One thing I forgot to mention about Clayton and financing. The company was recently purchased from Mr. Clayton, the founder, by Warren Buffett and his Berkshire Hathaway company for $1.7 billion USD. They have the money so they do their own financing, with rates equal to regular banks. According to their websites, they have over $12 billion USD portfolio. Not too shabby!

 

One more thing then I'm through on this subject. We American folks are not all the same when it comes to finances so we take what we can get. I purchased 2 acres of land and set the house up I am in over 7 years ago and for the square footage of the house, the price was less than half of what a stick built house in this area would cost.
House prices in this area, especially in town, are high. Most of the new homes being built run from 90K on up, depending on size. I looked at 169K home in a new neighborhood going up and I was less than pleased for what you would get for that money. I have toured houses under construction in the area where my daughter lives in Millington TN and I must say, they are not worth the asking price! Shoddy brick laying; patched up mistakes in framing, just to name a couple. Mistakes that won't be seen. Even in my daughters new home, the air conditioning and heating system is laid out in such a way that my grand-daughters room is either too cold in winter or too hot in the summer. An inspection of the ceiling from the attic showed no insulation over the vaulted part of the ceiling in that room....and others.
No way I would accept that kind of construction in a 150k home, that is 3/4 the area of my double wide manufactured home. Plus, the house next door is in spitting distance of her home.
My wife, now in heaven, and I bought what we could afford at the time. I love the place, low maint and it has lots of room. Sure there are drawbacks, like no attic for one but that's trivial when you have room outside for storage rooms. Plus, I am buying for a lot less than what some folks around here pay in rent.
Enough said...everyone have a great day!

 

As stated there are good and bad in both stick and modular. In todays building boom climate many stick builders are using totally unskilled workers and then turn around and claim mods are no good because they are built in a factory by unskilled labor...So basically, unless you are your own GC and know what you are doing and who you are hiring, you are probably getting a lot done by unskilled workers either way. At least with modulars, everything isnt sitting out in the rain and it wont take a year to put up...
An informal survey of the 2 people I know with mods suggest that they were not penalized on their rate because it was a modular home. Stick/Modular = meets local codes = appreciate. Mobile/manufactured = HUD code = depreciate, unless the land appreciates which is entirely possible.

 

our main lender levies a 1.5% yield spread hit for pre fad or MFG homes. so i can make up that hit either with a higher origination fee or a higher rate, either way i get the same money. if you originate loans and get paid on the profit from the loan i dont see how you could not know that, unless you are not the one getting paid on the note and are involved in some other part of the transaction

100% on a MFG home...none, and if it has wheels we will not touch it

meaning what?

 

Origination is what you charge on the front of the loan and is disclosed on your GFE. Yield spread is what you want to make on the back, not disclosed if you're a lender. Look at your GFE theres a spot there for origination for the interest rate and for the YS if you charge it on the back. All of these numbers represent something different about the structure of the loan.Yes, in the end it all means $, upfront or in the loan. But those areas of the GFE, TIL, tells you that they are not the same thing.

 

i know they are different lines on the GFE what i was saying is its all the same money in the end. you can put what ever amount you want on any line of the GFE as long as you can cover all the fees, escrow and put some money in your pocket its all the same.
here's a for instance: $200,000 loan at 5.75 pays 2.0 pts YS and you charge 1.0% orig. so 3 pts on the loan, gross is $6000.00. $200,000 loan at 5.25 pays 1.5 pts YS and you charge 1.5% orig. so 3 pts on the loan, gross is $6000.00...same thing

 

Excellent point. When mine was built, all they had from the factory was electric baseboard heat. In my neck of the woods, that would mean $500/ month just for heat. I had the factory leave the baseboard units out, then a local HVAC guy installed a gas forced-air system. Funny part was, when he sized the house for the proper furnace he kept scratching his head. He said that, based on the energy-efficiency, the best furnace would be a 40,000-BTU one. But the smallest furnace he could find was 55,000 BTU! My furnace is actually a little too much! Go figure. And this past January was the first month that my gas bill exceeded $100/month (stove, furnace, water heater and dryer are all gas, BTW).