We would like to address a couple of Mobile Home Myths with the following videos.
We get this all the time,
"Are mobile homes safe"?
"Is a mobile home built to the same standard as a stick built home?"
"Will my mobile home retain it's value?"
These are all fantastic questions. Here we'll compare buying a home against renting a home. With renting a home you are putting money towards nothing. With a loan on a new manufactured home, you are at least paying off that home and will one day own the home outright.
About safety. Mobile homes are built to very high standards of safety, and in Hurricane Andrew actually outperformed nearby stick-built homes (we encourage you to research this yourself!).
The reason for this is that manufactured homes are built in a strict, quality controlled facility. This reduces waste, reduces mistakes, and allows the general process of building a new manufactured home to be more efficient.
Yes, mobile homes in times past were low quality. But since then, the industry has majorly stepped up their game. Todays mobile home would be unrecognizable compared to what passed as a "mobile home" back then. There is simply no comparison. Calling a manufactured home a "trailer" or "mobile home" is actually a misnomer. They are more like stick built homes on wheels. The industry that built such low quality homes in the past has since passed on itself. We at Home Nation often get comments on how beautiful our home interiors are, and how they would pass as a stick built if you didn't know it was built better in a factory.
You may be wondering how mobile homes are mass manufactured so quickly on an assembly line?
The assembly line setup allows for less mistakes, greater accuracy, and of course speed. While a stick built project may drag on for months, a mobile home is created in a factory in days or just a few weeks. Some of the faster manufacturers will actually build several homes each hour. Unbelievable!
This speed allows for reduction in cost. By purchasing material by the train-load, (yes you read that right) manufacturers can greatly benefit from the economy of scale, and pass these savings onto their dealers and ultimately the customer.
Manufactured homes are not only built on an assembly line, to a higher quality standard, but they must also adhere to the national federal safety standards and HUD building code. They use the same material, are built to similar codes, but cost less. We'll let you decide which type of home would be built to a higher standard, a manufactured home in a sterile quality controlled environment or a muddy, grimy stick built project?
Manufactured homes cost less per square foot, as all the material and labor is in one place. Although past manufactured homes would often lose their value, todays modern mobile home retains it's value very well due to majorly increased quality standards. Todays factory built housing outperforms traditional homes in almost every venue.
Make sure you understand the difference between a manufactured and a stick built home before making any major buying decisions. This information could save you thousands of dollars, which you can then spend on what really matters.