Hi Frenchkitty,

This is the second manufactured home we have had. Both have been on full foundatons and no longer moveable with out removing added metal roof, decks ,porches and added on pantry room.WE had this MFH converted to real property meaning it is attached to the foundation and there are no longer axels under it.

We have discussed many times how much we like living in a MFH. The two we have had have been so comfortable to live in. Low electricity bills,we are all electric and run a hot tub too. I think there is a lot of thought of storage built into these homes. We have a Marlette and I think it is 12 years old. All sheetrock walls with bull nosed corners. I would like it to be just a little bit larger but I am also looking at it as a small cottage and have decorated it for the way we live. There is just the two of us.

There are three albums. The 12-1-06 is the inside of the house we are living in now.

The Decorating album has added pictures of curtains I just made for the kitchen. I have weird tastes. LOL

The Cemetery Road Yard is the yard we have now.

The other two houses are houses we no longer own. The Wesier house is the other manufactured home we used to own.

http://groups.msn.com/PyleMeadows/shoebox.msnw

We have discussed moving and if we ever do it again we would go for another manufactured home.

Chris

I know there is a group of MH owners in Florida that is VERY happy!

It seems they live on a common property where every homeowner has part ownership in the property. And there 500 MH on that land. A developer came along and offered each owner ONE MILLION DOLLARS for their home! Yup. $500,000,000 for the 43 acres of waterfront property! Well, the homeowners had to have a meeting about this. They took a vote. And TWELVE percent said NO! Sixty mobile home owners said "I won't take a million dollars for my mobile home!" But the majority ruled so the land is being sold. These were typical single wide Florida retirement homes. Nothing special about them.

So yeah, these owners DO love their mobile homes!

Hi Chris! Thank you for all your photos. Looks as though you may have moved as many times as we have, LOL! I loved the way you used the vintage linens in making you curtains, and I especially liked your iron beds all made up so nicely. Did you add on the walk-in pantry? My DH jokes and tells me if we ever lived in a MFH again, there would be nothing much left of the original because he knows I would go in there and change everything! I have a creative mind that never pauses to rest...I can see that you put your own stamp on wherever you live, and that is what is so inspirational to me. Thanks again for sharing.

Christopherh: If I ever get to the point where I can say that this is home and it's the last one, I don't know if I would take a million dollars either! I have a magazine that has a story of a lady that bought a MFH in California not far from the beach,(and you know it was expensive)and she turned it into a gem, that is worth much more now.

Frenchkitty

Frenchkitty - I absolutely love mine. My late husband and I retired here in North Carolina in 1999. We looked and looked for a stickbuilt rancher with a wooded lot but couldn't find one without going into another large mortgage. We didn't want that as we wanted to have basically no major money worries. The first new DW that I saw I knew it was exactly what I was looking for - no mortgage, all one floor living incl first floor laundry, open floor plan, and easy upkeep. We found a development that had over acre/wooded lots so I own my land also. Sadly I lost my husband to cancer soon after he retired but since met and married a wonderful guy. We are very happy here and as you can see from the remodel pictures my new husband is quite the carpenter - the slideshow pictures actually go backwards from finished rooms to the rooms before but you will get the idea. We still have 5 rooms to do. Even tho the house was new when I moved in I knew that I was going to put MY stamp on it from day one and remodel. We have also added a beautiful screened in porch and covered side porch. I am going for a very cottage /farmhouse look....

Lynne

Here is a link that might be useful: Remodel Pictures

Lynne, I just spent 20 minutes typing my heart out, and then pressed the wrong key and all my words went out the window! UGH!

Thank you for your reply, and your home is lovely! I know how nice it is to have a talented husband, and yours has done wonders! I especially like the way you framed in the opening between rooms and added the gingerbread. I love old things too, and have many vignettes in my home with old family photos, lace, and whatever else makes my heart pitter-patter! Although we live in a beautiful home we recently built, we are thinking about simplifying. Our children are grown, one married and one about to fly, and we would like to be in a position where we would not have to worry about making a mortgage for many years. We have good equity, it's just that we are tired right now. We still have some things to finish up here to be able to get it on the market. Some days we think about staying because we are almost finished, and then we think about how nice it would be to have a little cottage with just the things that we really love in it, and time to do other things together. I love to make quilts and sew and do other projects, and it would be nice to really get back into that.

