Purchasing a home or make any large purchase is sometimes intimidating to the first time buyer and even to seasoned buyers. I hope that in some way this article will help you make an informed decision about buying your mobile home. I've been in the mobile home business for a number of years and am tired of seeing good hard working people get scammed when buying a manufactured home.



Sometimes your local mobile home dealer and/or his sales team isn't as honest as they should be when describing the attributes of their product. They will exaggerate or sometimes even lie about their products, warranties, and their setup crew and what they will or will not do when setting up your new home.

There are things a person can do to minimize the possibility of getting taken by your dealers.

1. Do a lot of comparison shopping either in person or online. Find out how the various homes are built: the R factor of the insulation, 4 inch or 6 inch walls, pitched and shingled roof, vinyl siding, etc. Don't compare apple to oranges.

2. Do a search at your local library or online as to price, features, construction methods, etc. There are companies that have this information, such as, the NADA guides used by lenders to determine value.

3. Look around at your local mobile home parks and talk to managers and residents about the quality of their homes and what to look for. They can also tell you about their experience in puchasing and setting up of their homes and the cost to do so.

Check with your local lenders and find out who will do the financing of your new home. Some lenders specialize in financing and insuring manufactured housing. You can check online also for lenders, just do a search in one of the many search engines and you will find a variety of lenders. Look for the lender that has been in business for awhile and offers the lowest rates. The rates will vary widely sometimes between lenders and the type of institution, whether bank, credit union, or other finance company.

Whenever you have found the home you want to purchase be sure that everything on the contract is the way that you want it, then before signing it have an attorney look it over. A few dollars spent with an attorney can sometimes save you a bundle in money, time and frustration, trying to get warranty or setup work done.

There are various government publications dealing with the purchase of manufactured housing that are very informative. Do a search of government printing online. One such government organization is http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/, they have a wide variety of consumer publications.

These suggestions are meant to be a staring point for you to make an informed purchase and not meant to be all inclusive. However, if these suggestions are acted upon they will be very helpful for your search.