2007 Will Be the Year of the Modular Home

2007 is already starting off as the year of the Democrats, the iPhone (wow, at 500 bucks) and the Iraq War. I think that 2007 will be the year where the real estate industry will finally wake and fully-embrace the idea of modular homes. Up to this point, so many players (lenders, appraisers, Realtors, builders, buyers) have knocked the product. They have all been claiming that this type of housing is not comparable to on-site construction. They are WRONG!

South Carolina is waking up to the changes. South Carolina has always been a state with a lot of manufactured homes but modular homes is a newer phenomenon. Builders and buyers in that state are seeing the benefits of modular homes. (I posted earlier about $1.4M+ modular homes in CA).

In a recent article here, buyers of these modular homes are not seeing a *mobile home* in a trailer park but a well-crafted home that was built in controlled environment that is 10-20% less expensive than a similar on-site constructed home. The naysayers are the site-built builders that just don't get it. Even the local Realtors who are the most skeptical (and the least educated on the product) are starting to see the benefits.

If you can sell a customer a home for 10-20% less than its competitors, aren't you creating instant equity for your client? aren't you creating a benefit to your customer? Isn't that your job as a Realtor? I would think in a slowing housing market, Realtors and builders would be looking for anyway possible to differentiate themselves from their competitors.