On another forum, I told about an elderly couple that we know that completely transformed their old single wide into a charming cottage. They put on a roof, added board and batten siding and new windows, a den and screened porch, wood floors, and painted the kitchen cabinets white. All her rooms were so charming, and in the kitchen her husband had built a cabinet with glass doors to hold her antique teacup and saucers, and on the lower part solid doors, and above that, a row of sewing machine drawers for all her little "stuff". It was such an inspiration to me.

I really love to see what other people have done to make their life more simple, and yet truly enjoy their homes. It helps me to keep my vision! Thanks for the ear!

Oh, and I clicked on your page, and your blog, and I must say, your yard is spectacular!!!

Frenchkitty

Hi French Kitty,

The added on pantry was done when we bought the place by the original owners. It is added onto the end of the house and we have to go out the back door and onto the deck to enter the room. I turned it into my dog grooming room adding my sink/tub and removing most of the shelves. There is also a small walk in pantry in the kitchen so we have lots of storage.

The original owners built a deck half way across the front and all the way across one end all covered. When we bought the place we had a new metal roof built on to include the deck roof and I think it looks a lot nicer this way. Since we are in snow country metal is the way to go for us. The snow will slide easier and it also made the house about 10 degrees cooler in the summer and I would guess it keeps it warmer in the winter. We did not remove the asphalt shingles. Our new roof is white.

As far as changing the rest of the inside of the house. I just removed the doors from the closets and master bath door and added lace curtains. I would have liked to see a pocket door on the master bath and closet instead of the regular door. What is done is done so we just live with it. Other wise we are very happy with the house as it is. Adding curtains to the other two bedroom closets makes them better for me to use. Since there is just the two of us I use those closets for my art stuff.

We had chosen a different house plan before we got this house but when this place became available we stopped the purchase of the other MFH. Sigh I LOVED that one!!!! It was a Nashua. Since the people that owned this place traded us for the MFH we had in another town and it was a done deal it was sort of hard to pass up since purchasing a brand new home would be so much more work and my husband just LOVED the shop that was already here. And of course it is larger than the house. Sounds like a red neck guy thing to me.

Chris

Chris, I can imagine that can be hard when you fall in love with a house and end up with another. But it sounds like you are making this one your home. Have you a room that you have fixed up just for yourself? If not, maybe a corner of that red neck shop would look cute with some lacy curtains and a few throw pillows! (Wink!)

Hi,

I am not in these forums as often as I'd like, but I liked the sound of this topic and decided to jump in. Dh and I live in a single wide (14x80 3br 2ba) and do I LOVE it??? Well I LIKE it a good bit I guess. There are just days now and then when I long for a big foyer or a giant bathtub and other things that I simply can't have. :-(

As for what style I like, I love country and "shabby chic", like I love stuff with half-assed paint jobs. lol

I read somewhere once (can't recall where), some article about things you can do to make your rectangular-shaped home look less rectangular. Like with softer lines and round items I believe. If you click on "My Page", somewhere is a pic of the super tiny rectangular table we once had in our kitchen. I kept telling dh that we needed something ROUND there and that I had been longing for a pedistal table.

We ended up finding one at an antique shop for half off! It just needed a tiny bit of work. I really like the look of it and we have a bit more room now for sitting. Pic below

Also at "My Page", in the one living room pic where you see the end table with the chicken lamp, I would love to find some sort of round table for that area, but I would need one with storage underneath.

One thing I will never forget..... We once had a guy come in here to replace a small area of carpeting. He had a long pony-tail and tatoos, not that there is anything wrong with that. lol! When he was in here, he mentioned the fact that our home didn't LOOK like a mobile home. I was touched and have never forgotten that. Take care!

