Thinking of purchasing a mfg home for rental. It's home & LAND purchase. It's in an area that within 20 yrs will be bought out for home development. one street up 500K homes & 1 street West $1M homes. Anyone have mfg homes as rentals and what are your opinions/suggestions? Anything I need to pay special attention to?

It is already a mfg home area. Not a park, it's owned by each indiv owner. It is like buying a reg home. own house & land.

Our problem with these types of homes is insurance costs. But we live right in the middle of tornado alley.

It sounds like a great hold investment for land value. At this point you could have a home inspection for your own purpose to make sure there are no hidden issues that you may not see. If you smell pet odor the underlayment could need replaced. Replace carpet with vinyl click flooring. Paint the unit interior and exterior if it shows wear this way you are maintaining the value and keeping it nice for the neighborhood. Use a good bonding primer interior for the various paneling and other wall board used. You may want to keep a 30 feet area clear around the house due to wild fire issues. Plant grass and keep trees from this area at least 30 feet. Maybe in the front use potted plants to give it some color and curb appeal. You may not insure the mobil itself but liability insurance if anyone get hurt on the property. Mobile homes can be cleaned up and look nice for tenants who can not afford a higher price unit.

We have manufactured homes. 3 of them, I guess. Make 'em pretty and they rent just like any of our other properties. I think they are tough to get mortgages on, so probably has to be a cash deal. Fire & Dwelling insurance for ours has been quite low but Wind Insurance is high - but it's high for all the properties down here since we live in Hurricane Country.

Thanks everyone. All very good suggestions.

I plan to do exactly that Tom in FL. Thanks. Looks like granny lived there. took excellent care but the doily curtains, froofy paneling must be dealt with. Easy enough.

My primary residence is a manufactured home set on real property. We are on 5 acres with a stick built shop and garage. We used it as rental from 2011 to 2013. We did upgrade toilets, sinks and bathtub, faucets, furnace and flooring when we moved in. The original sinks were made of some odd material. We have had a site built sun room added on that required more supporting posts, but it looks great.

The only issue we have had is that I had a wall heater installed in the bathroom. The heater could not be installed in my first choice location, as the interior walls were not deep enough. It had to be installed in an exterior wall.

I think a lot depends on the quality of the manufactured house, and how it is maintained. Built in 1986, ours was a higher quality product. It has real drywall walls, not that awful thin paneling.

I have 1 manufactured house and it is set on a brick foundation just like a stick built. Many say they are built better than stick and have better insulation. All I know is they rent the same as stick built and my insurance is the same as stick built. Property tax is lower because they value them lower. I'd say if the same house is stick built maybe 130K versus 100K for manufactured when the county assesses a value and also when selling the home in my market.

"It's in an area that within 20 yrs will be bought out for home development."

Please sell me your crystal ball. ;-)

Ok, just kidding, but there's a 12 acre plot of land literally less than 1/4 mile from my front door that for the past 10 years has been the next "up and coming neighborhood" of $300K - $500K houses. And in my market those are very nice houses (3000-5000 sq ft, 5 bed, all the goodies). Maybe not $1 million, but you get the point. So far, 5 house have been built over the past 2 years in a subdivision that is platted for 60+ homes. 1 has gone under contract but failed to close. The expansion in our area shifted to the north side of town. Could be decades before this land all sells.

SID- SORRR not for sale... If you saw the development around this area-- you would agree. The location itself warrants development of high priced homes.. and nothing else can be developed in this area but this area... it's crazy! two years ago most around here was farm land. IF nothing happens, I'm good. I can afford to let it sit as a lot at some point or continue to rent out. Bases covered! Thank you for your input. Helps the thought process.

RathdrumGal-- agree! This place had one owner and they took exceptional care. New sinks, bathrooms all look brand new. Just needs updating (lights, flooring, counters). But nothing that needs done now. Thanks for the info on the frame/stick build. We will be having an inspection, for sure. If just for the education of it all.

Here in Florida 1992 Hurricane Andrew there were MAJOR changes to Building codes for constructions from A to Z. Especially in Miami-Date and Monroe Counties(Florida Keys). In 1998 Tornados’ hit Orlando area created more changes in Florida building codes. I bet after this years Hurricane Irma in The Florida Keys and Naples area there will be more changes to the building codes.

However consider this during Hurricane Katrina Storm surge devastated the coastal area of Gulfport, Mississippi. What building code will keep a house intact with a storm surge that will consume a house and basically crush the house???

1/1/2009 HUD standardizes installation requirements nationwide. TJT of ID check the HUD standards for mobile homes. Also check your local building codes to see if you need to add more tie downs around the mobile home. Also consider adding a smoke detector in every room and carbon monoxide detector (if you have a gas or oil furnace in the mobile home). Post a notice to check the detectors every other month. This will serve two purposes to keep your mobile home safe and the tenants safe. Also you will see how well the tenant is taking care of the mobile home.

Manufactured house or modular house? The manufactured are also known as mobile homes, even though once you park them, they are rarely moved. They can even be double wides, two that are side by side. The modular homes are basically stick built houses that have been made in sections in a factory, put on a flat bed, trucked to their foundation, bolted together and the roof raised.

Mobile homes are made with cheaper materials, they actually depreciate and are worth less every year. A modular home is as solid, if not more than a stick built since it had to travel, it was also built in a controlled environment. They will change in value as the real estate market changes (up or down) since they are houses.

Modular is stick built. Manufactured is a what used to be called a mobile home (a trailer) but since they can be huge these days, and usually sit on a foundation, they are definitely not very mobile!

We own 4 mobile homes (I just remembered another one) sitting on brick foundations. Except for the distinctive slant to the interior vaulted ceilings, you'd never know from the inside, really.

Plenty, this place has none of those issues. If it did, we wouldn't purchase. Had full inspection.

Excellent condition w/ receipts for all work the 1 owner ever did. Even has a large fenced lot, water feature, excellent patio.. looks just like a house. 3 bedroom/ 2 full baths, built ins.. Pretty nice place.

Will rent to a family who wants to send kids to those good schools & can't afford the higher rents in area.