The real story ...

A modular is a factory built home that is constructed to UBC or IRC building code - the same code that is used by your local homebuilder. A modular isn't necessarily a 2-section home. It could be 3, 4, 6, up to 11 sections. A modular home is a home built inside a building, out of the weather, built from top quality building materials, transported to the home site and assembled and finished on site. A modular home does not have a metal frame. A modular is a permanent home, not moveable.

Foundations: The big difference. A modular home sits on a stem wall or basement wall just like your neighbor's site built home. The perimeter walls are load bearing and deposit the weight of the home on the stem wall.

Manufactured homes are built to the HUD building code. Hud is a minimal code. Some HUD requirements are more stringent than UBC; most are not. However, they are very different. Manufactured homes do not bear on the perimeter of the home. A manufactured home is pulled over the foundation and "blocked" up. The foundation may vary from piers to a ribbon system. The typical manufactured home has blocks every 8 feet on center supporting the home. The home is "tied down" to the foundation system with metal straps. The manufactured home can be set on a permanent foundation and the title may be purged for financing and taxation reasons.

A mobile home is a single-wide built to HUD building code. It has a metal frame and can be moved easily.

In addition the the physical differences, there is a psychological difference between the homes. Lending institutions don't like mobile homes or used, manufactured homes. It is very difficult to get a home mortgage with competitive rates on a used, manufactured home. A modular home is considered like any other home by the mortgage companies. A modular homeowner can qualify for many more financing programs than an owner of a manufactured home. The reasons for the discrimination of a manufactured home has little to do with the quality of the home, but more to do with the historical owner of this type of home. The Federal Housing Association, FHA, sees a $5,000.00 mobile home the same as a $200,000.00 manufactured home. So the folks in the southeast part of our country buy these junk box $5,000.00 el cheapo single-wide trailer homes and get loans on them. Then they allow 56% of them to be repossessed. Then the FHA says that all buyers of manufactured homes are bad, so we all pay the price of higher interest rates on manufactured homes. Not modular homes. I like to think of it as: If 56% of the people in Mississippi who bought Ford trucks allowed them to be reposessed, your local bank would discriminate against Ford trucks and you would have to pay a higher rate due to the actions of the folks in Mississippi. It has nothing to do with the quality of the truck.

Remember, if it has a frame, it's a manufactured home.

Modular homes can be built anywhere, in any city or county, and will appreciate in value. They are considered by banks and appraisers as homes just like the neighbor's site built home.