these boards new security registration...We have missed your input for a while..

Your project sounds great...Your experience will be a great help for others...I think like you..There is No reason to give the taxman a reason to raise yours..Retiring the title is a simple project and can be done anytime...It is nice to hear someone as proud of their home as you...Keep up the good work...

Come back often...

Sylvia
Posts: 55
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:02 am

Re: Retiring Title to Manufactured Home

Post by Sylvia » Sat Jul 01, 2006 5:47 am

So, how do you do retire the title? I've never actually seen the title. The bank would be holding it I suppose. I'm not even sure if the home is listed in the abstract.

I'll post pictures later when we're closer to being done. They're five bricks high now and we've picked up our doors and windows (this will be a walk out basement)

The funny thing is, we bought this property for the property, not this house. We had every intention of having it carted away and building a new stick built. We bought it for 36,500 and it's appraising for 110,000 now :) So, to those who say "trailers" can't appreciate in value... you're not doing the right things to add to the value.

admin
Posts: 327
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 6:36 pm

Re: Retiring Title and MH Appreciation or Depreciation

Post by admin » Tue Jul 04, 2006 6:29 am

Sylvia -

Much has been written about the appreciation of manufactured homes

Consumers Union has never been a great friend to our business but had quite a bit to say that you can read at http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/mh/Appreciation.pdf When you tead it and you will learn that "average appreciation rates of manufactured homes packaged with owned land are statistically in line with the site built market, and there are few inherent reasons that a home built in a factory should perform differently than one built on site"


"For many years, people have assumed that the value of manufactured homes depreciates. This is not so. Studies conducted at two Universities revealed that the determining factor of appreciation in both types of homes was their location. Maintenance also plays a major role.

If a home of any kind is built or setup in a bad neighborhood or area it will probably depreciate no matter what. In a good area or neighborhood they will generally appreciate in value depending on the local housing market and economy. In the case of a manufactured home, if it is setup on a permanent foundation with a concrete pad, blocked properly and anchored properly, with good drainage so water does not sit under the home and if one buys from a reputable dealer who uses good setup people, the home will be no different than a site built home. It would appreciate in value at the same rate as a site built home in the same area.

The cost of manufactured homes is significantly lower than the cost of site-built homes. This gives them an instant appreciation between what the home actually cost the homebuyer and what its market value is. In some cases, a multi-section manufactured home has sold for more the second time than the first. Properly setup and well taken care of, you are talking about a fantastic investment potential." (http://www.rebelhome.net/myth.html)

Here are a few more opinions - lifted from the MHI web site:

Manufactured Housing Research ProjectUniversity of Michigan, 1993Dr. Kate Warner and Dr. Robert JohnsonThis study is divided into six sections dealing with various questions surrounding manufactured housing: Quality, Costs and Finance, Values, Impacts on Adjacent Property Values, Manufactured Housing and the Senior Population, and Alternative Ownership and Innovative uses. Findings included: - Manufactured housing quality has become essentially equivalent to that of conventional housing - Manufactured housing compares favorably with site-built housing as an affordable housing option - Manufactured housing, like site-built housing, can be viewed as an investment with probabilities of appreciation and equity accumulation - Manufactured housing has no impact on the appreciation rates of surrounding properties, putting to lie the myths of negative property value impacts.The Future of Manufactured HousingHarvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies, 1997Kimberley Vermeer and Josephine Louis The Harvard Joint Center report is essentially a survey of previous academic studies of manufactured housing. It draws from earlier Joint Center studies, particularly Residential Property Value and Mobile/Manufactured Homes: A Case Study of Belmont, New Hampshire," which is Thomas Nutt-Powell’s 1986 examination of property value impacts of manufactured housing, as well as the Manufactured Housing Research Project abstracted above. The Future of Manufactured Housing points out some areas that the industry needs to address (many of them dealt with in the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act, such as installation) and the conclusions that it draws are generally very favorable for the industry. The Impact of Manufactured Housing on Adjacent Site-BuiltResidential Properties in North CarolinaEast Carolina University, 1997Dr. Richard Stephenson and Dr. Guoqiang Shen.The first examination of property value impacts of manufactured housing that draws on real-world spatial relationships via GIS data, The Impact of Manufactured Housing on Adjacent Site-Built Residential Properties in North Carolina dispels the twin myths that manufactured housing automatically depreciates and drags down surrounding property values. The most telling findings were: - Manufactured homes with a fixed foundation or listed as real property appreciated at comparable rates to site-built residential properties - There is no clear negative correlation between the overall appreciation rate of site-built residential properties and the presence of manufactured housing in close proximity Manufactured Home Life, Existing Housing Stock Through 1997Iowa State University, May 1998Dr. Carol B. Meeks An update to an earlier study conducted when Dr. Meeks was with the University of Georgia, this study takes a more comprehensive look at the manufactured housing stock to determine the life expectancy of manufactured homes. Manufactured Home Life, Existing Housing Stock Through 1997 finds that the life expectancy of manufactured homes is comparable to the life expectancy of new site-built homes.Code Comparison Study - MHCSS vs. CABO One- and Two-Family Dwelling and Model Energy CodesUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Architecture, January 1998Jeffrey Gordon and William B. Rose Compares the applicable requirements of standards for construction of a home built to the federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (HUD Code) with the CABO One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code and Model Energy Code. The comparison concludes that while in some areas the HUD Code requirements are more restrictive, and in other areas the CABO code are, on balance the two codes are comparable, resulting in houses that perform similarly.Identification and Measurement of Zoning Barriers Related to Manufactured Housing: A Location and Accessibility Analysis East Carolina University, 1999Dr. Richard Stephenson and Dr. Guoqiang Shen The 1999 ECU Study examines what impact zoning has on manufactured housing placement and it’s proximity to "positive" versus "negative" public facilities. For the purposes of the study, "positive" facilities included environmental, health and emergency rescue services; cultural, recreational and education services; and auto, food, shopping and other business services. "Negative" facilities include landfill and solid waste sites and other similar uses. Findings include: - Manufactured housing is located farther from "positive" community facilities, which is especially significant in the area of life safety services - Manufactured housing is located closer to "negative" public facilities such as landfills and solid waste facilities - Zoning districts where manufactured housing is a permitted use have a higher percentage likelihood of being located in flood zones The general conclusion is that many of the negative perceptions of manufactured housing are in fact self-fulfilling prophecies perpetuated in part by the limited placement opportunities created through local government zoning actions.The Impact of Manufactured Housing on Adjacent Site BuiltResidential Properties in Two Alabama CountiesAuburn University - Montgomery, 2000Charles E Hegji and Linda MitchellThis study used property valuations from Montgomery and Lee Counties in Alabama to assess the impact of proximity to manufactured housing on site-built property value. Using a methodology similar to that use by East Carolina University in their earlier study, including a spatial analysis using GIS, the Auburn University - Montgomery study concluded that: - The appreciation rates of individual manufactured homes in both counties were comparable to those of site-built properties - Proximity to manufactured housing did not appear to be a significant determinant of property values of site-built residential housing (www.manufacturedhousing.org/)


