We have a large number of manufactured homes in Lake County California, they have the reputation of offering affordable housing to first time home buyers, retirees as well as vacation homes. Many of these homes are built better than stick built homes, many are not.
The issue of manufactured housing turns out to be rather complex and may be somewhat driven by lending policies rather than market demand. The term "manufactured housing" refers to mobile dwellings manufactured after 1976. The term "mobile home" refers to such dwellings pre-1976. The number of mobile homes in Lake County is decreasing, due to policies intended to upgrade the County's image and its housing stock. Older mobile homes were not built to Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") standards and are difficult to finance. The new ones are built to HUD standards; some are of very high quality, in terms of materials, designs, and finish work.
The trend is to fewer and fewer manufactured homes, however. The cost between a manufactured home and a comparable "stick built" home is not significantly different, especially when the expenses of transportation, foundations, utilities hook-ups, garages are added onto the purchase price of the manufactured home. Lenders strongly prefer stick built homes, so they charge higher interest rates to, and require better credit ratings from, buyers of manufactured housing. The net effect is that monthly mortgage payments for a more expensive stick-built home may be less than those of a manufactured home. The sale prices of manufactured homes are rising, but sales volume is dropping.
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