Littleredhen - I love your little dining room nook - that is just really cool. I love the shabby country/farmhouse look and my decorating is leaning that way now. I especially like your light fixture since I already have two of them - lol - one in the dining area and one over my island in the kitchen. I have the matching single drop light over the kitchen sink. Yours looks like the copper colored one - I got the brushed nickle one. Love all your other little doo-dades around your place. I go to the Garden Junk Forum also - lots of really cool ideas there.....

Lynne

I'm torn as to whether even to consider our home a mobile home anymore. It's not the same house we moved into three years ago. We actually moved in thinking it was a temporary measure until we could have it carted away and build a "real" house on the site. We loved the lot but hated the home. We didn't have money to build at that time and have spent the last three years and every extra cent redoing it to the point where it is basically unrecognizable. People ask who haven't been to town whatever happened to the old "trailer" that used to be where our house is. lol
The only things that give it away now are the upstairs spaces between the drywall that we need to redo now that there is a full basement under it. Other than that every square inch has been painted and textured, recarpeted, removed and redone, replaced or renewed in some way.
I've had people with "regular" homes come and copy my kitchen. (a bit annoying but flattering) and try to copy the rest of the homes look.
FrenchKitty I haven't forgotten you wanted pictures and I will when I get time. January was a crazy month here. We're still in the process of the downstairs project so everything is a bit topsy turvy right now. What will be our dining room is still our bedroom and there are stairs to the downstairs in it so it's all a bit odd right now.

{{gwi:1996223}}

I have a Liberty Mfg. Home and I love the floor plan and the fact that it was an "instant house" at a time when I couldn't afford the time or money for a stick built home. I've been in this for seven years and there are MANY things that are so disappointing as far as quality. Of course the faucets are plastic made to look like chrome. The windows are single pane with ice in the space between them during the winters, which melts and drains down between the exterior wall and insulation. The skylight was never secured properly which I didn't find out until the warranty was up. We tarred around it but it still leaks. It seems like every place they could choose a lesser quality product, they did. I know it needs to be lightweight for transporting, but too many things are made out of cardboard (doors, counters). I'm not on a slab, so with the rise and fall of the ground when it freezes/thaws, the doors stick. My septic drain pipe wasn't properly glued and came off, that was a joy to fix! The vinyl flooring has split in two places. I could go on and on.

Overall I'm very disappointed and hope I never have to live in another one. At least I can say I have the perfect location, and I keep my focus on that.

Hi, Blue. Don't worry, I know exactly how it is. We have been busy working on our place, too. I haven't been on here as much because of it, plus with the slowness of the GWF loading, I just gave up trying to check in and see whats been up. Your home is very inviting looking.

Kim; I hate to hear it when people buy something (esp. a home that is supposed to be your haven) and find out that they have been taken advantage of by careless business people. I have seen some MHs that are much better quality than others, but I still do not believe that even a lower line MH cannot be made with better quality materials. (Why do they boast of a ceramic tile backsplash and then install it with caulking??!!) I know it is no consolation to you, but being in the construction industry, my DH and I have seen many stick built homes that were so poorly constructed, with things hidden to boot. One time a builder had cut a large hole in the sheetrock in a bathroom because they had to fish out electrical wire. Instead of fixing the hole, which was about eight inches in diameter, he wallpapered right over it! Another builder framed in a laundry area into the garage to get it out of the house, and when it was all finished, a car would no longer fit into the garage!

DH and I are firm believers in DIY. As we speak I hear the airgun going; we are making a little sewing room for moi. I know that if I were to live in a MH, I would be ripping out and redoing, because if it is going to be my house, I wan't it to be a HOME! I have a couple of cottage style mags that have several articles of creative people who have turned their MHs into lovely places. One did the same thing Blue Velvet Elvis did; they planned on building on the land one day, but ended up turning the DW on the property into a gem, and now are satisfied to leave it at that...