"The appreciation in value of manufactured homes comes back to the old real estate axiom -- location, location, location. When properly sited and maintained, manufactured homes will appreciate at the same rate as other homes in surrounding neighborhoods" (http://www.mhao.org/myths.asp)
David Oxhandler
mailto:[email protected]

mccoyae
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:32 am

Re: Retiring Title to Manufactured Home

Post by mccoyae » Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:11 am

rmurray - is there any law that says you "have" to retire your title? We are in Oklahoma and the courthouse is saying if we retire the title we owe all the back years of property taxes. We are paying taxes on the land only at this point. Thank you!

rmurray
Posts: 1086
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 6:49 pm

Re: Retiring Title to Manufactured Home

Post by rmurray » Thu Jul 06, 2006 7:26 pm

I have no idea about Oklahoma law...But if you are paid up on the land taxes..I doubt they could charge them again...BUT...if you have not paid the taxes on the home..They would be able to collect back taxes if any...GA would do the same..Even if there were back taxes before you bought the home...Back taxes would be collected before the title could be transferred...Sound like they are trying to collect back taxes on the home....Does that sound right??...

Sylvia
Posts: 55
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 5:02 am

Re: Retiring Title to Manufactured Home

Post by Sylvia » Fri Jul 07, 2006 5:37 am

That can't be correct. Its as though you are building something different on the site. A stick built instead of a mobile. It wouldn't have been considered that until the title is retired.
Depending on how the taxes are paid in Oklahoma you might owe a year or so. In Iowa the taxes you pay are always for the last year. I suppose if we would retire the title they'd require us to pay the taxes on the past year, but not on all the years, if that makes sense.

mccoyae
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:32 am

Re: Retiring Title to Manufactured Home

Post by mccoyae » Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:59 am

The house was purchased new so there weren't any back taxes on it. We owned the land and then bought the house. When we got the title, we had to buy the license plate for the house (which is soooo ridiculous but this IS Oklahoma...). Our dealer told us the taxes we paid at that time would be the property taxes on the home for the year. We get a statement from the county assessor each year for the land only and we pay it directly instead of the mortgage company escrowing it. I'm wondering if somewhere in the closing process, the abstract company should have converted the title to real property. But if we don't "have" to convert the title, then why should we? That's just like asking for more taxes. And it's not like it's a huge tax deduction. I estimated it and what it would do for our tax return and it's a drop in the bucket.

rmurray
Posts: 1086
Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 6:49 pm

Re: Retiring Title to Manufactured Home

Post by rmurray » Fri Jul 07, 2006 10:28 pm

I would have thought there was supposed to be a tag renewal every year..Most states make this the way they tax manufactured homes...If you have nothing to gain..I can think of nothing..then do not change the ownership records...

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