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 At one time the only type of prefabricated home you could get was a house trailer. As the industry grew, so did the size of the homes. They were called mobile homes starting in the 1950's, when buying a mobile home was extremely popular and competition was fierce. Today, the mobile home has evolved quite a bit from its humble beginnings and the offerings are just as surprising.
Evolution of Mobile Homes
We all realize the size of mobile homes has grown up quite a bit over the last 80 years, but so too has the market itself. Annually, nearly a quarter of a million prefabricated homes are sold will values approaching $11 billion by 2007. And today's mobile homes are built to standards that make them safer than ever before.
Mobile home safety became a concern in the late 1950 and early 1960's. That's because mobile homes were originally built to be temporary housing. With more and more homeowners buying mobile homes to serve as permanent housing, the government stepped in to place quality controls on the structures.
Building Quality Mobile Homes
The first true set of builder standards appeared in 1976 and was developed by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. These standards were aimed at improving the overall quality of the homes themselves. As recently as 1994, HUD issued new standards to address things like wind resistance, fire safety, strength and energy efficiency.
These changes in building standards mean that buying a mobile home made before 1976 is a much riskier undertaking than purchasing one manufactured after 1976 or even 1994. You can identify a home built to the standards of 1976 by looking for a red label, which is a manufacturer's certification that the home was built to the HUD construction and safety standards.
Top Rated Mobile Homes
That's enough discussion of the history of mobile homes. Let's talk about some of the top rated mobile homes you'll find on the market today. To do that we're going to focus on three of the largest prefabricated home manufacturers - all with a national presence. This should give you a very good feel for what you can expect to find in your area of the country.
Clayton Homes, Inc.
Founded in 1966 and now owned by Berkshire Hathaway, Clayton Homes Inc. builds, sells and finances manufactured homes through 1,100 independent retailers and nearly 400 sales centers in 30 states. Clayton also owns and operates nearly 90 communities consisting of 23,000 home sites in 11 states.
Clayton has won manufacturer of the year honors for six consecutive years and has won the Retail Sales Center of the year award three times. Clayton claims to offer a full array of affordable mobile and manufactured homes including hundreds of different floor plans.
Champion Enterprises
Located in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Champion Enterprises claims to be the world's largest builder of manufactured homes. Since its beginnings in 1953, Champion has built 1.6 million homes located throughout the Unites States and Western Canada.
Champion sells through 16 brands, has hundreds of floor plans and has nearly 50 manufacturing plants located throughout the United States. The Silver Crest brand is often viewed as the highest quality built home in the industry.
Homes range in size from 800 to more than 2,400 square feet. Like all of the larger mobile home manufacturers, Champion offers turnkey services to new home buyers, including financing and site location.
Fleetwood
Fleetwood is recognized as a leader in the recreational vehicle and mobile home industry. Also starting out during the mobile home boom of the 1950s, Fleetwood has split its manufactured home business along two formal businesses lines - recreational vehicles and mobile homes.
Fleetwood claims to offer the best warranty in the industry, covering the home's entire infrastructure (electrical, plumbing) for the life of the warranty and without a deductible. In March 2005, Fleetwood Home won for the second consecutive year two "excellence in design" awards from the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI). Fleetwood took home the awards for the following two new home designs:
- Inspiration Home - Concept Manufactured Home Design, over 1,800 square feet.
- Metropolitan Home - Concept Modular Home Design, less than 1,800 square feet
Buying a Home
If you're thinking about buying a mobile home you're going to need to do your homework before making any commitments. We've got a lot of resources in this area including mortgage calculators as well as information for the first time home buyer. We also offer specialized help with topic such as closing costs. You'll find these articles and many more in the section of this publication dedicated to buying a home.
About the Author - Buying a Mobile Home
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