This handbook details the steps the shopper must follow when buying a manufactured home. It offers advice on choosing a dealership, negotiating with sales people, understanding mortgage options, avoiding common trouble spots in setup and delivery, and customizing the new home. Included as an appendix are the addresses of the state agencies dealing with consumer concerns about manufactured housing.

Writer and computer business owner Wes Johnson lives in York, South Carolina.

Wes Johnson
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 236
Bibliographic Info: 72 photos, tables, appendices, index
Copyright Date: 2005
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2209-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0327-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Preface      1
Introduction      5

1. Doing Your Homework      13
2. Custom Ordering Your New Home      24
3. Illustration of Customization      33
4. Dealing with Salespeople      38
5. The Devil Is in the Details: Responsibilities and Contracts      54
6. Cases from the Manufactured Housing Board      70
7. Who Owns the Bank?: Financing      93
8. The Walk-Through(s)      129
9. Solid Foundations      137
10. The Setup      144
11. Final Analysis      170
12. When Things Go Wrong      174
13. Indoor Air Quality      178
14. Making Your House a Home      193

Conclusion      203
Appendix A: Sample Requirements List      209
Appendix B: Sample Wish List      211
Appendix C: State Administrative Agencies for Manufactured Housing      213
Index      223

“perform([s] a great service”—Midwest Book Review; “a must-read consumer’s guide…well worth your time and money…the most helpful book available on the subject”—Kelly Garbato; “Outstanding. With millions of home buyers now opting for manufactured housing, don’t buy or build any home before you’ve read this well researched guide…packed with useful insights and hindsights that follow personal experience.”—Sandy Skipper-Lopez, National Director, Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings, Inc.; “Utterly the most remarkable, intelligent, informed, and honest accounting I’ve read anywhere—there is no room for doubt about the authenticity of [the author’s] experiences. Well worth the price for the consumer.”—Kristen Zehner, State President, Wisconsin Manufactured Home Owners Association, Inc.