By KAREN FELDMAN
Pat Jones grew up in a singlewide mobile home, a cramped 1958 model she shared with her parents and three siblings. “There wasn’t even a hallway,” says Pat, 60. “To get to the bathroom, you had to walk through my bedroom and I shared that space with my sister.”
So when her husband, David, suggested they look at manufactured housing some years back, Jones wasn’t interested. “I said ‘No way. I’m not living in anything that small ever again,’” she says.
But a few years later, the couple decided to sell their Springfield, Ohio duplex, where the laundry room was in the basement. They wanted one-story living.
The long-time real estate agent and her husband looked at several condo developments but didn’t find one that suited their tastes at a price they wanted to pay.
Then they visited Park Hills Crossing, a 55-plus manufactured home community in Fairborn, about 30 minutes away. That’s when Jones had a change of heart.
“Manufactured housing has come a long way,” she says. “I didn’t have any concerns after seeing how well constructed they were and the other things they had to offer.” The Joneses moved into a two-bedroom, two-bath home in Park Hills Crossing in September 2003.
As real estate prices nationwide rocket heavenward, lots of retirees and those on the verge of retirement are discovering that today’s well-equipped manufactured homes in amenity-laden communities suit their lifestyles as well as conventional site-built houses, for substantially less money.
“One of the things that have changed over the years is that people want bigger and better houses” says Janette Weis, marketing director for Jacobsen Homes, a custom builder of manufactured homes for communities throughout Florida. “They want all the bells and whistles that they can get, because this is going to their permanent home,” she says.
Those who sell the family home often end up with enough profit to pay cash for that new home with money left over. Others opt to keep their house, cash out some of the equity and buy a manufactured home as a second residence.
The National Association of Realtors reports median home prices across the country rose almost 15 percent from fall 2004 to fall 2005. Some regions experienced even more dramatic increases. The Phoenix, Ariz. area saw a 55 percent jump from the previous year, while home values in Orlando and Fort Myers, FL shot up by more than 44 percent.
The price of manufactured housing has risen as well, but remains 10 percent to 40 percent lower than that of site-built structures.
What’s the difference? In terms of appearance and features, they are increasingly similar. But site-built homes are constructed on the lot from the ground up by various subcontractors who must show up in a prescribed order on a precise schedule that frequently changes because of bad weather, permitting delays or labor shortages. The result is that it can take six months or more to build one.
Manufactured houses are made in sections in a climate-controlled factory, then transported to, and installed on, a lot the buyer leases or owns. Factory workers who do the same tasks every day improve efficiency, which cuts costs, say industry experts, as does the faster turnaround time, which runs three weeks to six months. The houses must meet strict construction standards set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Modular homes are something of a cross between site-built and manufactured. The modules are produced in a factory, then taken to the home site, put together and finished off in accordance with local building codes.
“You would not consider buying an auto where all the parts are shipped to some garage and assembled there,” says Steve Reyenga, vice president of sales for Palm Harbor Homes. “The most efficient way to build automobiles is on an assembly line. The same applies to houses.”
Manufactured homes have traveled a long way from their humble beginnings. Originally called trailers, then mobile homes, these simple structures provided affordable housing in rural outposts and could move when their owners did. Today’s super sized models generally travel from the factory to the home site, never to move again.
Although they aren’t really mobile anymore, manufactured homes continue to be more affordable than their site-built brethren. The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that in 2004, the average price of a site-built home (excluding the land on which it sits) was $201,418, or $85.74 per square foot, while the average multi-section manufactured home cost $63,300, or $36 per square foot.
They may pay less but that doesn’t mean today’s value-conscious homebuyers are settling for a lesser lifestyle. Empty nesters may want to scale down to smaller quarters, but they don’t want to scale back on the comforts to which they’ve grown accustomed. Others simply want to lighten their loads, turning over property maintenance to someone else.
According to the Manufactured Housing Institute, 22 million people live in manufactured housing, 59 percent of whom are 50 or older. Surveys have shown that buyers are increasingly more technologically savvy and are opting for larger, more luxurious multi-section homes.
“With the 55-plus buyer, we’re seeing the incorporation of amenities that people had always tended to think of as being in higher-end, site-built homes,” says Michael O’Brien, the institute’s executive vice president. “There are great rooms, a den or office, elements of universal design in the kitchen, things that allow for aging in place.”
Jacobsen Homes has been customizing manufactured homes since 1959. “We have approximately 70 floor plans,” says Weis, adding that buyers can make changes to any of those plans or start from scratch. “We have people walk in here with little drawings on napkins” she says.
