How Manufactured Housing Becomes Mainstream

California is leading the charge at the political level to help manufactured compete on a level playing field with site built, ending exclusionary zoning against manufactured housing. Freddie Mac is leading the charge for fair competition at the financial level, offering the same affordable mortgage products once only available for site built. Manufactured is itself very effectively leading the charge at the product level, 'delivering the goods' in design, spaciousness, and fit and finish. All that remains is to get the residential homebuilding industry on board and its off to the races, manufactured goes mainstream.

One strategy for getting the homebuilding industry on board is this: Now the homebuyer has a set amount of money for purchasing a home, or to be more precise, there is a certain monthly payment he can afford. As manufactured offers the same amount of home at half the price, 50% of the homebuyers erstwhile site built budget is freed up for other purchases such as built-ins, an outdoor kitchen, a raised deck, a generous separate storage building, a pool and spa, and outdoor living and dining. Homes compete at the same price point as site built only with a much longer list of supplementary features.

Here is 4 bed, 3 bath home of 2,300 sq ft given the 'works' in supplementary features. It has a 70 ft storage building of 1,000 sq ft, an outdoor kitchen, outdoor living and dining, pool and spa, and a raised deck running along the street. The house is a double wide 73' x 33' with very large living room, very large dining room, large kitchen and adequate bedrooms each with its own built-in office area.