Any sites with ideas for making a modular look like something (anything) else?
Saw one with stucco the other day, bad job & a bad color too. Still looked like a double wide.
Joe H
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Bury it?
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
It's turning to mulch now, it'll get there.
I'm looking for a way to make it look better on the way.
Joe H
I'm looking for a way to make it look better on the way.
EIFS, carved into fanciful and wondrous shapes, perhaps?Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Bury it?
Need a vault to hold the earth, as the 2x3 walls aren't going to be nearly enough . . .
Then, you'd need a proper roof . . .
Then, you'd have most of the features of a good PAHS structure other than the interior finish . . . <g>Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
There's an increase in prefabricated homes that actually have some design integrity to them. Not for everybody, but much better than what most people think of with modular housing. Check out http://www.livemodern.com or http://www.rocioromero.com. (whoops . . . one more late site, http://www.glidehouse.com).
Edited 8/11/2005 11:31 am ET by draftguy
They differentiate hereabouts. Modular vs Mobile. A 'modular home' is typically a regular frame house, just factory built. They can come in any shape or size. Whereas a 'mobile home' is a trailer. It comes in single wide or double wide.
If you're dealing with a mobile, you could put it on a foundation and add a porch & garage, but it still might look like a trailer.
jt8
"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
They're double wides in that they come in two pieces on wheels. Put them on a foundation and jerk the axles and they're a house? It's modular, double wide.
Hard to hide their origin, some pretty odd attempts to be seen locally.
Thinking of buying one for a rental & wishing to try my hand at face lifting.
Joe H
I haven't gone down to the county to verify the legality of it, but in general, "trailers" depreciate in value, whereas 'houses' appreciate. What I'm not sure of, is if you plant that 'trailer' on a foundation whether it is technically considered a regular house.
I talked to an old lady who bought a $68k MOBILE HOME (double-wide with a special tall roof), but then put it in a trailer park with skirting instead of a foundation. The mobile home is now a couple years old and has probably lost more than $10k in value.
Depreciate like a car.jt8
"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
John, while they aren't technically a trailer, they have a steel frame with axels. Once on a foundation without the axels it's a house, but it's still a double wide.
This one is pretty typical, there's a visible joint both verticle and horizontal at the ends with a low slope gable roof. Up off the ground, no overhang, no porch, no nothing.
Half of them I see look like they delivered them and left, and there's been no change since. Grass maybe, but no trees, no walkways, no patio, nothing but maybe a shed if they've collected enough junk they don't want to leave outside. A good % keep the junk in the yard.
This one is on an acre, for sale for $99,000. In the background on the right is an old park style mobile home. To the left is a collection of old camping trailers, a semi trailer, misc inoperable vehicles and years of crap.
View Image
Joe H
Edited 8/12/2005 1:46 am ET by JoeH
If your goal is to rent it out, you need to keep costs down, so just paint it. I've been investigating the same thing, and the rental prices don't suffer much just because it looks like a double wide. If the home is less than 4 years old, it won't need much rehab. If you want to flip it, then it may be worth putting lipstick on the outside.
Rent for now, with as little additional expenditure as possible if the current goal.
The disguise it idea is with the future sale in mind, seems like it would have to increase the value.
A new roof line with extended eaves and porchs seems the biggest change. I've seen a few with porches & it does change the appearance. Doesn't truly hide what it is, but better anyway.
Joe H
The house I grew up in is the doublewide shape but 4' eaves
You guys are mistaking modular homes (built to BOCA or IBC codes) with mobile/trailer homes (built to HUD standards).
Modulars are virtually indistinguishable from site built homes (Construction methods are the same just done on an assembly line vs built in your driveway), whereas a trailer will always look like a trailer. Actually, in NJ, I don't think it is legal to separate a HUD type home from its steel frame.
Check out this house: http://www.excelhomes.com
ST, Built to HUD standards sounds depressing.
So what do you call them? They're not mobile after they're delivered & set. They do have the steel under them, I think it would disentigrate without it.
Joe H
The technical term for HUD homes is "Manufactured housing". Modular homes are regular stick built homes that are built off site in modules, shipped to your lot, set via crane & connected together.
Modular homes are built to the same codes as a stick house built on site. Actually most have more lumber in them (because they need to withstand shipping & setting) & most exceed individual local codes because they have have to meet codes of all surrounding regions that they serve.
Plant lots of trees?I agree, I don't think these things really hold their value.
