Manufactured homes

Hugh R · 07:26 AM

So I'm spending a few days near Napa, CA in a manufactured home. Built in 2003 (I found the mfgr tag in a closet. About 3,300 sq. Ft. and 5 bedrooms and 3 full baths. Looks good the floors are a tad noisy due to it being raised on joists or some such thing. Double panes windows, 3 A/C systems, very nice kitchen with granite and Wolf/sub-zero appliances. Hardwood looks real laminated flooring, not vinyl print.

Looked up the Mfgr. Silvercrest. 3,000 sq.ft. Is around $200K plus site preparation, and I'm sure the sub-zero, wolf appliances, flooring and granite counter tops are extra. Still, at around $100-$150/ sq ft, its in interesting alternative.

Hugh R · 11-05-2016, 07:05 PM

Sorry iPad photos

Hugh R · 11-05-2016, 07:15 PM

The house is on 900 acres overlooking Lake Berrysea which I'd never heard of before. I'll post some outside pics tomorrow. It's for sale for $1.2 million, but is almost an hour to St. Helena, the nearest city, a little too remote for my taste if I want to pick up a six pack.

Evans, Marv · 11-05-2016, 07:23 PM

Any idea what the odd slanted structures in the ceilings are? In the past at least some manufactured homes were claimed to be a bit better constructed because of components being assembled in jigs and materials being more uniform. Don't know how true that is.

Hugh R · 07:48 PM

No idea it took me a 1/2 day to conclude it was a manufactured home. I think the build quality is better than my 40 year old house, double glazed, tempered glass on all doors and windows, double seals as well. Not pushing them, I was just impressed how they have upped their game, a lot.

Little things like triple hinges on all inside bedroom,bath and closet doors.

So potentially, I could buy a better retirement property with more living space options. 40 years ago your choice on a cheap house on a nice piece of property was a double-wide mobile home. This place is really nice, appears to be well constructed and well insulated. Not saying it's my choice, but nice to know about options.

look 171 · 11-05-2016, 08:06 PM

Problem is most cities around here will not allow such animal unless its in a mobile home park. Would it be great if I can buy a plot of land in the heart of the city (I know of some that are about 70-80k)?Put a 3000 sq monster for 200k on there 15 min outside of downtown LA? it will sell for 8000k all day long if the city would allow it.

LakeCleElum · 11-05-2016, 09:14 PM

Looks nice Hugh. Can you get an exterior photo for us in the daylight?
I think the main drawback is resale value......But with 900 acres, it looks like a good value at 1.2?

rwest · rwest's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

Any idea what the odd slanted structures in the ceilings are? In the past at least some manufactured homes were claimed to be a bit better constructed because of components being assembled in jigs and materials being more uniform. Don't know how true that is.

I think those are skylights.

I also heard that scratch building a house on site is extremely inefficient; I think the show or article claimed that with all the waste and trades having to work around each other's schedule, that you only get about 30% effiency.

KFC911 · 11-06-2016, 01:46 AM

Interesting....I saw a much smaller house suddenly appear on some adjacent land near my rural property recently. I'd never considered such, but now I just might look into it.

Paul_Heery · Paul_Heery's Garage

The house that we bought when we moved to Connecticut was a manufactured home. I did not know that until we had the building inspection done and the inspector pointed it out to me. When I asked him specifically what he thought of manufactured houses his response was, "This house was built to travel at 65 MPH to get here. That's more than you can say for a stick-built house".

We lived in that house for 10 years before we downsized after the kids moved out. It was a great house. Everything in the house was true and plumb. I would not hesitate to buy another.

wildthing · 11-06-2016, 05:30 AM

I'd live in one if the neighborhood was good, or I buy a huge swath of land and just have one of those, or two, or three, stuck together...

cabmandone · cabmandone's Garage

I sold manufactured homes for a few years right up to 2008. I offered the models with a fixed steel frame (double wide) as well as homes where the frame is removed (modular). Both I felt were exceptionally well built and a great value. In doublewide or modular I had 4 box models that would get to the size hugh is talking about. Most of the homes I sold had standard 8' walls with flat ceilings but I could do 9' walls with panned, vaulted or tray ceiling.

billybek · billybek's Garage

I have been shopping manufactured and kit homes for a while.
Thinking about property in the West Kootenays and from other people I know who have built in the area, they have told me that the local trades can be less than reliable.
Thought this might be a good solution to that problem.

LakeCleElum · 11-06-2016, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh R

The house is on 900 acres overlooking Lake Berrysea which I'd never heard of before. I'll post some outside pics tomorrow. It's for sale for $1.2 million, but is almost an hour to St. Helena, the nearest city, a little too remote for my taste if I want to pick up a six pack.

Some great Motorcycle roads out that way. Hwy 29 to Clear Lake is a fav of mine.

Hugh R · 11-06-2016, 06:50 AM

Hugh R · 11-06-2016, 06:57 AM

Yeah skylights and solar tubes in the bathrooms and hallways.

pavulon · 11-06-2016, 07:10 AM

Sears was in the game during the early to mid 1900's (delivered by train) and some of those houses are the bomb!

yetibone · 11-06-2016, 07:40 AM

My thoughts on Prefab housing have been that if it was engineered to remain standing and square while traveling down a highway or on a railroad during delivery, then it should do a fantastic job standing on a stationary foundation, no matter what.

I've seen a 4000sq.ft. manufactured home placed on it's basement pilings with a large crane. We all left work for lunch early that day to go see it happen, and the precision of those crane operators was amazing; two guys at each corner of the two sections that were set in place controlled the position with lengths of rope attached to the section. Even that is a testament to the houses amazing sturdiness.

My biz partner lives in that one, and their only complaints were that the wiring for some of the three way switches was done wrong, and that there's a light switch at the top of the basement stairs that was wired, had 110 on the black wire, but no load on the other end, and no guess where the other end lies.

intakexhaust · intakexhaust's Garage

Appears to be a very nice location. Do you know of the maker and year built?

Many man. / pre-fabs are good. Factory quality control and built inside, out of the elements. Thats a bit of an advantage for territories of weather variances (example in WI where Wassau Homes has been around for over 50 years). That said, could have many shortcomings. Really look them over. BTW: Perhaps the camera illusion but is that cabinetry by the ovens plumb?

I'm not up on CA code but some things I'd be concerned about vs. midwest US are truss spans. Whats that home have for centers? For example we have concerns for snow loads. I rehabbed a home in IL in that the neighborhood development was done by a CA builder. Circa 80's built and NOT PRE-FAB. They must have paid under the table to get them built. Nice floorplans but built cheap as possible. 24" truss spans, 5/8 sheathing, 2 x 3 walls, way under cap. wiring! Had to repair snapped sections of some trusses.

intakexhaust · intakexhaust's Garage

Love them Sears homes. Many survivors in the midwest.