Consider Retirement at a Manufactured Homes Community
Consider Retirement at a Manufactured Homes Community
If you’re looking forward to retirement and plan on selling your home, you may wish to consider a retirement community. You may also wish to consider a manufactured homes retirement community.
Manufactured homes are built in factories and then transported to your site to be installed. In a manufactured homes community, there are 2 types of communities: you can either lease your lot or you can buy a home and lot as a package. There are advantages to each. When you lease your lot, you will not have to pay a large sum of money for a lot, however, you will have a monthly fee to lease. When you purchase your land, it will seem more financially stable since you will not have a monthly fee on the land which could be subject to increases. Which type of community you would like is a decision you have to make.
With the huge numbers of baby boomers reaching retirement, I believe manufactured homes will become more popular. There are 2 reasons for my thinking: 1) The manufacturers are making these homes more customizable and attractive, and 2) Their price makes them an affordable option. Compared to site-built homes, they are said to be priced from 20 to 50% less in cost. This is due to being built in a controlled factory environment.
More recently, there have been increasing improvements in their designs and style such as:
1) You can find 2-story homes now such as capes.
2) You can have added any design feature at your lot that a site-built home has such as a front porch, garage and decks.
3) Interior ceiling heights are now available up to 9 feet and roof pitches have been increased to blend in with surrounding site-built homes.
If you have questions about design, Patriot Homes offers a nice service on their website where you can ask a question of a “lifestylist” about design or the construction process.
Since 1976 new safety standards have been required by our government and are referred to as the HUD code. In addition, a revision to this code pertaining to wind safety was added in 1994. It is preferred to purchase homes built after this time and especially if your home is located in hurricane or tornado areas. (See HUD’s windzone maps.) Of course, we know that there is no total assurance against these disasters if they are at a very strong force for any home, whether site-built or manufactured.
Be sure to purchase from reputable dealers with a long-standing good reputation in an area. Ask for references. The Manufactured Housing Institute has a list of manufacturers by area on their website. You should choose your area first and then a manufacturer for that area since costs to ship your home can be higher if the manufacturer is located at a further distance.
For a list of manufactured homes communities for over age 55, please go to my website www.bestguide-retirementcommunities.com.
Carol Fena, Realtor, writes for her website bestguide-retirementcommunities