Modular/prefabricated homes the good, the bad and the ugly?

[thecavemankevin]

My wife and i are currently exploring all of our options into our first home. One of the options we are considering is purchasing a modular home. When we went into the dealers Clayton and Oakwood and a few others we were amazed at the quality and overall beauty of the homes. We have found two that we really like and are considering, however we do have some worries.

Now one thing we are worried about is the truthfulness of the information we are getting. We have had pleasent experiances so far with the salesmen. But it does feel somewhat like buying a car in terms of how the salemen ct and respond to our questions. And we all know you cant trust car dealers .

The biggest thing we want to know, is will it appreciate or depreciate. They of course told us it will apreciate and are appraised like a site built home.

one of the biggest reasons we are looking at a mod instead of site built is that the home market is still nuts and that we cant afford the size home we need in a site built home where as with a modular we can.

Do any of you have modulares and what are your experiances?

[magman007]

a modular is one of those houses that are one story, kinda like a trailer, but not right? you see em riding down the road split in 2 pieces?

[FreakBaller12]

Yea they're the 2 piece houses right?
My grandparents retired into one. As far as I know they haven't had any major problems. I know they are VERY nice for a one story home. I'm sorry I couldn't help more.

[Eagle]

Yeah, but do you really think they will be able to get it down that tiny one lane road, even in pieces?

[fire1811]

From a firefighters standpoint I advise you to stay away from them.

With any fire load at all these are deathtraps, and will be in need of major fixes even with a small fire.

[BeaverEater]

From a carpenters standpoint id stay away. Most of the houses like that built around here are just garbage. The quality is usually poor and they cut most corners. My old neighbors moved into one and realized that everything is just cheap on them. But its really just up to you, if you can afford a different house, go for it. If not, i guess its better than nothing.

[fire1811]

beaver have they changed it at all when they hook them together?

The last I knew and saw there were only a few bolts holding the roof sections together when they raised them up. Its mostly held together with the pressure on each other.

[zaqwert6]

Florida point of view....Don't do it.

Hurricanes eat those things up left and right while leaving conventionals standing strong right in between...proofs right in the pudding.

[Army]

Not necessarily two halves anymore. Many modulars are multiple parts, made of the same material as "normal" houses (2x4x16" centers, drywall, real roofing). Some modulars in my area are rather spectacular in their layout.

There are actual log cabin constructed modulars too......these ain't your white trash Daddy's mobile home!

[Steelrat]

The ones I've seen, even the new ones, don't look good. In the models, you have to look past the nice decorations and such. Plus, the durability of them doesn't seem to be all that great.

You get what you pay for. There is a reason they are cheaper than normal houses.

[Lohman446]

The ones I've seen, even the new ones, don't look good. In the models, you have to look past the nice decorations and such. Plus, the durability of them doesn't seem to be all that great.

You get what you pay for. There is a reason they are cheaper than normal houses.

In theory the reason is ease of assembly, non-lost time on job, and factory building rather than site building.

There are some fairly decent, solid, well built ones around. That being said there are also some poorly built ones. If done right you can get a fairly decent one, comparable to a site built home. However, this is the minority of them, and they do not hold value (or gain) as well as site built homes.

[fire1811]

Honestly you are better off buying an older house then you are with new construction. They are a lot more durable then the light weight construction that is being used nowadays.

[gimp]

A friend of mine just had a home like Army mentioned built. It was a prefabricated home, but it was more than two pieces. Her parents have been living there for a few months, and they don't like it. They keep finding problems with it. I'm not sure if it's a problem with the design/quality of the home, or the contractor, but they definetly aren't satisfied. It's all sorts of little things. The biggest thing was with the floors. A 3/4" gap formed between the floor on two different parts. The company came out to fix it and they could only cut it down to 1/2". I thought it was just a lousy contractor, but it might be the homes themselves. I don't know much about them, but the only peope I know who have one are unhappy with it.

[Recon by Fire]

No matter what they try to tell you, a modular home will DEPRECIATE. They look and seem nice, filled with goodies for a nice price. But in all reality they do not hold up like a real house and are in essence a mobile home. If you buy one, be prepared to lose you investment value.

[ramennoodles]

Here aresome links to whatthey can look like:

Modular Homes
Prefabricated Home

Meh, hope it gives some one an idea...

-Isaac.