We have had our MH since April 1990 and loved it until Allstate said they will not renew our insurance..We live in Mobile Alabama and they said because of Katrina they are not renewing alot of policies and no more mobile homes in this area,,BTW had no damage from Katrina...So now trying to find insurance which is so high and will not give us much coverage..Linda

I live in Oregon.. no hurricanes here.. several years before Katrina, we got notice that Farmers would no longer insure our manufactured home. Now we recently got notice from the current insurer that they would no longer offer earthquake insurance (even tho they are rare here.)
I live in a 1987 Golden West triple wide. I bought it used on property 14 years ago. We got twice the home we could have gotten buying a stick built home then. Most walls are plaster except kitchen & bath. It's held up very well. We've done little upgrades along the way.. faucets, lighting..I'm just starting to do bigger ones now - counters, cooktop & flooring. The only thing I wish this place had was a kitchen pantry and an entry closet. I've looked at many "regular" homes over the years.. I'm always happy when I come home - I like it's lay-out better than most expensive homes I've seen.

I live in a 18x80 Solitare. It seems nice to the naked eye, people mention how nice it is and how it don't look like a mobile home from the inside, but I have had issues with it from day one. The linolium is the kind that comes in squares, and it started cracking and chipping in places, they didn't put any linolium in the dining room, it is carpeted, our bathroom was also carpeted (why do they do that?) Thank goodness we have nice flooring, because the water damage when we pulled the carpet up could of been much worse than it was, we only had to replace the flooring around the toliet. We have outer walls that 'appear' to be wood, well I am not too sure what exactly it is they are made of, but it isn't good solid wood, you can take your fingernail and cut into it, if you look at the outside of the house at a certain angle you can see where the material is puffing outwards:( This Mobile is so heavy it should of been moved from the sellers lot onto a foundation, we bought it from some people that bought it just to live in until their house was built, it took TWO mobile haulers to get it out of the spot it was in. We thought the spot we had it in was where it was going to stay, but the land was sold and we had to move (long complicated story) so we moved to a mobile home park, the cracks in the walls from the stress of the move was not a good sign as far as I was concerned! I have the same things with the weather changes, sometimes I can lock and unlock my front door with no problems other times I can't, key is slightly bent to prove it, things roll to the back of the counters when you set them down (and this was after releveling!)
The other thing I dislike heartily about living here is there is absolutly no where to go if there was a Tornado (and they happen quite frequently here) no shelter, nothing.
I also have 2 children and I don't think mobiles are built to withstand children, I have had holes in walls, doors have had to be totally replaced because of slamming, hanging on them and running into them.
Now the GOOD things about my home:) The windows do not leak, the roof is shingled and I can remodel the inside as much as I want and the cost of living is cheaper then if we was in a regular house, we have 2 years left and it is ours:) not many houses can be purchased on a 10 year loan. Granted as soon as it is paid for we are going to sell it and use the money for a down payment on a house, but it isn't because I just 'hate' my mobile, it is because my 2 boys need somewhere to call their own where they can run and play, they don't have that here. I also am a gardening fanatic and my poor little lot is already overloaded, I need a large yard where I can do my thing as well. If I honestly thought this place would take another move we would buy some acerage and build a storm shelter and be set:)
Insurance is easy for us we have used the same company the whole time we have had it, it is around 500.00 a year, it has gone up 100.00 over 8 years, I would say that is pretty decent, and it is good insurance, my brother had to replace a roof and they paid on it right away, and then when the roofers didn't get the roof back on before it rained, they paid them another check for property damage. I have heard horror tales from others about their mobile insurance though:(

I have tried for three years to like my 1987 MF home and cannot. I retired back then and bought a beautiful piece of property with a small income building in the front of the 5 acres. The mobile in on a hill overlooking the river and had two small wooded areas and a 1/2 acre pond. Ahhh, I though. I will make the mobile work for me, just so I could live here. New kitchen, new floors, a lot of paiting and decorating. It LOOKS really nice. It STILL does not function. Where to put the broom? A hamper? Coats and gloves? Dishes? Pots? Shoes? I turned the very small panty into storage for laundry products. The third "bedroom" is 8 by 7 feet. I use it for a sewing/decorative painting room and it is so hard to do any project becasue I have to move many itmes to get to the one I need at the time. AND ... Ahhh. because the trailer is so old, every season of the year I am visited in by many guests with the names of box elder bugs, Asian beetles, sweet ants, and black ants. I thought this would be my last home. My children love the location as the property is tons of fun for them and their children, but when they all go home, I am left (I live alone) with the problems. Resale value is almost nil because of the age. I have no insurance on it as no one will insure it. My realtor said I should take a loss and move on, but this is my retiremnet money, I am not physically able to work more than a few hours at a time. Sorry to be so negative, but my answer is a resounding NO!

