Debunking Manufactured Home Myths vs Realities with Facts
“The trouble with the world is not that people know too little; it’s that they know so many things that just aren’t so.” Mark Twain
As we begin to return to “near normalcy” following the dastardly Covid 19 pandemic, the shortage of affordable site-built homes and escalating prices of building material has further widened the affordability gap, with the average price of a site built home increasing an average of $35,000, further quashing the realization of that dream of traditional homeownership for hard-working lower and middle-income Americans. But it doesn’t have to be that way!
Unfortunately, many Americans dreaming of homeownership are either not aware that a manufactured home could well be the path to quality homeownership, or have discounted manufactured housing as an option due to uninformed misrepresentations and mischaracterizations of today’s only quality affordable housing available in this country.
Often those that have not explored today’s modern manufactured housing will assume that a “mobile home” are one-in-the-same, espousing myths that have been handed down through generations, such as – “They are not well-built,” – “They are not safe,” – “They don’t appreciate.” – “They are not energy efficient,” – “They don’t last,” etc., etc.
To quote Henry Rosovsky, Harvard University economic Historian, “never underestimate the difficulty of changing false beliefs by facts.” That being said, here we go again with 5 verifiable manufactured home facts to debunk perpetuated myths that may well have impeded hard-working American families from realizing a major component of the American Dream – quality affordable homeownership.
TOP 5 MANUFACTURED HOME MYTHS VS. REALITIES
- MYTH … A “mobile home” and a “manufactured home” are “one-and-the-same.”
REALITY … There have been zero “mobile homes: built in over 4 decades! … with the U.S. Congress passage of the Manufactured Home Construction Standards Act on July 15, 1976 (HUD Code), creating legally the “manufactured home.” Manufactured Homes are the only form of housing subject to a stringent national building code.
- MYTH … Manufactured homes are more susceptible to the occasion of fire than site-built homes.
REALITY … A study by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) and another study by the Foremost Insurance Company shows .. Site-built homes are more than twice likely to experience a fire than a HUD Code manufactured home. Study shows the number of fires is – 17 per 1000 for site-built homes – 8 per 1000- for manufactured homes!
- MYTH … Wind and storm safety standards are not equivalent to site-built homes.
REALITY … Manufactured homes built after the 1994 HUD Code change are subject to the same site-built building codes and wind safety standards in accordance with the International Building Code (IBC). A University of Florida study found not one manufactured home built after 1994 was destroyed by four hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004.
- MYTH .. Manufactured homes depreciate.
REALITY … A comparably sized and sited manufactured home will appreciate or depreciate at the same rate as a site-built home and will have an original cost of about 50% less. … A report from the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank, examined data released in August by the Federal Housing Agency. The home price index for manufactured homes featured an annual growth rate of 3.4 %, versus 3.8% for traditional site-built homes… In recent years, home price values have actually risen at a faster clip for manufactured homes than they have for traditional properties.
- MYTH … Manufactured homes are not energy efficient.
REALITY … The energy efficiencies of the manufacturing process found in a manufactured home translate to lower utility costs. Greater flexibility in the construction process also allows for customization to meet homeowner lifestyle and needs, including ENERGY STAR – labeled manufactured homes and modular homes for additional savings and comfort in owning and operating a home.
