As the nation’s residential resale inventory dwindles, manufactured homes continue to provide an affordable solution for homebuyers nationwide. Available in a wide variety of styles and architectures, today’s manufactured homes also allow families to choose custom features comparable to single-family stick-built homes, such as spa-style bathrooms, gourmet kitchens and custom fireplaces.
Manufactured homes can deliver outstanding quality and performance at prices that are up to 50 percent less per square foot than conventional site-built homes. These savings allow more Americans to own their own home, even in the face of an ever-widening housing affordability gap.
From high-end multi-section structures with premium amenities, to smaller, cozy singlewides, mortgages for manufactured homes have become more attractive to lenders who are using them to reach a broader range of buyers.
Quality Controlled Construction
Manufactured homes are built in a factory, using standard building materials, and transported to the home site. The controlled factory environment and assembly line techniques remove many of the problems encountered during traditional home construction, such as weather, quality-control, and damage to building products and materials.
Also, factory production means manufactured homes benefit from the economies of scale resulting from purchasing large quantities of materials. Manufactured home builders can negotiate substantial savings on many components used in building a home, allowing them to pass these savings on to homebuyers.
Additionally, today’s manufactured homes are engineered for wind safety and energy efficiency. All aspects of construction are quality controlled and inspected per the rigorous standards of the federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards, or HUD Code. Many homes can be upgraded to ENERGY STAR® or similar energy-efficient home packages, as well. Increased energy-efficiency helps increase value – not only by saving up to 30% on monthly utility bills, but some utility companies and power cooperatives offer rebates for homebuyers, as well.
Landscape of Loan Programs
Fortunately, there are a variety of unique loan programs available for the purchase of a manufactured home. Available programs include FHA, VA, USDA, and Conventional options, including purchase and One-Time Close (OTC) Construction-to-Permanent loans; eligible FHA purchases can even be coupled with down payment assistance (DPA) programs. Using the right combination of tools opens the opportunity for homeownership to more borrowers, including those who may have been years away from saving up a traditional down payment.
Introducing manufactured housing as an attractive option to consumers is key, as is providing information about the loan options. It vital to work with a lender with significant experience in manufactured home lending who can help guide the borrower, real estate agent, loan officer, mortgage broker and other related parties through the process.
As more and more families opt to affordably build, Manufactured Housing provides you with the opportunity to grow your business and help even more families. As one of the top 5 MH lenders in the country, AFR has more than a decade of experience with this type of financing. Learn more about Manufactured Housing today!
Photography by [karen roach] © Shutterstock.com
Tags: affordable housing, manufactured homes, manufactured housing
