Unfortunately, different appraisers have different opinions. I was told by the State appraisal office in Sacramento that manufactured homes are appraised differently than stick-built homes and are evaluated less per square foot. I am finding that many appraisers treat them the same as stick-built while others will only compare manufactured homes to other manufactured homes, etc.
Our private community is very unique and actually what is being sold is a leasehold estate not fee simple, so there are no other comparison properties except within our own community and everything is stick-built in the community.
The main concern is whether a manufactured home will open the door to more of the same and reduce property values. No one seems to be able to give a definitive answer to this. I guess there is a lot of subjectivity in the appraisal world----which I was not aware of.