With Jacobsen’s new 2007 models available this year the company is offering granite countertops in kitchens and baths. It also offers wider CraneBoard exterior siding, which gives the home a wonderful look, says Weis, Interiors are getting an updated look as well, with greater variety of available paint colors in bolder and brighter tones, she adds.
Retiring boomers also want vaulted ceilings, crown molding and whirlpool tubs, fireplaces, walk-in closets and double garages. They might even want a second floor, although among retiree that’s uncommon, O’Brien says.
In states such as California, where real estate prices are among the highest in the nation, a two-story provides more space on the same amount of land as a one story, making them more popular there, O’Brien says.
Today’s buyers overwhelmingly prefer three-bedroom homes to two-bedroom models, says Bob Blatz, president and chief operating officer of American Land Lease, which owns 29 manufactured home communities in Florida, Arizona and New Jersey.
“They want that third bedroom for an office. Many are continuing with either some form of employment or they have a hobby that requires an office,” Blatz says. “They are at a point in their lives where they are willing to do some work, but don’t want to have to worry about their lawn. If somebody can take care of that for them, that’s great. That’s when they go out to play golf.”
Kitchens have gone upscale, too. Blatz says his company sells some homes with Sub-Zero appliances. “We continue to see people looking for a home in which they can entertain, “he says. “They’re not there just to age in place. They’re there to have a good time.”
Demand for upscale living has led American Land Lease to develop the Sebastian Beach and Tennis Club, a 55-plus community south of Melbourne on Florida’s east coast. It will have 530 homes starting at $190,000, some of which will sit on larger lots. There will be a 20,000-square-foot clubhouse with a computer room, fitness center, gourmet coffee shop, a sports bar and a 25-seat movie theater. Other amenities include a lap pool, a resort pool, and a tennis center.
“There’s an increasing emphasis on physical fitness and healthfulness and we’re really trying to build our communities around that,” Blatz says.
Not all retirees want to move to the Sunbelt though, so well-appointed manufactured home communities are springing up all over the country.
O’Brien points to Saddlebrook Farms, an age-restricted development in Grayslake, Ill., an hour from Chicago. The 700-acre development has 12 customizable models that range from about 1,100 square feet to 2,300 square feet and cost $126,500 to $275,000. Among the many options available are hardwood floors, crown molding, tray ceilings and French doors.
“It’s one beautiful community,” O’Brien says. “It’s an example of another trend: people wanting to retire closer to home.”
That’s what lifelong Ohio residents Jack and Sharon Clooney wanted to do. For 28 years, they lived in a large single-family house in Round Lake. But after their six children left home, “we had a big property to take care of, a big home to take care of and taxes were going up every year,” says Jack Clooney, 72.
Seven years ago, the couple moved to Saddlebrook Farms, about 4 miles from their Round Lake home. They paid cash for the house and liked the idea that they would know exactly how much their monthly bills would be. Saddlebrook, like many manufactured home communities, is a land-lease development, meaning homeowners don’t own the land beneath their houses. Instead they pay a monthly site fee, which includes the lot, property maintenance, upkeep of common areas and satellite television service.
“The monthly fee we pay here isn’t near what we were putting out in taxes,” Clooney says.
Now they have time for activities such as walking with the walking club. Jack is also the president of the development’s radio control flying club, which has its own field on the property.
Since the Clooneys relocated, Sharon’s sister and her husband as well as Jack’s sister and her husband have moved to Saddlebrook Farms and the three women spend a lot of time together. The Clooneys have more time to travel and spend part of January and all of February in Arizona, visiting their three children who live there.
“We enjoy the trips but we’re always happy to come back home,” Jack Clooney says.
Park Hills Crossing is another far-from-the-Sunbelt community catering to the 55-plus crowd. It’s owned by Bakam LLC, a third-generation family company that’s developed manufactured housing in the Fairborn area for more than 50 years, according to Rob Degenhart, grandson of founder Sherman Degenhart.
People who move to the development “are looking for a community like they’ve seen in a Sunbelt state but in the Midwest,” he says.
The ranch-style homes have two-car attached garages and look like traditional single-family structures. They have two bedrooms and a den or three bedrooms, and two baths. They come with skylights, a gas fireplace, a whirlpool tub, a large kitchen, a pantry and most have a great room.
“The rooms in just about every plan really flow into each other,” he says. “They are very much set up for entertaining.”
