Clayton modular homes (floors, appliance, ceilings, installation)

[hiknapster]

Beaconowner, I know the criteria for what is a mobile home and what is a modular home. In the insurance industry, whether they are called mobile homes or manufactured homes does not make one bit of difference. When they are made, such as prior to 1976, doesn't matter, either, to most large, reputable companies.

By the way, just because you looked into them it doesn't make you an expert. You are not in the insurance industry. In fact, you live in New Jersey in a condo and work in a records department in NYC. Why you are on here arguing is beyond me.

No, dana_h, Liberty Mutual does not insure your mobile home. It's underwritten by Assurant, you go through Liberty Mutual but that is not the company that is insuring where you live.

Most mobile homes, manufactured homes if you prefer to call them that - are underwritten by Foremost, Assurant and American Modern. Most are through Foremost.

[Barking Spider]

I inspected a Clayton "Modular" home today in Lenoir City. It's not a "mobile" home (built on a steel chassis. This was a factory built modular home that came to the site in two sections, and set on a permanent foundation.
I have to say the construction was very good.

I actually had a fairly small list at the end of the inspection, and most of it was from the site prep and foundation drainage.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by Barking Spider

I inspected a Clayton "Modular" home today in Lenoir City. It's not a "mobile" home (built on a steel chassis. This was a factory built modular home that came to the site in two sections, and set on a permanent foundation.
I have to say the construction was very good.

I actually had a fairly small list at the end of the inspection, and most of it was from the site prep and foundation drainage.

Yes, modular homes can be sturdier than site-built homes. That doesn't surprise me at all.

[Beaconowner]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Beaconowner, I know the criteria for what is a mobile home and what is a modular home. In the insurance industry, whether they are called mobile homes or manufactured homes does not make one bit of difference. When they are made, such as prior to 1976, doesn't matter, either, to most large, reputable companies.

By the way, just because you looked into them it doesn't make you an expert. You are not in the insurance industry. In fact, you live in New Jersey in a condo and work in a records department in NYC. Why you are on here arguing is beyond me.

No, dana_h, Liberty Mutual does not insure your mobile home. It's underwritten by Assurant, you go through Liberty Mutual but that is not the company that is insuring where you live.

Most mobile homes, manufactured homes if you prefer to call them that - are underwritten by Foremost, Assurant and American Modern. Most are through Foremost.

You didn't appear to know the difference between a mobile home and a manufactured home in your previous posts, nor that manufactured home is a legal description of today's homes.

Whether you think insurance companies don't care whether a home is built before or after 1976 really doesn't matter in my opinion because, even to the uninformed, it should be obvious that there is more risk in insuring a pre-1976 home (now 41 years old) which is also pre-Hud standards, as opposed to a newer home built after HUD standards were imposed, no matter what you call it.

I never said I was an expert - and you are not in the manufactured home industry, so you aren't either. In fact, if you check back a few pages, I said our opinions are too small a sampling to be relied upon definitively.

Thanks for doing a web search for who I am, a bit creepy, but it's out there in the public domain, so anyone can see it.

By the way, I own the condo and will be moving to the Seattle area when I retire, in just a few years. I work at a NY law firm and do records management and risk management for the firm. My favorite color is orange.

I have researched the manufactured home industry intently for 4 years. I expect to buy a home, site it, and get it insured, based on my research. I've read books by experts in the field and I belong to several web sites that deal exclusively with manufactured home issues. I've talked to several dealers in the Oregon & Washington markets, as well as people who own the exact model of home I will be buying. So while not an expert, I feel I have a pretty good understanding of the manufactured home industry and some of the challenges involved in manufactured home buying & living.

I am on here to refute the things you say that don't make sense. I don't like to see people mislead others just because they have a particular bias. You don't like manufactured housing and think its virtually impossible to get insurance because only 1% of the insurance industry will insure them, I get that.

