Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Modular Home questions

My wife and I still haven't found a suitable home to buy here in Arkansas. We are thinking about buying some land and either having a home built on site or buying a modular home to be put together on site.

I am curious if any of you have any experience with modular homes, either good or bad.

How does their resale value hold up compared to homes completely built on site?

Can a future buyer tell that the home is a modular home?

Does a real estate listing have to mention that it is a modular home?

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Yes. They stand out, like anything from a sore thumb to an attractive, well manicured thumb.

Check on loans and equity on those banks changed rules on manufactured housing

Never owned a modular.
My opinion, future buyers “will know” that it’s a modular.
They would not hold value or appreciate like a built on site home.
Like I said, my opinion.

We used a modular floor plan and stick built

i think anything that comes down the road and can be put together must be pretty good quality...
they probably have more forman looking at those coming down the line than any stick built home in my area i think
i have seen some that are very attractive and bring as good a price as those stick built...

Manufactured home would be a trailer.

Double wides are included bro in-law found out

If they can take 50-55 mph winds and bouncing along a highway they are certainly better made than the majority of stick homes.


There are exceptionally well made modular homes, where it would be hard(not impossible) to know it was built in sections and then bolted and screwed together.

Yes

Exactly. Every one thinks they are cheap, and they are to buy. To survive a road trip, they are solid. I don't own one but neighbor bought one after his house burned down. Nice place, I'd be happy with it, of course I'm simple and don't need much

Some of the prices of the really good ones are up there as well.

My daughter and son in law bought a pretty much top of the line 20 yrs ago, in Idaho, hard to tell it's modular, but it's easy to heat dry and very low maintenance. Holding up very well. They went with a full foundation and attached garage. It is of course valued lower than stick built...but they save on taxes, and since they don't plan on moving or borrowing or upgrading...it was, financially, for them, a very good decision. A similar stick built 10 miles from town would have been almost double the cost. What they saved, they bought an adjoining 10 acres, paid for the well, septic and power drop. He is an owner operator trucker so they are not millionaires, and it was perfect for their needs.

rufous;
Good morning to you sir, I hope that other than finding a spot to call your own that you're all well in your new home in Arkansas.

With the understanding that I do not know what the Arkansas building codes look like at all, I'll attempt an answer as it would apply to modular vs stick built homes up here.

By way of establishing whatever it might establish, I worked 7 years in construction including prebuilt panel construction, my wife has worked nearly 35 years for a local construction firm where our eldest daughter now works where they do prebuilt panels and stick framing depending on the job. Our eldest's husband has been nearly 7 years now at the local modular home plant. As well I spent 27 odd years in a cabinet shop and furniture manufacturing facility where we supplied RV manufacturers as well as modular home plants and various levels of contractors.

That said then sir, I'd opine that if the modular home plant is adhering to the local building codes and there'd be no reason to suspect they would not, besides having a limited set of house plans from which to choose, there's no downside to a modular build.

Some advantages are that the framing materials don't get soaked by rain or get to twist and dry in direct sunlight in the same way stick framed houses are. Sometimes that's not a factor and sometimes it is.

We're fairly hot in summer here so a few bigger contractors have gone to prebuilt panels which do need to be craned in place, but also prevent all the twisting one gets with framing out in the elements.

If a given design fits within your needs and the construction is the same - we'll say 2"x6" framing with the same insulation level for instance - then there'd be very little difference in the end result in my experience, if any.

Anyways as always there's many roads to Mecca with a whole bunch of differently built houses along the way, but that's what I've seen in my pilgrimage thus far.

Hope that made some sense, good luck whichever way you all decide.

Dwayne

Check on insulation as well windows house wrap etc

JME, when we were looking at our retirement home in 2019 looked at modular and heavy built double wide. For insurance, resale and future loan value they will lose value. Cheaper on property value.

That said, we went with a 1400 sq ft heavy built double wide on footers around the perimeter and every 8 ft the width of the home. This thing is built just like a stick, built with 2X6 exterior and 2x4 interior walls. Straps go up inside exterior wall and over the ceiling and strapped to the footer every 8 ft.

We do not plan on selling, have no children. So instead of the headache of finding a contractor here in Podunk we went with the quickest, and easiest.

If we had been in our 40s, or younger, we most likely would have stick built.

JME

Modular homes are indistinguishable from stick built as far as market value, appraisals and bank loans.

If you decide to have a home built, thoroughly research the builders in the area, and only select those with a solid reputation. There are no bargain builders, there are a few good builders, and a lot of nightmares. The best deal is a solid builder who sticks to the plan and doesn't nickel and dime you to death.

Wife and I bought a modular about 21 years ago. Seems like a well built brand, union made (if that's good or bad?). Came in two halves and the home company used a fairly substantial hydraulic crane to set them on a poured wall foundation. According to the bank that qualified it to be financed with a conventional mortgage instead of a mobile home loan, as you cannot haul ass with it on axles anymore. But you would have to be a retard to mistake it for a built in place house if you saw it from the 4 foot crawl space underneath.

At the time it was $45 per square foot, stick built was $75, so a pretty good savings, and the move in time was many months shorter, which helped us a lot.

Still happy with it, retired now, and our home is going up in value fairly well, so it's all good.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Oh yeah of pre-concieved ideas.

This is a nice trailer.





Modular can be basically a double wide.
It can be multiple stories.
Whatever you can dream, that can be built in sections 16'x80' or less, trucked,
and lifted into place. If you have the, money, they can truck you a McMansion
in and set it up. Probably built a hell of a lot better than a run of the mill
stick built, spec home.

Of course most wouldn't want that.

The neighbors would know it was modular.


Foremost built modular construction homes for over 40 years.
They started out being cheaper than stick built by a good bit.

Buying lumber, plywood, carpet, fixtures, furnaces... by the truckload
gets you materials cheaper than lumberyards. Factory built improves efficiency.
It also improves quality. Better accuracy in fitting, everything assembled indoors with
more consistent heat/humidity, never rained on.......


Over time, Foremost developed a reputation.
And their homes eventually became more expensive than stick built.
People willingly paid for known quality. (Builder crews are notoriously turning over)
Solid dates.
No hassles, and firm dates for move in.


I know a guy who drywalled for years in their local plant.
Hung and finished in the plant. After assembly he sometimes went to final
finish. Despite going down the road, being lifted by cranes, and set on a foundation,
the section joints were rarely and harder to finish than animal joint. And he had few
cracks to fix from transport.