It was just the lifestyle the Joneses wanted and, although there are rules residents must follow, they aren’t as stringent as those they found at condo communities.
“Most condos restrict what you can do outside,” Jones says. “My husband’s not living anywhere he can’t have a rose garden and a vegetable garden. Those were things he was allowed to do here and that was important to him.”
Pat and David Jones bought a 1,740-square-foot split-floor plan with a two-car garage, skylights, a fireplace, and “a huge to-die-for kitchen. My dream kitchen,” Pat says. It has a walk-in pantry, lots of oak cabinets, a breakfast room and a large island. It opens onto the great room.
Pat created a home office in another room that opens to the outside, so she can have clients there while keeping her living space private. “I’m absolutely happy with my house,” Jones says. “And in the community, everyone is so nice. It’s a fun bunch of people.”
She doesn’t work as much as she used to so she has time for leisure pursuits. She and her husband started an informal support group that gathers two mornings a month at the clubhouse for coffee and conversation. There are bunko nights and social functions at the clubhouse. David, 62, likes to garden and fish and both are active in their church.
Demand for manufactured housing far outstrips supply in the aftermath of the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes. Many people whose older mobile homes were destroyed are replacing them with new ones that meet the more stringent standards for construction imposed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1994, after Hurricane Andrew devastated the Miami area.
In 1999, Florida strengthened its requirements for installing foundations as well. The results were dramatic in places such as Punta Gorda, which was ground zero for Hurricane Charley in August 2004.
“The much older manufactured homes did not perform well in hurricanes at all,” says Barry McCabe, president of Hometown America, which owns 135 manufactured home communities in 20 states. “There were places that had brand new homes (built in the last 10 years) and older ones side by side. The older ones were completely devastated but the new homes didn’t have a scratch.”
Palm Harbor’s Steve Reyenga says the company is proud of how its homes performed. He points to a Punta Gorda community with 175 Palm Harbor homes that took a direct hit. “We did not have a single home that we built that had a lot of damage,” he says. “The only damage to our homes was from flying debris.”
Jacobsen Homes offers a dramatic video that illustrates how its Florida homes stood up to the hurricanes, too. Jo Anne and Bob Reilly’s 2004 Palm Harbor model at Riverside Club Golf & Boating Resort in Ruskin, FL, near Tampa, withstood all four 2004 hurricanes. “We stayed for two and left for two,” says Bob Reilly, 80. “We didn’t lose a single shingle.”
They weathered the 2005 storms without incident as well. Riverside, an American Land Lease development, was the couple’s third move in Florida. They first bought a large house with a pool in Palm Harbor, but found it was too much property to maintain. They moved to a villa, but their neighbors were too busy to socialize.
When they visited Riverside, they liked it so much they bought right away. They’ve lived in their three bedroom, 2,000-square-foot home for two years and don’t plan to move again. The house has a double garage, sunroom and screened porch, tile counters in the bath and kitchen, crown molding and cathedral ceilings.
“I was surprised,” says Jo Anne Reilly, 72. “For the money, we couldn’t have gotten a single family home like this.”
After spending 3 less-than-idyllic years in Ocean City, Md., Barbara and Rich Stine discovered much the same thing when they visited Coquina Crossing, an Equity Lifestyle Properties development near St. Augustine, Fla.
“We loved our house but we had nothing to do,” says Barbara Stine, 65, of their time in Ocean City. “There was nobody there in the winter time and too many people in the summertime.”
Rich, 68, was interested in adult communities, although Barbara was vehemently opposed to the concept of manufactured housing. Nonetheless, they visited Coquina Crossing, in Elkton, FL, in the northeast corner of the state. Like Pat Jones, Barbara Stine changed her mind right away.
“Once we saw the community and the house, we just couldn’t get over what you could get for the money. I knew this was what was missing in our lives,” Barbara says.
It’s been almost 6 years and the Stines remain happy in their 2,000-square-foot Palm Harbor home, with two bedrooms, a den, screened patio, two-car garage, front porch and kitchen that opens onto the great room.
“It has a nice open friendly feeling,” Barbara says, as does the community.
“People were so friendly while we were looking around. It was a great feeling, like we belonged here,” she says.
Coquina Crossing has a 17,000-square-foot clubhouse with an extensive library, fitness center and heated indoor pool. There’s tennis, a theater group, dominoes, multiple chapters of the Red Hat Society and a full-time social director.
“You can do something every day if you choose to,” she says. “There’s always somebody to go shopping or to the movies. It’s fun. I hope I never have to leave.”