Effective age of MH

[Alpine]

It was not my intention to be snarky, I simply sit in disbelief that M&S or anyone would cite 30 years as the total economic life of a manufactured home of that era. Given that parameter, my query remains: How can anything but a brand new doublewide get financed?

 

[Mr Rex]

It was not my intention to be snarky, I simply sit in disbelief that M&S or anyone would cite 30 years as the total economic life of a manufactured home of that era. Given that parameter, my query remains: How can anything but a brand new doublewide get financed?

Funny thing, USDA will not loan on a used manufactured home. Maybe they have M&S.

 

[CMA28273]

I totally agree with what most are saying (when it comes to thinking-outside-the-box), but I also believe when I state I'm performing the cost approach "per M&S" then it needs to be backed by M&S handbook and per M&S handbook it says 30 years. I guess I'm just a believer in the cost approach being backed by a outside source and having little of my influence (outside of site value)...

Sounds like M&S is not a totally trusted source here...

 

[Mr Rex]

Don't forget that M&S also has life cycle charts that illustrate how typical build lives are extended. How else would you explain the 1825 house I was in a few weeks ago? The highest quality house has 65 year typical building life per M&S. Does that mean the 1825 house has -124 years life expectancy?

 

[Alpine]

Funny thing, USDA will not loan on a used manufactured home.

Yes, but what of the majority of loans, viz. Fannie, Freddie and VA, which are underwriting/insuring loans on "used" manufactured homes? Are they accepting appraisals referencing an outdated source citing a 30-year total life for modern-day doublewides?

As an appraiser, if you knew the intended loan was for a 30-year note, and you were going to use a data source which capped total life at 30 years, and you knew your manufactured subject was less than new, why would you bother to accept the order, inspect, then complete a report? It's not like the case of a site-built home that surprises you by a volume of deferred maintenance which renders it with a remaining life of less than 30 years. Even then, you'd likely call your client to determine how they wanted to proceed.

If an appraiser's cost data source cites total economic life of a site-built home at even 100 years, but my childhood home is 202 years old, will the appraiser estimate remaining economic life at -102 and submit a report? Or re-think the relativity of age, the applicability of the Cost Approach, the flexibility of data sources, and the "problem" itself? Then communicate with the client before wasting everyone's time and money?

 

[Mr Rex]

You must have been typing while I posted just above you.

 

[Alpine]

Roger that...