So my wife and I are buying a home. Since I grew up around construction (my mom’s husband was a contractor), I never considered anything other than a stick-built home. I get a visit from my brother and my dad several months ago because my brother is considering moving to this area and he and his wife want to buy a home here. Having said that, my brother and my dad were on a mission to look at manufactured homes.
My first thought was “oh…double-wide trailer”. It turns out that my first impression wasn’t at all accurate. My brother and my dad convinced my wife and I to go look at them…..and go look at them was what we did. The first place that we visited was Palm Harbor. Get this, the house that my wife and I love, 4 bedroom over 2000 square feet, is around $140,000. Now when you consider the property that you have to put it on, the improvements like foundation, water, sewer, etc., we figure about $200,000 total on a nice piece of property.
This is a turn-key home folks…top notch appliances, fixtures, carpeting, everything. The biggest obstacle to overcome, at least for me, is the resale value if we move. But I figure that if we had to move, the worst that could happen, is that we break even. How do I figure that? Location, location, location.
I’ll post pictures of the actual model homes when I have a chance and I take some.
I’m living with my grandpa right now and he works for one of the companies that makes homes like you mentioned. I haven’t been inside any of them, but when we went over to the lot one day to pick him up, they all seemed very nice from the outside.