Both manufactured and modular homes are becoming more popular as our housing market recovers and existing inventories drop while new construction lags behind. Both types of housing are built in controlled factory conditions and shipped to a site to be installed by professional general contractors, which reduces the cost and time required to complete a project.

 

It’s important to understand the difference between the two types of housing when making a decision about which to choose. The two look similar, but the similarities are only skin deep.

 

Manufactured housing is built to a federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) specification, attached to a steel frame with axles and wheels temporarily affixed for transportation, and can be either permanently or temporarily installed on owned or leased lots. Because a manufactured house is built to the HUD standard and can be removed after installation, when determining its value it must be compared against other manufactured housing, which can limit an appraisal value in many circumstances. Manufactured housing today is built to much higher standards than in years past, but can offer a significant cost advantage over modular or site-built houses.

 

Modular homes are factory-built to state-specific building code standards and loaded onto flat bed trucks to be shipped to site and installed on a permanent foundation. In general, they cannot be placed on leased lots. Because they have no steel frame attached, they cannot later be moved, and this combined with the higher standard of construction (state vs HUD), means that they are compared with site-built homes when appraising their value. Modular homes still present a significant cost and time to completion advantage over site-built homes, and many industry professionals feel that building a home with the tight quality controls that a factory offers, along with the protection from weather during construction, make a modular home even better than a site-built house.

 

When deciding whether to choose manufactured, modular, or site-built for your new home, you should take into account quality, cost, and future value. Whichever you choose, Nationwide Home Loans, Inc has the financing solutions that will allow you to build your new home with as little money out of pocket as possible. Click here to learn about our One Time Close Construction to Permanent loan, and how you can get started building your dream home today!