5 Reason First-Time Buyers Should Consider Manufactured and Mobile Homes

Affordable housing has become increasingly difficult for first-time buyers who want to start a family. The idea of buying an expensive starter home knowing in only a few years you will need to relocate isn’t appealing. Of course, flushing money down the drain on apartment rent remains a poor use of income as well. Compounding matters, a site-built housing crisis may be on the horizon for everyday Americans, according to media resources such as Forbes and Business Insider, among others.

Fortunately, every problem has a silver lining, and that’s why manufactured homes are trending. The uptick in manufactured and mobile homes in recent years presents a unique opportunity to couples starting out and planning a family. When looking for a way to cost-effectively own your dream home, manufactured and mobile homes present a unique opportunity. These are five things couples may want to consider when considering a starter home.

1: Cost-Effective Manufactured Homes Offer Flexibility

The median manufactured home runs just under $80,000 compared to more than $360,000 for a site-built new home. That’s why first-time homebuyers rarely get their “dream home” when starting a family. Children, family members who come to stay, or live with you can create a claustrophobic environment in tiny starters. But models such triple wide manufactured homes provide more than adequate space for guests, in-laws, and room to grow.

2: Location, Location, Location!

The real estate mantra about “location” mattering above all else applies equally to manufactured and mobile homes. These hotly trending dwellings enjoy a key element site-built structures do not. They are “mobile.” That caveat allows growing families the opportunity to purchase a high-quality manufactured or mobile home and lease land while paying down the mortgage.

Many manufactured home communities enjoy the same safe, secure amenities as their high-end site-built counterparts. But at the end of the day, they are all gated communities that deliver a similar lifestyle. The point is that when you select a manufactured or mobile home, you have the option to raise a family in a secure, luxury gated community, or move that home to another property. The location choice is yours.

3: Robust Financing Exists For Manufactured Homes

Financial institutions have caught wind of the growing manufactured home sales. Banks are in business to turn a profit, and they have been open arms to underwriting mortgages for qualified buyers. In fact, many traditional lending options are on the table for first-time buyers. Government-backed programs such as FHA, Freddie Mac, USDA, VA loans, and Fannie Mae may be options for families.

It’s important first to review a detailed guide to modular home financing to get your ducks in a row. But with reasonable credit and income, you could be the proud owner of a manufactured or mobile home when high-priced site-built homes were financially out of reach.

4: That Manufactured Starter Home Could Be Your Dream Home

When couples begin the process of finding suitable housing, they often have a long-term plan to eventually live in the spacious, multi-bedroom home of their dreams. Things like hardwood floors, a master suite, smart technology, and an amazing kitchen have to be put on hold. For couples struggling to get ahead and grow a family, that takes a lot of financial bandwidth.

But the relatively low cost of the average manufactured home includes many of the luxuries people want in their full, family home. By strategically purchasing a quality manufactured or mobile home with those dream amenities first, there’s no reason to wait. It’s all a matter of dollars and cents. It makes no sense to struggle and be unhappy in a tight starter home for years.

5: Long-Term Planning

It may seem almost counterintuitive to start thinking about retirement before you turn the key on your first family home. It’s actually not. Many of today’s financially-savvy Millennials are beginning at the tail end by investing in their last home first. Some rent it out and have someone else pay off the home loan in a place they plan to retire.

You may wonder: Can investing early in a manufactured home deliver mortgage-free retirement benefits? It can if you invest in a high-quality manufactured or mobile home as a first-time buyer. Once you have paid off the mortgage and the young ones have left the nest. You have the option of calling a moving outfit and having your home delivered to the retirement digs.

There’s a reason manufactured, and mobile home sales are skyrocketing. They are an excellent long-term solution to the growing affordable housing crisis. First-time home buyers would be wise to consider a manufactured or mobile home as a cost-effective pathway to improved quality of life.