FYI- Manufactured housing is having it's best year since before the recession of 2007/2008 right now, and they are expecting to top this years sales in 2018. The majority of the homes sold, according to the manufacturers association, are being put on private land, on permanent foundations, not in mobile home parks. But, if you do go the mobile home park route, you have the option of buying the land under your home, renting the land, or buying a share in the park, like a co-op. Lots of choices today to fit any financial circumstance or risk level.

[onetoughkitty]

Originally Posted by Beaconowner

FYI- Manufactured housing is having it's best year since before the recession of 2007/2008 right now, and they are expecting to top this years sales in 2018. The majority of the homes sold, according to the manufacturers association, are being put on private land, on permanent foundations, not in mobile home parks. But, if you do go the mobile home park route, you have the option of buying the land under your home, renting the land, or buying a share in the park, like a co-op. Lots of choices today to fit any financial circumstance or risk level.

This is scary to me because this is right before the bottom fell out.

I'm still trying to figure out how some people here are paying for these homes. Yes I get it, some are retired. Some do have money but the average Tennessee family is probably not making the numbers for these $250K plus homes being sold. Not to mention, the crops of foreclosed, pre-foreclosure and auction houses that are currently on the market or not showing up on the MLS. And these are the same thoughts I had when the market blew up back then as well when I was trying to figure out how my $16 an hour AP clerk was buying a $350K home with her $12 an hour contractor husband.

[geranium]

Kitty, have you ever watched 'House Hunters' on HG-TV? Judging by that, some people seem to think they have to borrow to the top of their credit limit. That may be part of the answer. Many of us choose not to live that way.

With regard to housing, resale is a key factor. I have no idea about the resale value of manufactured housing. Is it stable?

[Richard Cycholl]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Beaconowner, I know the criteria for what is a mobile home and what is a modular home. In the insurance industry, whether they are called mobile homes or manufactured homes does not make one bit of difference. When they are made, such as prior to 1976, doesn't matter, either, to most large, reputable companies.

By the way, just because you looked into them it doesn't make you an expert. You are not in the insurance industry. In fact, you live in New Jersey in a condo and work in a records department in NYC. Why you are on here arguing is beyond me.

No, dana_h, Liberty Mutual does not insure your mobile home. It's underwritten by Assurant, you go through Liberty Mutual but that is not the company that is insuring where you live.

Most mobile homes, manufactured homes if you prefer to call them that - are underwritten by Foremost, Assurant and American Modern. Most are through Foremost.

You are definitely correct I live in a manufactured home. I found out late in the process the pickings and choices for home owners insurance is pretty slim picking....... While I am happy were we live and the house, I wish I had more choices of insurance policies to pick from......

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by Richard Cycholl

You are definitely correct I live in a manufactured home. I found out late in the process the pickings and choices for home owners insurance is pretty slim picking....... While I am happy were we live and the house, I wish I had more choices of insurance policies to pick from......

Yes. I have nothing against manufactured homes, I've lived in a couple of them. But the facts are the facts.

[WW2Junkie]

I've seen this argument of what a modular home is before. A modular home IS NOT a manufactured home. Sales people, Clayton Homes from my experience, will tell you they make modulars. When pressed to answer a few questions of the difference between their double-wide manufactured homes and what they are calling a modular, they get stumped. They talk about an on-frame or off-frame modular. A REAL true modular does not come with a steel frame. In my opinion they purposely muddy the water at best and out right lie at worse. I've owned manufactured homes and modular before. Some modern manufactured homes are built well but they are NOT modular homes. If you want to know the difference go look at some of Clayton's "modular" closely. Look at the trim work, the laminate countertops that will easily chip, the shower doors that are the cheapest on the market, etc, etc. Now take a ride to some real modular dealers in North Carolina and compare the quality of materials. Surprisingly, the price of those double-wides that they are passing off as mods is not much less if it all. The materials however are sub-standard for sure. Do a search for R-Anell, Nationwide, Palm Harbor, and Express Mod. Locate a dealer near you and go see them. They don't have many models on site but you can at least see the quality difference.

[DubbleT]

Or you know, you could just do what my ex did and crawl under to see whether the thing is built on a frame? I'm not a hundred percent certain but I think one of the modulars we looked at was at a Clayton lot.