Manufactured homes are built with inferior materials and construction quality is poor.
Today’s manufactured homes are built with the same materials as site-built homes, but in a controlled factory environment where quality of construction is invariably superior to what can be built in the “field”.
Manufactured homes don’t appreciate in value.
Independent appraisal studies confirm that manufactured homes appreciate in value the same as other forms of housing with key factors including condition and location of the home.
Manufactured homes are difficult to finance.
Just as there are choices when you buy a site-built home, there are a variety of financing options when you buy a manufactured home.
Down payments and loan terms are similar – 5 to 10 percent of home’s sales price with loan terms of 15-30 years. Most lenders offer fixed and variable rate loans. The home can be financed as personal property, on leased land in a manufactured home community or on a private site. Another growing trend for homebuyers is to finance their home and land together as real property using conventional financing obtained through a traditional mortgage lender.
Manufactured homes lack “curb appeal” and are unwanted additions to neighborhoods.
Today’s manufactured homes are dramatically different in appearance from the “mobile homes” and “trailers” sold two decades ago. Manufactured homes today come in a variety of exterior designs that are fully compatible with any neighborhood architectural style.
Manufactured homes are not safe.
The construction of today’s manufactured homes is the same as site built homes. Manufactured homes may be the safest homes available today because the federal standards requiring smoke detectors, escape windows, and incombustible materials around furnaces and kitchen appliances. Many site-built homes do not contain these safety features.
