Manufactured homes or mobile homes are houses that are manufactured on assembly lines and easily shipped complete to the site of the new owner's home. While manufactured homes have come a long way from what they used to be, there are still some points you have to cover to ensure that you are indeed getting a quality manufactured home for the price you are paying.
Don't Hesitate to Inspect
Some people don't like to be called nit-pickers, but going through the manufactured home you are planning to purchase does require a little bit of it. You need to look through the entire house for flaws and questionable parts and fixtures that may need repair or replacement. Remember that the house was essentially assembled on an assembly line and while these manufacturing lines do have certain standards and quality codes to follow, there can always be one or two flaws that can remain overlooked unless scrutinized.
Some of the things you have to look out for to see if the manufacturer of your prefab home is quality conscious includes the smaller things like the cabinet doors, shelves, window frames, sidings, and door frames. If these areas of your prefab house aren't installed straight or have some questionable looking seams, then you should point this out to the dealer. If the person you are dealing with addresses these concerns with repairs and replacements, then you are in relatively safe waters. Also, don't forget to check underneath for the kind of support the house is built on. These are usually steel I-beams that offer some stability to the house's structure.
Ask Questions
You are buying a house, and buying costs money. Asking questions before laying your hard-earned cash down on the dealer's table can help get you the kind of manufactured home you wish to buy in the quality you should be getting it at. Questions about the house's installations and construction can help you determine whether they will do a good job on it.
Some of the important points you should bring up with your manufactured house dealer would be:
&bull How the home will be set up. Knowing the basic procedure for the home's site construction can help you understand whether or not your home will be secure enough.
&bull Ask to see a blocking print for your home. This will help you determine whether or not the company you are dealing with is professional enough to do things by the book. If you are told that there are no blocking prints for your house's layout, be warned.
&bull Ask about what is covered by your payment. Unless specified, there might be some expenses you may not be prepared for and you may come up short of cash or your house may not be completed because of these. Some concerns you might want to ask about would be site preparation, sewer and water connections, anchors, air-conditioning and a few other installations.
Knowing what to ask and what to look for before signing on that dotted line will help you get the most for your money and help keep you from feeling cheated of the quality manufactured home you want.
