Modular Homes Pros and Cons

The Benefits Of A Modular Home

First, we will list the advantages of using a modular home method. These modular home advantages make them very appealing to buyers.

Modular Homes Now Have Higher Quality

Modular home manufacturing has improved significantly in recent years and can often compete very nicely with the standard stick-built home. There are even conditions and situations where the quality of the modular home is better when compared to a stick-built home.

Modular homes are built in a factory setting on an assembly line, which means the building process for all the pieces is under standardized quality control.

A stick-built home is built from scratch on the land where it will sit. This can result in the need to take special care of the building materials, particularly the lumber so that the materials are properly protected from the elements.

Problems can occur from this kind of neglect. Moreover, the problems may not become evident until many years later, and this makes the discussion of the solution very difficult.

There Is A Shorter Construction Time with Modular Homes

Modular homes can go up quickly, often faster than a regular stick-built home. If you consider all the areas where delays are possible when building a standard home, it is easy to see why this is the case.

The materials for a stick-built home may be sourced from all over the country, and each different supplier must get the materials to the builder on time. There are many opportunities for things to go wrong just in the transportation process.

A modular home is built in a factory with the production planning part of the process. The factory has material provides lined up and in places as an integral part of the manufacturing process. Factory production processes are designed to be predictable.

Weather can also be an issue with a stick-built home. If it is raining, snowing, or dangerous outside, such as thunderstorms, builders will have to stop until the weather improves. A modular home is mostly constructed indoors, where the weather is not an issue.

If you have any time constraints in transitioning from your existing home to a new place, a modular home could be something to consider just for the savings in time.

A Modular Home is Less Expensive

Because the modular home is one of many being built by the same manufacturer, there are fewer costs associated with its construction with less possible downtime.

A modular home cost can be up to 15% cheaper than a stick-built home and possibly even more affordable if you are building your home in a location that is hard to get to or far from where a traditional builder may normally operate.

Modular Construction Has Financing Options Through Manufactures

In addition to the regular financing options that most home buyers have, you also have the option of financing the home through the modular home manufacturer.

Sometimes manufacturers will offer better financing options than other lenders, which means you get a less expensive home and often get more favorable financing. This, of course, is not always the case, but this can also be a nice benefit.

Modular Homes Are Not Mobile Homes

A modular home is not a mobile home or a manufactured home. Mobile homes have come a long way, and their quality has indeed improved, but a modular home is a high-quality home and should not be compared to a mobile home.

Disadvantages Of Modular Homes

There are some issues that you should be aware of when you start considering buying a modular home. Although modular homes offer plenty of advantages, they are still not quite equal when compared with traditional stick-built homes

Perception

Perception of value is not something that should be downplayed. When it comes time to sell a modular home, the sale may be more challenging as certain buyers may not place the proper value on a modular home. A modular home may take longer to sell than a traditional stick-built home.

Before you make your final decision on whether to use a modular home method for your new home, talk to some local real estate agents to gain their insights into the selling process and challenges.

Modular Homes Have Less Customization

Modular homes can be built in various configurations, but because of how they are manufactured, it is not as easy to customize them as it is to customize a stick-built home.

The builders of your stick-built home, if you wanted them to, could build you practically anything you wanted – a living room with lofts, a tower off of your master bedroom, or a circular floor plan. Modular homes are not quite so flexible in terms of the possible floor plans, layouts, and customizations.

Modular Construction May Have a More Complicated Loan Process

A mortgage for a stick-built home is something that most people are familiar with. But the payment process for a modular home involves a few more steps. The builder may want to be paid in full before the house is finished and will often want periodic payments to finance the building process.

You may need to get a construction loan first to pay the builder, which will be changed to a regular mortgage after the home has been completed. Make sure you understand how to get the best interest rate on your loan. Working with a good local bank or a bank that does financing for modular homes would be a way to mitigate this issue.

Understand The Cost Of Land

While the modular home may cost less to build, you will still need to purchase a piece of land to build the home on. The cost of land combined with a house can be a surprise for people who are not prepared for it. Moreover, you will need to define and prepare for the costs associated with land development (clearing trees, building the driveway, bringing in services) and for post-construction landscaping. On the plus side of having to deal with this is that you can get things exactly the way you want them to be (underground power and landscaping, for example).

As a separate item, as it is so important is the connection to the town sewer or the construction of a septic system. Location will play a big role in the type and cost associated with your septic system.

Possible Land Restrictions

Although modular homes are much more favored than manufactured mobile homes, there may still be neighborhoods or municipalities that will not allow you to build such a house. You want to make sure that the area you want to buy land and build the home will allow it. In many places, these documents are known as restrictive covenants.

It is possible that a restriction was put in place long ago, denying the ability to build a modular home. This was due to the perception years ago that modular homes were inferior products.

Possible Issues When Selling A Modular Home

Realtors are aware that a modular home from an excellent manufacturer is a quality piece of real estate.

In most instances, you should be able to enjoy an appreciation of the value of your home just as a stick-built homeowner would. However, you may also run into extra hurdles when you try to sell the house.

When buyers first look for homes online, they look at pictures and scan facts about the property. When they notice that your home has been prefabricated, they may be initially turned off. Some people may think – why buy a prefab when they could purchase a traditionally built home?

These initial reactions could make it harder to sell the home when you do decide to sell. You will need an experienced real estate agent and a bit of patience to reach the kind of buyers who can appreciate your home’s quality and value.

In summary, there are many advantages to proceeding with a modular approach for your new home. In this article we outlined the modular home pros and cons which we think every consumer should know.

Your home is an important place and and a significant investments and while there are many advantages to modular home constructions there are some disadvantages too.