Existing home or modular on land?
Modular Home Questions July 12th, 2009I am looking into my option for home purchasing. I seem to be stuck between going for an existing home, or buying land and then putting a modular home on it. I can’t seem to find prices for these homes without going to talk to the people who build them, and right now I am still looking. Some people have told me the cost difference is smaller than I think. I would appreciated it if someone could let me know of their personal experience with modular homes, or let me know which you think is the better idea, pros and cons, etc. I am located in South Florida. Thank you for your time and answers!
July 12th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Buying an existing home right now is far cheaper than building a new one unless you are looking at a 300 thousand plus dollar house. Then it probably won’t matter, build or buy. If you are going to buy, do it within a few months. A year from now prices will be up.
People here are confused about the difference between a modular house and a manufactured trailer home. Modular houses don’t loose value, manufactured houses do. That is because a modular house is a heavily built stick house preassembled at a factory. You can’t tell the difference between a modular and stick built house anymore unless you strip the house to the studs.
Modular houses can be built to meet almost any standard or customization as long as it is above ground. The prices are all over the place to have one done. They are competitive to normal market prices. But they are much faster to build. A modular house will be built and assembled in 2/3 of the time a stick builder will work at around the same cost.
Downsides of modular houses are the limits on width and length. Not a large problem as there are many companies doing various widths of a house. Second they build heavy. Techniques that a stick builder can use to reduce lumber and increase insulation for northern homes, can’t be done in a modular house due to the stress of transportation.
You could even build it yourself. Some banks will let you be the general contractor as long as you have a reasonable way of finishing the work.
July 12th, 2009 at 8:28 am
if you have land that nothing was ever built on, you will have to pay to get water and sewer hooked up or if those aren’t available, you will have to dig a well for water and dig a septic system – the last two could cost you $10-20000 – an existing house would have those already – existing houses are almost always cheaper to build than buying land and building new on them due to inflation-you’re paying for todays labor and material costs, not the costs 50 yrs ago when the original house was built
July 12th, 2009 at 8:28 am
go for a regular home- modulars will finance at a higher interest rate. modulars or mobiles (anything manufactured) will depreciate the instant it’s moved off the lot – anything with wheels under it – is like buying a car – not worth a hill of beans – go with a conventional stick built home – you’ll be better off in the long run and modulars have crappy resale in case you ever decide to sell and move someday