Appraisal fees

Factory-Built Houses: Types, Benefits, and Tips for Appraisers

By Dan Bradley

Excerpts: Factory-built houses are an important, yet often overlooked, part of the American housing market. Approximately 10% to 12% of new housing starts in the United States are factory-built. There are several advantages to building a house in a factory. For example, certain houses can be constructed for 50% less than a similar-sized site-built home, making quality housing more affordable for thousands of Americans. As an appraiser, your knowledge of factory-built housing is key to a credible appraisal.

This article examines several different types of factory-built houses, their five main advantages, and tips for appraising them.

Factory-built house is a term that refers generally to a number of house types that are constructed or fabricated, at least in part, off site. The prefabricated components are transported to the site and finished or reassembled there. By contrast, site-built, or “stick-built,” homes are put together at the building site from thousands of individual pieces (e.g., studs, nails, sheets of drywall, shingles, wires, pipes, electrical outlet boxes).

For appraisers, understanding the specific type of factory-built house you’re dealing with is key. It tells you which building codes apply, gives you clues about the construction process, and impacts how you approach the valuation.

Factory-built homes include:

•   Mobile homes
•   Manufactured homes
•   Modular homes
•   Panelized homes
•   Pre-cut or kit homes

To read more, Click Here

My comments: This is worth reading, especially if you appraise these types of homes. It provides very good, understandable explanations, including identifying the types. For example, GSEs will not purchase or securitize a mortgage on a mobile home manufactured before June 15, 1976. Likewise, HUD will not issue FHA mortgage insurance on a pre-1976 mobile home.

I work in an urban/suburban area, mostly built up, and have appraised very few of these homes. However, they are definitely more affordable housing, which is a very hot topic now.

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I Can’t Believe I Just Bought a $5M Mobile Home’: A Look Inside 5 of America’s Most Lavish Trailer Parks

Just for Fun!

Excerpts: Multimillion-dollar price tags usually come attached to massive mansions or luxury condos—but now, it’s becoming more common to find them in mobile home parks in enviable locations.

But these aren’t just any trailer parks, as they’re more commonly known. For one, they usually sit on prime real estate. And the neighbors? They’re traditionally billionaires or A-list celebrities.

Prices in some of these parks can generally range from $1.5 million to more than $6 million, but that hasn’t put off buyers with that type of cash to spare.

Arguably, the most famous trailer park in America is Paradise Cove in Malibu. Here, celebrities “slum it” in mobile homes to be close to some of the most expensive real estate in the world.

In 2019, fashion maven Betsey Johnson sold her small pink house here for $1.9 million; in 2018, former “Baywatch” babe Pamela Anderson unloaded her trailer for $1.75 million; and in 2016, songbird Stevie Nicks sold hers for $5.3 million.

To read more and see the photos, Click Here

My comment: I had to include this fun article related to the article above

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NOTE: Please scroll down to read the other topics in this long blog post seller concessions, all cash sales, liability, new fee survey, unusual homes, mortgage origination stats, etc

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