A true modular is stick built just like many of my customs, 2x6 walls, TJI floor joists, 2x10 rafters. They haul them on a specially made trailer. Have to be set on at least a crawl space( full basement usually). My local company has 250 stock plans or will build custom to suit buyer. Once they are off the trailer there's no differnce between it and the customs I build except about 20% less money.
There are no axles or metal frame left on site. Just a wood framed house on a foundation. Down side is that most of them use vinyl siding to finish exterior after they're on site. I like EIFS.Greg
Werner Building & Remodeling
Huntingdon PA
Greg, here's one, better looking than most too. This is an FHA repo, they don't sell them until everything green on the property has turned brown/dead.
View Image
Joe H
Edited 8/12/2005 1:31 am ET by JoeH
Trailers aren't called "mobiles" anymore, they're called "on frame modulars", as opposed to "off frame modular" which is a modular on a real foundation. Modular manufacturers keep trying to euphemize their products and lobby real estate boards to keep them misrepresented in the MLS.
Realtors around here keep complaining because their clients see a home represented as modular, make an offer on it, then the deal gets blown up when the appraiser tells the bank that it's a trailer. Since banks won't lend on trailers, you get a bunch of broken deals, aggravated clients, and realtors who tell their clients to stay away from anything that even hints at pre-fab.
Good Luck
DCS Inc.
"He who xxxxs nuns will later join the church." -The Clash
then the deal gets blown up when the appraiser tells the bank that it's a trailer. Since banks won't lend on trailers, you get a bunch of broken deals, aggravated clients, and realtors who tell their clients to stay away from anything that even hints at pre-fab.
Very different situation here. A trailer, and they exist, is a vehicle. Not mortgageable. Anything taxed as real estate has mortgage potential. The difference is whatever the assessor sees when he drives up, vehicle or real estate. Everybody with half a brain adds a couple of details to make sure the assessor sees real estate.
Joe's pix are clearly real estate. Haven't seen a swamp cooler in a long time though. Can't imagine anybody trying one in this climate. LOL Repos are what surprised me. Extremely unusual to find one here.
Our Realtors must be a little smarter than yours. Go online, or a quick call to the assessor's office tells all. Why would they waste their time writing contracts that won't go anywhere? We're next door and I don't think our Realtors were by and large all that great.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Edited 8/12/2005 8:32 am ET by VaTom
You're right, Tom, it should be easy to differentiate but unfortunately the terms for various dwellings change. Mobiles have now been lumped in with modulars because the guys that sell them made a stink saying that "mobile" is descriminatory (which it is and should be). Then the true modular folks got upset saying that now they're properties are worthless.
So you have on-frame and off-frame. Off-frame appraises close to stick built in most situations. The tax records aren't all that helpful because they usually just say "modular". If the property is out in the county, nobody checks on it because there are no inspections.
Folks will take a mobile doublewide and put non-structural block as the skirting and think they can get near stick built prices. Unless you really know construction methods well, it's difficult to tell until an HI or an appraiser takes a look at it.
DCS Inc.
"He who xxxxs nuns will later join the church." -The Clash
You can put a pitched roof on it. This is a 28x48 cape we put onsite on Wednesday. "Crane" shows them lifting the first box off the trailer--regular floor joists visible. There are two boxes, one is four feet longer than the other. "Roof" shows them folding out the roof, and "house" shows them adding the dormers. That last pic was about seven hours after the first.
Once the crane left the site, I don't think anyone could tell this wasn't stick built on site (it was stick built in a factory, that's all.) Just because it came on a trailer doesn't mean it's not a real house. There was never a chassis or axles or anything. The two pieces were bolted to their trailers for the trip from PA to VA; they unbolted them, lifted them onto a full foundation with a 9' basement, and drove the trailers away. Now we just have to finish siding the front and back walls and shingling the roof and the exterior is done (interior came 90% done).
Steeper roof, if you are willing to fork over the dough will make a huge difference. A front or wrap around porch would help. Shutters might make some difference. Serious landscaping - cottage garden, trellises that sort of thing might help a bit too.
Right now I am doing a Commercial modular building . The underground utilities and foundation were complete a couple of months ago . I will be accepting the building ( that will come in 14 pieces ) on the 24th of this month . The assembly will be done with a 250 ton crane . The install is in the middle of surrounding buildings . This is the first time I have done this so it will be quite interesting. And it will look good on a resume.
Mike - Foxboro