Mike Hoffman

There is a false economy with mobile homes, now called manufactured housing, due to efforts of the Manufactured Housing Association and their lobbyists. Manufactured homes have a useful life expectancy of about 40 years, when maintenance costs begin to exceed debt service on a new home. Manufactured homes, like most things on wheels, historically depreciate and are replaced. Our current economy is a bit different, but typically, a manufactured home in 20 years is worth about half what the owners paid for it (excluding land, septic well and other site improvements). Conventionally built homes have a useful life expectancy of well over 100 years. They are a very good investment in the long run and lead to generational wealth. With manufactured homes not being built directly on a slab or full foundation, the floor assemblies are exposed to cold outside air temperatures and have notoriously cold floors. Mortgage interest rates on manufactured homes tend to be 1-3 points higher than on conventional construction and home-owners insurance is as much as 10% higher per square foot. Manufactured homes are built far away, not hiring local contractors, electricians and plumbers for the build. They do not stimulate the local economy. If people built 1200 square foot conventional homes (the typical size of a single wide) they would find the monthly carrying cost very close to that of a mobile home and have a very good investment on their hands. Manufactured homes do not have the ability to put an addition on to the structure or have an ADU to help pay the bills. If we want to make housing affordable, we should have zoning districts with small lot size requirements and let people build a nest egg.