I have a love-hate relationship with my mobile.

I hate the county we live in. The price was great, only $15,000. It was grandfathered in. So the county says we can't put any wider mobile than the 12 ft. we live in now.

We wanted to put in a basement and a 14 or 16 ft wide on that. My hubby came home depressed the other day after being told that we couldn't put anything wider on the property.

I'm still thinking that we could put a basement in and 'expand' the basement as wide as we want, LOL!

I'm wondering if pop-out's are counted in the width?

I'll tell you what I love most about this old, run-down, fixer upper piece of junk....it's almost paid for with the land beneath it, the apple trees, the garden spot, the nice well, our double car carport which we closed in and two bathrooms.

And Blue Velvet Elvis, thank you kindly for giving me hope. We have a mobile with a roofline like yours, except that ours is arched from front to back, and I've been trying to tell hubby that it shouldn't be a problem to do a roofover. I'll show him your pic, it's beautiful!!!

Breezy can you wall off the carports and make them indoor space? It's kind of a bubba thing but it could work if you did it right. Start by making it a garage, and keep going from there. You'd be grandfathered in on the carport so enclosing it shouldn't be an issue.

I recently purchased a 1997 Indies 28x70 at a repo dealership in new condition for 35,000.I absolutely LOVE this house. I am thirty years old and every since I was about 16 I wanted a doublewide someday. The day they delivered this house I broke down crying I was so happy. I still look at it and can't believe it's really my house. The only thing I do worry about is when I get older if I will be able to take care of it because I spend a LOT of time cleaning and someday I don't think I'll be able to keep up with it. Almost bought a 32x80 and glad I went one step smaller...Definetely too much to take care of their and too much house for one person anyway.....Indies homes are AWESOME!!!!!

Hi All,

It is nice to find others who also live in MFH. I live in a 1996 1500 sq ft. Spiral Manufactured home. I have ups and down with it. I like the floor plan and the land here in East Tennessee near the Smoky Mts. It has been a good house so far, not many problems with it except the basic home maintenace that can be expected. I do have a problem getting over the stigma that follows these homes. I do find my self getting very nervous in Severe Storms because I have no place to find shelter. But other than that I do like it. I allows me to stay home with my kids because the mortgage is low and the payments are affordable. we live on our own land so we do not have the issue of rent for a lot. It is placed on a Perm foundation to it is insured like a site-built home with all the perks that come with that. I hope that one day I will love it but for now it is where I live.

I just found this forum and can't resist joining in. We (emptynesters DH and I) lived in 2 singlewides while waiting to build our home on a pretty 4-acre hill, and we really learned to appreciate both of them--except for 15-degree winds sweeping under the second one where it was parked temporarily.

Now we're in a stickbuilt on the hill but have recently purchased a small singlewide on a canal in Florida, and I think we both like that at least as much in its own way. The big house simply doesn't compare as well as it should given its cost and upkeep, although I do love my kitchen.

The little Florida SW was built in 1962 and never refurbished, so is OLD, and the original part is about 50' long and only about 10' wide inside. It reminds me of Lucy and Desi's long, long trailer. The saving grace is a sideways extension to the living room. Talk about synergy! Simply doubling the original tiny 10x13 living/dining area creates a large room that always surprises visitors, and us, because it feels and lives much larger than just twice the width. The other rooms are tiny but we don't feel cramped because the entire SW benefits from the feeling of spaciousness that one room gives.

Another synergy that I have loved in all 3 SWs is the feeling of much larger size that the long hall gives, another reason we don't feel cramped. Our master bed is 40 feet away from front areas, after all, so no surprise that I never woke up when friends dropped by late the other evening. We call that the north wing.

