Monday, March 16, 2015

Selling A Manufactured Home Made Easier

By Lena Stephenson


Homeowners who complain about the depreciation of their pre-fabricated dwelling could have avoided many pitfalls if they had made the right decisions at the time of purchase. It is important to do the homework and know exactly what elements to include in the purchase in order to achieve equity and regard the purchase as an investment. This makes it much easier for selling a manufactured home in the long run.

Beware the free move-in specials offered by so many trailer parks, as once the house is in there a homeowner may not be able to get it moved later. Most people looking to buy these houses really steer clear of parks. However, if one is approaching the purchase for the purpose of using it as a rental investment, then trailer parks are a friend.

As an alternative to the parks, many subdivisions and even large rural estate communities allowing mobile homes exist in scenic, rural areas. Some of them even specialize in this type of housing, so long as the home is a double-wide or larger. These properties are much larger than trailer park lots, and they make for an easy sell when one is ready to move on.

In general, single-wide trailers are not going to have a high resale value, and their deterioration can be both unsightly and dangerous. These older single-wides are frequently the scene of devastating trailer fires. Some trailer parks will not even allow single-wide homes to be placed in their community because they do not wish to be held responsible for such events.

Central heat and air is very important when choosing a place, and one should pay attention to how thick the walls are. Some low-end homes have extremely thin walls and almost no insulation; resulting in outrageous heating and cooling bills. Not only are window unit air conditioners not efficient, but they can damage the dwelling by dripping water from the air compressors.

There are variations in style and quality of these housing alternatives, and this is an element which should be addressed. For instance, some of the less-expensive styles have walls that are very thin; maybe half the thickness of the walls in a traditional stick-built home. Others have walls, inside and outside, which are thick as stick-built homes, and are often more efficient in their energy use than the cheaper models.

Truly fortunate customers are able to choose all their options in the beginning, and they may even be able to go and see their house built at the factory. These guys get to choose shingled roofs that match the trim, giant bathrooms with big tubs, and separate showers with glass doors. All of these touches will increase the price, and it also increases the value at resale.

Remodeling the house by removing wall boards and hanging sheetrock is another method used to increase value. During the Nineties, many homeowners were seeing the cinderblock skirting with stucco, and had that touch added to their home as well. It made sense to go ahead and get a new deck put in place at that time, thus transforming a cheap trailer into a dream home.




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