Newer Manufactured home with old comps

[spurl6494]

we have 100+ year old homes which have been rehabd to a c2 condition. there is no age adjustment here because the rehabd home is completely new inside, not comparable. just the outside, joists and basement are original. buyer would never look at age, they look at condition. and some at a certain age point, without modernization, do not compare to a new or rehabd house. here the adjustment would be only on condition which in affect may relate to age. i'm not sure what you are looking at, but is it more of a condition adjustment. i don't remember buyer's talking about age when i sold real estate, but here most homes are in a certain age range. the issue came about as neighborhoods became gentrified, now a bad word.

It wasn't truly age, but quality--but there were no condition adjustments in 5/6 and minimal in the other. All of the comps were 22-30+ years older, so we got $100 a year.

I think comparing old to newer stick built is a little different than these 90s manufactured homes I'm speaking of with particle board cabinets, cheap ABS or plastic yellowing bath tubs, and thin vinyl coated walls (with cosmetics slapped on top of them). We only were priced 20-40k over those homes with more acreage, a shop, bigger decks, 2 driveways... And we appraised within 2-7k of them. It certainly seems to make a difference with buyers. 5 total showings, 4 offers, all over asking.

We had our conventional appraisal today for the new buyer. We'll see. I'm a numbers person, and since things made sense when I saw how they calculated out on the appraisal forms. Other things made no sense at all lol.

 

[spurl6494]

Goodles the address of the comps and see if there are any interior photos on Zillow or Redfin, etc. I have done appraisals on 2 manufactured homes on foundations recently that had been completely renovated inside and out, new foundations, roof, HVAC, literally every single thing replaced. This would make them similar condition and quality. The form we have to use is terrible and the appraiser might have commented somewhere in the addendum about that. Make sure you have all the pages.

I feel like the person just wasn't that familiar (or maybe they just felt that the market didn't support a value difference) with the difference in older manufactured vs these new ones built to MH Advantage standards. I checked pics prior to posting... On 5 of 6 homes I was really surprised...I was able to see the older type manufactured finishes and fixtures because we had one over 20 years ago.

There were comments on how there were no sales of similar aged homes.

I also realized the square footage we were comped against on other homes was as reported on the county tax records, which includes roof eaves and the towing hitch. The county lists the manufacturer dimensions and not official square footage. So we lost 6-13k in value against #1,2,3 because we were measured for actual size and the others were based on those inflated measurements. A "larger" more similar home was not used as 1,2, or 3 because it was out of size range. Come to find out it really wasn't, it was almost the same size.

 

[Tiffany Gibbons]

It wasn't truly age, but quality--but there were no condition adjustments in 5/6 and minimal in the other. All of the comps were 22-30+ years older, so we got $100 a year.

I think comparing old to newer stick built is a little different than these 90s manufactured homes I'm speaking of with particle board cabinets, cheap ABS or plastic yellowing bath tubs, and thin vinyl coated walls (with cosmetics slapped on top of them). We only were priced 20-40k over those homes with more acreage, a shop, bigger decks, 2 driveways... And we appraised within 2-7k of them. It certainly seems to make a difference with buyers. 5 total showings, 4 offers, all over asking.

We had our conventional appraisal today for the new buyer. We'll see. I'm a numbers person, and since things made sense when I saw how they calculated out on the appraisal forms. Other things made no sense at all lol.

Even conventional loans expect the appraiser to bracket acreage, age, square footage, year built, etc. That means if the contract price is exceeding the highest priced sale used (not per square foot), it could be listed out of range for what it is. How did you determine at what price to list it? Appraisers also look at other similar active and pending manufacturered home listings as well. Winter is very slow, few sales available even with demand in lower price range. Many owners have land owned and order new manufactured housing customized and there is no sale until the re-sale.

 

[spurl6494]

This is exactly one of the 2 issues we are dealing with. There are newer land/home packages, but no resales.

Second, we are rural but within an hour or so of a major metro area, and manufactured homes have really gone by the wayside here-- which is why all the comps are decades older. I actually looked at clusters of homes in somewhat similar rural areas, compared them to median sales vs list for the county they were in, compared the county they were in to my county median home price wise, compared good condition older to new, and only used the type of home we have (residential finishes). I tried to stick within about 20% size variance. I do think we were initially over priced (for appraisal value) at 285k (although market reaction was unlike anything I've dealt with on prior sales). We lowered by 20k, and I feel we are where we need to be now when compared to pretty much any other similar home in the state (I mentally adjusted for those in higher median sales areas). Just crossing my fingers this one goes better.

