Home building (mobile home, to buy, construction)

[greatbasinguide]

I posted this somewhere else but I thought I might stick it here. It does appear that many of you are getting beat up by home prices, it is possible to afford a home, in the right place, so here is some info;

"It is an excellent way to go. In 1999 we researched the whole housing thing very carefully. In our area stick built houses are built for $300-900 per sq ft. [that means a 1,000 sq ft house will sell for over $300,000]

We have a 2200 sq ft home 4 bed two bath, R 40 ceiling and floor, R33 walls meets our snowload requirement of 120 lbs per sq ft installed on a permanent foundation for $85 per square foot. It is a fine warm attractive affordable home. Dry wall, oak cabinets thermally efficient double pane windows.

We now have plans to relocate to a smaller home on the coast, which we will install on our property, that too will be a manufactured home, this will cost about $115 per sq ft.

This brings your home cost down considerably. You need to buy a lot [manufactured homes can no longer be prohibited by CC&Rs]
A final note, we looked at lots of manufacturers, the only one we felt built a quality home was Fuqua out of Bend Oregon, the home we live in and the home we are moving to are Fuquas.


Some things to consider, if you get a rectangular floor plan it looks like a double wide box. Consider floor plans which create angles when seen from the outside. T-111 looks fake, most homes even stick built seem to use it, if you do, use the board and batt style, looks less fake, better yet use real wood, our home is ship lap, you can also get fake log which looks good on a rural parcel.

Most M homes are set above ground as on a slab foundation, which gives a distinctive manufactured home look with steps, you can also set at ground level which gives a stickbuilt look.

Worth considering

[recycled]

GBG, thanks - I have read many of your posts and got lots of good info or ideas from them.
I have looked around at many housing options too. In three years or so I'll retire from my cubicle bound techie job and 1+1 apt in the megalopolis. Don't need or want to buy a McMansion, just get a nice simple, comfy well built small home. Don't know where yet, but I'm working on that. One concern with Mfg homes, especially the "cheaper" varieties is outgassing from the building materials used (including formaldehyde) requires an air exchange fan system to be installed which changes out the interior air supply several times a day. I would hope that with some of the better quality M homes like the ones you describe, outgassing would not be such a serious issue. Have you checked this out or do you have any thoughts about this?

[greatbasinguide]

I think you might be thinking of the old Mobile homes. The cheap wood paneling was made with Formaetc. You can be cheap junk mobile homes still today. But the good ones like ours are drywall, 2x6 construction, basically the same as a stick built.

[Sassberto]

Check out those GlideHouses... very cool!

Someday I plan to buy some rural mountain acreage, stick one of those on the property, and retire!

[greatbasinguide]

The Glidehouses are nice, but, they are pushing $200 per square foot.. Remember Sassberto, on that nice mountain acreage, you will want heavy duty insulation. E windows, 2x6 walls stuffed with the latest insulation

[Need_affordable_home]

Construction costs are high in CA. Did you know impact and permit fees can be over $200k in the bay area? The materials and labor is also very expensive. Youll save money building a house yourself if you have a couple years to take off work.

[greatbasinguide]

Of course if you try that while married you may need a marriage counselor.. we have thought about it, but our relationship is too important to us to build a house together