Our kitchen is half of a 7x7' square, sliced diagonally, and could be bigger. :) But it works better than I thought it would, and doing sit-down Thanksgiving for the whole family is a project I could pass on to someone else in favor of maintaining an open fridge with salads and sandwiches the rest of the time. An old, cracked covered patio looking out at the canal needs screening if we're to use it in the warmer months, and we have to find another place for the washer and dryer sitting out there for me to be happy with it, but the big negative is the second "bedroom." Like others mentioned, it's like a tiny train sleeper with a single bed, unusable for most friends who might visit, and it's too cramped and dark for us to imagine wanting to use it for anything but storage.

Our fun with this little thing gets a big boost, of course, from the fact that we live in a considerably larger home most of the time, but we learned to really appreciate the larger SW we picked up for $2 while building and don't at all appreciate the mortgage we had to take out on the stickbuilt when construction costs ran over expectations. Selling right now is out of the question, but I'm already fantasizing about the possibility of someday ditching it in favor of a larger singlewide (maybe 14 feet wide even!) in a cool-summer area and keeping the winter one in Florida as long as nature allows it to remain in place (zoning probably wouldn't allow us to replace it if it were swept away).

I do know I'd want a singlewide again, with views and sunshine from the windows on each side, but in my fantasies it's actually 1 normal-size unit plus 1 or 2 smaller ones joined around a patio with a pergola and beautiful views. Then our 40-foot walk to bed could even be 100. Or maybe not. :) The 13x13 living room in one of the SWs turned out to be one of my favorites ever, so I'd like to copy it for a sitting room. Cozy and terrific for conversation.

And, of course, I'd be here getting tips on how to make it even more wonderful.

My husband and I moved from Ohio to Florida 4 years ago when we became empty-nesters and to escape winter. Since I am the only income earner due to my husband's health issues, we wanted to buy something that we could purchase with no mortgage but on a big lot.

We looked at several site built homes before purchasing our (then) 4 year old 2,000 sq. ft., 4 bedroom, 2 bath double-wide. We got a beautiful, open floor plan with 6" thick walls, TONS of tall windows with custom white plantation shutters, solid cherry stained wood cabinetry and crown molding, wood burning fireplace, tons of built in storage, double walk in closets in the master, all sitting on 2 wooded acres. For the same price, we could purchase a 1,000 square foot, 40 year old ranch with small, chopped up rooms on 1/4 acre! I love my house :)

I made 2 bedrooms into guest rooms and a third into my computer, sewing craft room. There's a built in computer room, so my husband has his space too.

I had never know anyone that lived in a DW before, and I am ashamed to say that I didn't want anyone at my new place of work to know I did. But, that has changed and I'm proud of my home and know that as we both get older that we have a very accessible home.

Ours does have a built-in recessed porch but I would love to eventually add a bigger front porch to make it less boxy looking. The skirting is a thick stamped cement like compound that looks like a block foundation. I have been planting tons of shrubs and flowers all around the house that when mature, will hide the foundation.

I love my house more each day. And my 2 grown sons and other family members love having a place to stay when visiting Florida :)

Hi There!
I do love my mobile home! it is a 1973 Beaumont 14x64 in a well kept quiet park. I bought it when I was 21 and Im almost embarrassed to say, Im now 49. I have looked at houses to buy over the yrs but instead always decided to "keep the mobile home for now". I am currently looking at a mobile home on land with a garage but because the home is a 1969 I cannot get financing and would appreciate anyones input on it....I have tried credit unions, my current bank Ive been dealing with for over 30yrs and also a mobile home brokers finance person...no luck...only because of the age of the home...even though it has been updated and in move in condtion.

We love ours! We've made a lot of improvements. Garage, sheds, porches (front and rear) deck, above ground pool attached to deck. Best of all, no mortgage!

Here's an interior pic.

I can't say I love it, but I do like it and even though I do pay a lot rent which is about as much as a cheap one bedroom I do like that it's my own and I do not share walls with neighbors.