 

[Tiffany Gibbons]

This is exactly one of the 2 issues we are dealing with. There are newer land/home packages, but no resales.

Second, we are rural but within an hour or so of a major metro area, and manufactured homes have really gone by the wayside here-- which is why all the comps are decades older. I actually looked at clusters of homes in somewhat similar rural areas, compared them to median sales vs list for the county they were in, compared the county they were in to my county median home price wise, compared good condition older to new, and only used the type of home we have (residential finishes). I tried to stick within about 20% size variance. I do think we were initially over priced (for appraisal value) at 285k (although market reaction was unlike anything I've dealt with on prior sales). We lowered by 20k, and I feel we are where we need to be now when compared to pretty much any other similar home in the state (I mentally adjusted for those in higher median sales areas). Just crossing my fingers this one goes better.

As long as you only considered manufactured home sales with similar unrestricted acreage (even if in a similar outlying county) and possibly similar outbuildings if possible, and did not include ANY stick built homes in your analysis or new construction pre sale homes in subdivisions, hopefully. The median sales price thing scares me. Manufactured homes depreciation at a different rate, even the newer ones that have sheetrock walls, kitchen islands, luxury baths, etc.

 

[Zoe]

Sometimes on manufactured, having a real good developed cost approach is priceless.

Similar to cars in many ways. Sometimes a well developed cost approach is way more reliable than the sales comparison approach.

In the county I work at present, they don't even allow new manufactured homes on site built construction.

They used to allow it years ago. Not anymore.

Not easy for any appraiser unless the market is full of them.

 

[Zoe]

If you have like $400K stick built around you, that is a positive.

 

[spurl6494]

As long as you only considered manufactured home sales with similar unrestricted acreage (even if in a similar outlying county) and possibly similar outbuildings if possible, and did not include ANY stick built homes in your analysis or new construction pre sale homes in subdivisions, hopefully. The median sales price thing scares me. Manufactured homes depreciation at a different rate, even the newer ones that have sheetrock walls, kitchen islands, luxury baths, etc.

To clarify, I only looked at other manufactured... But if the median overall home value for the county was noticeably higher, I adjusted for that.

Say a similar home sold for 325k in an area where median homes go for 50k more than where I live...I tried to account for that. Definitely not comparing to stick built median . Just adjusting for the area as best as possible.

 

[Zoe]

Good afternoon, I'm hoping to learn a little by posting!

We had a situation recently where an appraisal for an FHA came back well under contract price. We have a 2020 manufactured home on 6 acres with upgraded construction/finishes (higher roof pitch, brick foundation, full sheetrock walls/flat ceilings, wood cabinets, residential doors/windows/bath fixtures, HVAC vents in the ceiling etc.).

There are no sales of newish homes in years, other than 1 home that was very low end in comparison.

The appraisal used 15-35 year old comps, all of which are what I would say are built to the older standard of manufactured homes. The only age/quality adjustment made was a $100 per year for each year of age.

My question, moving forward...we are past that appraisal, and now have a conventional appraisal coming up... I'm just wondering if that is typical of adjusting for age, it if it could have been a one off or something to do with FHA requirements.

I'm just trying to prepare myself for what may happen. I'm no way do I think the home is comparable to stick built, but is there really only a 2-3k overall difference as compared to what seems to be a much different product thru the lens of an appraisal in situations like this?

For reference, we are asking in the 260s (1550 sq ft home, 400 sq ft of new decks, 25x25 metal building with 9+ft ceilings on a concrete foundation with 2 driveways, farm fencing)... Surrounding similar size homes on land are 380-450k and up.

It's just like thoughts on how you anyone might look at comps or age/quality adjustments here.
Thanks!

I have seen many manufactured homes where they are not like 40 year old manufactured homes.

Their finish is very high end. They save money on construction because labor is less expensive than stick built but they are built very close to stick built on quality.

Still I say cost approach in your situation is more important than sales comparision approach.

That is me personally.

 

[Tom D]

god bless you spurl6494, you certainly have done some research. rural are like tough appraisers. i guess i'm knda of a snow flake appraiser, only doing big urban appraisals with plenty comps a couple blocks away. and no cost approach, ever. poor me, i feel so guilty for being so preveleged.