Picking Comps for a Manufactured House

[Rich Heyn]

Mike:

Good advice, but one little thing needs clarification. Not trying to nit-pick, but if I don't clarify this, I know Jo Ann will.

HUD code homes are not modulars. Modulars are built to UBC, BOCA, SBCCI, or the new IRC.

Factory-built to HUD code = manufactured home

Factory-built to another code (usually) = modular home

Factory-built on a permanent chassis prior to enactment of HUD code (June 15, 1976) = mobile home

Rich Heyn

 

[Richard Carlsen]

Rich

Are you saying that there have been no mobile homes built since June 15, 1976?

Seems to me I've heard that before.

Do they call them HUD Code Single Section Manufactured Houses or something like that now?

(Had to get that in Rich just to let you know I was listening)


Kind regards,

Richard

 

[Jo Ann Meyer Stratton]

There have NOT been any mobile homes built since June 15, 1976!!!!! Because the term mobile home means a home built before that date because after that date different building codes applied nationwide to various types of homes built in factories. The term mobile home has nothing to do with the number of sections, design, materials, etc, etc, etc. Since that date there have been camp trailers, RVs, fifth wheels, etc that are not designed for a permanent residence. There are Park Models that are constructed to ANSI code but designed and constructed to be permanently set up for year around residence. But there are not mobile homes because they were built after June 15, 1976, not built to a voluntary private organization's code, etc, etc.

The HUD code is a national code and required nation wide for specific homes. Which is unique, because all site built codes have to be adopted by a local governing entity for it to be applicable. Local governing entities do not have a choice with HUD code for the construction of the home. The only choice a local governing entity has regarding HUD codes is in zoning, where the home constructed to HUD code can be installed--not the construction of the home.

Finally had to be nitpicky! So a single wide, double wide or triple wide mobile home and a single wide, double wide or triple wide manufactured home are two completely different things! One is an apple, the other is a potato and never, ever will both be a fruit or a vegetable.

 

[Richard Carlsen]

I know Jo Ann. I've had Rich's course <u>"Appraising Manufactured Housing"</u>and I was just pulling his leg a little. I highly recommend the course to anybody who does or will be doing appraisals on manufactured housing.

But you bring up a very good point that I've fallen into over the years. That being, describing a HUD Code Single section manufactured house as a "Single Wide Mobile" and referring to it as a "mobile" in the report.

Not any more!!!

Henceforth and to wit, they will only be referred to as a mobile house if it was built before June 15, 1976. After that, they shall be called HUD Code single section manufactured houses.

 

[Jo Ann Meyer Stratton]

I knew you know the difference Richard! But decided to be my "nitpicky" self and comment in case somebody who doesn't realize the difference was reading your comment. I have become paranoid about those terms--just like I am paranoid about the term "inspection" and "recert". Those terms cause my blood pressure to sky rocket and off I go typing like crazy.

 

[Richard Carlsen]

Me Too !!!!!

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Do they call them HUD Code Single Section Manufactured Houses or something like that now?

Arkansas now calls them "Affordable housing"

As for using stick built comps, in OK I do run across a lot of Jim Walters / Unitedbilt or similar prefabs that are as low or lower quality and sell in the same vein as Manf. homes...but so far I have been able to find comps, howbeit some not as good as others. With 5 of us cooping in the area, we provide each other with comps we have appraised. So so many in OK are hid on hills out of sight and difficult to find or access.

 

[Restrain]

Here's my 2 cents based on a review that I am doing right now. The appraiser did a new manufactured home set on a lot in a mfg. home development. The deal is that the developers work with the mfg. home sellers, so that the lot and home, along with setup are wrapped together in a "package". For the purpose of this discussion, let's say the value was at $90,000. All sales were manufactured homes. However, all the sales were package deals. As such, the MARKET reaction to a manufactured home was not considered. In doing my review, I found new brick homes in the same price range, of similar size. Now, a cursory review of the market would and did show that a manufactured home shows a significant differential between a stick built home and a manufactured home (o.k., at least in this market) but the appraiser failed to discuss this. As a result, we are looking at a $20K overappraisal.


The reason that this was not done is that the appraiser was doing a bunch of these and they were his cash cow. If he starting saying what the market was actually doing to manufactured homes (they lose money as soon as they roll off the lot), he would lose his income stream.

The moral of this story is that you have to look at the market, including stick built homes when doing a manufactured home. You can't afford to focus only on a segment of the market, or you might well miss the actual market trends.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

So in other words......the market isn't the market, it's what you chose to decide to call the market. Forget that hundreds of people have purchased these "pigs with lipstick". Forget that both FHA and VA have insured and guaranted thousand of those sales. Forget that lenders (mostly now defunct) have made loans on them. Oh yeah, forget that they are still being sold by the hundreds throughout the country right now.

Bias.....bias, bias! Next it will be artificial stucco or vinal siding. Oh, wait, we have already killed that cow too!

 

[yvonne dill]

The way I read it in the HUD book, Pam is the most correct. Go farther out in proximity and if necessary go farther back in time. Generally, when I see reports where site built homes are compared to mfg homes, there is not nearly enough negative adjustment for the site built superiority. Chances are you'll just get reviewed.