We just Purchased a Deer Valley and we've been it only about a month and so far so good.We absolutely LOVE IT...Did months of research before buying and I really feel like we bought the best MFH on the market....2x6,exterior walls,2x4 interior walls,2x8 floor joist,radiant barrier roof decking,all 2x construction, all #1 & #2 grade lumber,double perimiter rail,10" overhang,insulated to meet code all the way to Canada and made to withstand a 90 MPH sustained wind...all for $48 a square foot.

In January we closed on a manufactured home on 7¼ acres in SW Georgia. Due to our lack of exposure in the manufactured housing market we initially had no idea the house was a manufactured (formerly mobile) unit. We were shocked when our bank said they couldn't do a mortgage on a manufactured home. Modular or site built would pass muster but they and the VA would not go for it. I'd say that is something to keep in mind when considering a manufactured home. We found other mortgage sources backed by FHA that took nearly six months to complete. To top that off our appraiser apparantly doesn't like manufactured homes so he initially gave the place a 17 year life expectancy which he upped to 22 later. Both our mortgage broker and real estate agent thought he was nuts. I cannot see how this place if even minimally cared for wouldn't last 50 years. A small benefit from this though is we'll probably have it paid off in a dozen years.

I stopped in the local Clayton sales lot to ask a couple of questions but the sales manager was a real asshat. I went in thinking our place was a "premium" unit as unless you know the signs to look for it's easy to assume this was a site built home. He said from my description it was a middle of the road unit. He wasn't real interested in entertaining any more questions so I left him in his own world without bothering him much more.

Our place was built in 2005 (no idea what model) manufactured by Brigadier who actually went out of business a couple of years before and I beleive was bought out by Clayton. We have four bedrooms, three full bathrooms but the master bath is huge with a huge split walk in closet all in 2,340 square feet (72' x 32.5'). The "skirting" is real brick around the entire perimeter, the axles are gone and it's supported by and attached to concrete pillars. The original owners had some hail damage a couple years back so the roof was replaced with a 50 year warranty metal roof. All ceilings are level with an 8' interior wall height.

I cannot say it is Caddilac quality but the place is solid. The most notable deficiencies include: 1. precovered wallboard, not standard drywall, 2. cabinet and drawer pulls were slapped on slightly crooked and not properly centered (some off by as much as a full inch), and 3. one of the kitchen cabinets (vinyl coated particle board) is sagging by about a quarter of an inch so the shelves are out of plumb.

Altogether though we love the place.

Yes! Yes! Yes! I love my manufactured home and I haven't even moved in yet! I lived in a 1973 DW my parents bought new from the ages of 13-18. It was a castle compared to the stick built home we had lived in up until then. I went through a difficult divorce in 1998, and had pretty much despaired of ever owning a home again. However, recently an opportunity presented itself and I jumped on it! It's a 1979 SW, 3/2, just the perfect size for a single gal like me. I'm not going to lie, it's in pretty poor shape. To make a very long, complex story short, the home was owned by the daughter of a close friend, and she was about to sell it for scrap. I was able to jump in and pay cash for it, for more than I think she would have gotten for scrap. I'm also in a very unique, once in a lifetime position, whereby for the next two-three years, in addition to my fairly meagre paycheque, three times per year I will receive a pretty good chunk of money, several thousand dollars. So I'm hoping, by God's grace, to renovate the house from top to bottom, all for cash, as I go. The house is perfectly liveable--my friends live there now, in fact. I had the opportunity to stay with them for the entire month of September (2015), after a year abroad, so I'm quite familiar with the place, Basically, it doesn't leak, and the appliances all work, and that's about all you can say about it. But after I put $20,000 into it over the next couple of years, it will be solid and beautiful too! I don't care about whether I can gain my investment back, because I will live there for the rest of my life, and then it will go to my daughter. I literally could never have afforded to own my own home any other way than by this somewhat bizarre set of circumstances. I'm going to renovate everything from roof(over) to skirting and everything in between. The kitchen will cost the most, of course. But I can do a lot of DIY, and I can source a lot of inexpensive and even free materials from the Habitat warehouse and good ole Craigslist, and from a little local shop where the owner sells used everything, and has quite a stock of stuff pulled from "deceased" manufactured homes, lol. I can't wait to turn this beast into the beauty I know she is! I LOVE MY MH!!!