Recently, there has been an increasing awareness of the value in Manufactured and Modular Housing in the news and other media. The Orange County Register ran an article Sunday, April 29, 2007, about the future of manufactured housing. Essentially, the article pointed to two factors which make manufactured housing more attractive. First, the shake-down in the sub-prime mortgage industry is leading to a couple of simultaneous events. Not only are there going to be fewer active players in the sub-prime mortgage industry, but it may become more difficult to qualify for a sub-prime mortgage in the future. Additionally, due to some questionable underwriting practices, the author of the article expects to see higher default rates, and in turn, more people looking for a more affordable form of housing. The article's author pointed to manufactured housing as a possible salvation for those who can no longer enter, or are foreclosed-out of the traditional real estate market. The second point - that people foreclosed out of traditional markets can simply "slide-down the ladder" into MH is not at all accurate - the shake-down in the traditional real estate markets might help manufactured housing, but not because it is easier to qualify for a manufactured home mortgage - to the contrary, until recently, it was definitely easier (assuming you had sufficient income to cover your mortgage) to qualify for a traditional, site-constructed mortgage than for manufactured housing.
Second, the article points to the rapidly-changing demographics of our population. Thanks to the "Baby-Boomers" generation, more and more of Americans are in the upper-age categories than ever before. That means more people retiring, and more people on fixed or limited incomes. The author points to manufactured housing, again, as a source of more affordable housing. I agree with this point, but for different reasons. Those approaching retirement these days are well equipped to live a long, fruitful life. They are not strapped by an income fixed to increases in Social Security - many of those retiring in the next 10 years won't even consider Social Security as a part of their retirement plans due to uncertainty in the program's future. In other words, those retiring now and in the future should be more financially stable than ever before. That does, however, mean that they will have active retirements. RV travel is a high priority (look at how many more mega-dollar motorhomes you see on the road today than in years past) for many who want to retire and see parts of the country that they were too busy in their working lives to visit. What this lifestyle typically means is that their "primary home" will become less of a primary home, and more of a "home base" for their active travel lifestyle. For many, this will mean a desire to give-up their 5,000 sq. ft. home in favor of something more manageable while they travel. Manufactured Housing offers a reduced overal cost of living, but also has the advantage of less upkeep and maintenance. Most communities feature smaller lots, which means little or no landscaping upkeep. Further, living in a manufactured housing community offers the advantage of much closer neighbors who will keep an eye on things while you're gone. In all, I agree with the comment than an older population bodes well for manufactured housing's future.
Now, what about the title of this Blog? Well, also this past weekend, there was a special on HGTV called Amazing Log Homes. Unfortunately, the website article isn't nearly as comprehensive as the show was, however, there is a good slideshow of the homes featured in the show here. Believe it or not, slide three is a Modular Log Cabin built by Blue Ridge Log Cabins in South Carolina. The homes are constructed as "Frame-Off" modular homes, meaning that when the home is placed and finished on-site, the steel frame upon which it was transported is removed entirely. The comments in the show were that "even the inspector did not believe it was a modular home". Unlike some of the HUD-Code homes made to look like log cabins, this is a home built just like log-cabins site-constructed, however, it is built in modules, trucked to the site, and assembled with cranes. According to Blue Ridge's website, constructed time is halved by use of modular construction. Their product is amazing, and is something I would personally love to see replicated on the West Coast.
Additionally, I received some pictures recently from a friend Boyce Belt of Santiago Financial. They have been installing homes in a land-lease community "Mountain View". This is a five-star community, and according to Boyce, it is undergoing a substantial change as people are pulling out older homes and installing new ones. Below are a couple of great pictures of a home his company recently finished, and is currently available for sale. Boyce can be reached by email at bbelt@santiagofinancial.com or by phone at (714) 731-8080. While this home retains some of the manufactured home appearances, I think we can all agree that this is someplace many would choose over a site-constructed home any day.
