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Choosing a mobile home in Kansas
Homeownership is still the great American dream. It's also one of the biggest investments you'll ever make. In many respects, buying a mobile home is no different than buying a site-built one. Except for one important factor: Searching for a Kansas mobile home can be a whole lot easier than the more traditional method of buying a home.
Embarking on a quest to find your mobile home means that you'll be probably be visiting more than one retailer. However, unlike searching for a site-built home, you can find a wide range of Kansas homes - in many different styles and floor plans - in just one or two locations. Here's what you can expect in your search.
Plenty of homes to choose from. As many as 40 to 50 homes may be in stock at a mobile home retail location. It would take a lot of driving around to look at that many site-built homes. Since most mobile dealers represent many different manufacturers, that gives you even more styles and models to choose from.
All-in-one home buying. You can choose a Kansas home and the interior features you want - like carpet grade and color, window treatments and certain appliances -before you move in. With a site-built home, it's someone else's taste you're buying. Therein lies the rub. You've just spent your life's savings on the down payment of your site-built home; so guess what? No decorating money.
Designer-decorated model homes. Many mobile home dealers in Kansas feature models that are fixed up just the way you might dream your own home would look.
No one stealing the home you've set your heart on, out from under you. You've heard your friends' stories. They spend weeks, sometimes months, looking for the house of their dreams. Finally they find it - it has everything they've been looking for in one charming, cozy little house. But before they can even make an offer, someone else comes up behind them and makes the owner an offer they can't refuse. Gone is the house, and their home-buying endurance test begins all over again.
Short delivery time. There is no waiting for 90-day escrows to close, or in the case of purchasing a new site-built house, three or five months for it to be built (longer if bad weather delays construction). You just buy an acre somewhere and set up your Kansas mobile house in a few weeks.
Key Features of
Kansas Mobile Homes
mobile homes come in a variety of sizes, floor plans, interior and exterior colors, and designs. These include spacious living rooms, dining rooms, fully equipped kitchens, bedrooms, family rooms and utility areas. Depending on the size of your home site, you can choose a single-section or larger, multi-section design. On average, homes range in size from 900 to 2,500 square feet and can be customized to meet your needs and preferences.
Typically, a base-model mobile home includes:
Interior:
living room
kitchen with range and refrigerator
dining area or separate dining room
one or two bathrooms
two or more bedrooms
cabinets and closets
central heating system
water heater (standard is 30-gallon electric)
built-in furniture such as desks, entertainment centers, and bookshelves
carpeting and other floor coverings
window treatments
utility room
gabled, pitched, or flat roof
If you bought a site-built home, window treatments and new carpets would probably
not be included in the price of your home - you would have to buy them separately.
Types of Upgrades and Options
You can also get just about anything you want in today's mobile home. Today, most manufacturers use computer-assisted design, which means you'll have flexibility in choosing variations of floor plans and decor. Of course, you might have to pay extra for some of these options. Just like car manufacturers, there are "BMW's" of mobile manufacturers. Remember that you can negotiate with the dealer for what you want and how much you're willing to pay.
The following represents a partial list of upgrades and extras, items or features that are not usually included in a basic model. As you can see, just about anything you'd need or want in a site-built house, you can get in a mobile one.
Interior Features:
custom cabinets
walk-in closets
bathrooms with recessed tubs and whirlpools
porcelain (vs. plastic) bathroom sinks
wood-burning fireplaces
carpet upgrades
hardwood flooring
built-in desks, hutches, and bookcases
skylights
interior moldings
upgraded appliance packages
ceramic tile floors (vs. vinyl) vmicrowave oven
trash compactor
garbage disposal
washer/dryer
built-in indoor grill
real wood doors and cabinets
ceramic bathroom fittings
energy-efficient options, including thicker insulation*
vinyl windows (storm windows are usually standard)
*The National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards require separate
energy efficiency levels for the three different temperature zones of the United
States. However, you may wish to increase your home's energy efficiency even
more. There are a variety of optional energy packages available, such as increased
insulation, double- and triple-glazed windows, sheathing products, self-storing
storm windows, and "high-efficiency" water heaters, furnaces, refrigerators,
and air conditioners. Ask your retailer about available energy-saving features
and their costs.
In addition to interior upgrades, you can also opt to upgrade to vinyl or wood siding and shingle roofs. These upgrades are standard in double- and triple-wide homes.
More Options
These are options not offered by the manufacturer, but which can be negotiated
with a retailer if you're buying a land-home package. The following represents
only a partial list of what some of those options are. Additions and Alterations
awnings, enclosures around the crawl space (skirting is required in most land-lease
communities)
patio covers
decks
steps (steps with handrails are required in most land-leased communities)
garages
outdoor storage cabinets
cabanas
bay windows
What will it cost?
Depending upon what styles, sizes, and floor plans you choose, prices range from about $15,000 to more than $100,000, without land. mobile homes can be installed on your own land, in a rental community or in a planned subdivision.
While your mortgage payment may be your biggest expense, you'll have other regular and periodic payments. They may include utilities, property taxes, land rental fees, insurance, routine maintenance, and other service fees such as water and sewer. Today's manufactured homes are built to meet new national energy standards set by HUD. The energy-conserving features found in manufactured homes help reduce your monthly energy costs.
Quality Standards
mobile homes haven't just grown up and become respectable; in some ways they've actually surpassed their site-built home counterparts with a combination of tough construction standards and affordability.
mobile homes are built to meet the federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards, also known as the HUD Code. They're now constructed with the same materials and similar or higher standards as site-built homes. This HUD code regulates the home's design and construction, strength and durability, transportability, fire resistance and energy efficiency. It also sets performance standards for heating, air conditioning, plumbing, thermal and electrical systems.
Specifically, mobile homes must be built with 2-by-4s, comparable insulation and fire-resistant materials. They must be constructed and anchored to withstand sustained winds of up to 110 miles per hour in coastal counties. They have an average life span of 60 years or more, depending upon where they are sited and other factors.
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Kansas Mobile Builders who build homes in the location of your choice.