More Than Mobile -- Lower Prices And Better Quality Make Manufactured Houses A More Popular Alternative

Curtis Law and Stacey Anderson have been house hunting for months. They know exactly what they want and don't want.

They don't want to spend years fixing up an old place. They want a brand new house with thick carpets, freshly painted walls, a big kitchen with an island counter and wood cabinets, three bedrooms, a living room with fireplace and a master bathroom with a jetted tub and separate shower.

They plan to find those creature comforts in a mobile home.

Today's so-called mobile homes are no longer travel trailers suspended on concrete blocks. Metal shoe boxes with rusty rivets have given way to customized wood-sided houses with interior features that match site-built homes. Large decks, bay windows, French doors and walk-in closets are some of the contemporary touches.

Law, a plumber who is no stranger to construction standards, said he won't be looking at suburban subdivisions to find his dream house. He has been comparison shopping at mobile-home lots in Everett and King County.

Because less than five percent of mobile homes are moved once they are set on a foundation, the industry convinced the federal government over a decade ago to reclassify mobile homes as manufactured housing.

Factory-built houses include manufactured or mobile homes; modular houses; and kit or log houses. Today, nearly 10 percent of all Washington residents live in manufactured homes.

The mobile-home industry used to call its market ``the newly wed and the nearly dead.'' But today the appeal of factory-built houses crosses the spectrum of age and income.

From vacation homes to low-income housing for families, manufactured houses are filling housing market's affordability gap.

At the heart of the market are retirees like Peter and Dorothy Wohlhart, former Seattle residents who moved to Arizona in the 1970s.

``We are sun birds,'' says Peter Wohlhart, who owns a mobile home in Mesa, Ariz., and just bought an even bigger model to enjoy summers in the Puget Sound area.

He paid cash for a $42,000 model with two bedrooms, two baths, a den, living room and a big kitchen.

``You can have anything you want depending on what you want to spend. We have a high cathedral ceiling and plenty of cabinets. The quality and workmanship is important. I've been watching the workers hang the doors and connect the plumbing and they check and double-check their work,'' says Wohlhart, who still plans to winter in Arizona.

Bob Pollock, vice-president for sales at Glen River Industries, which has a manufacturing plant in Centralia, said manufactured homes are becoming popular for vacation sites because of cost and low maintenance. Glen River produces a log-sided model with a cedar shake roof that has been shipped to scenic corners of the west from Birch Bay in Bellingham to Taos, N.M.

Most manufactured housing shipped in Washington is destined for privately owned lots, often in unincorporated, rural areas.

Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Mount Vernon and Auburn are among Washington cities permitting such houses on individual lots within city limits. Seattle does not.

In the past, mobile home interiors looked like dark paneled tunnels. But over the past 10 years, the 14-foot-wide box has given way to more creative use of components.

Joan Brown, executive director of the Washington Manufactured Housing Association, said people today are buying double-wide models. The factory ships the house in two parts that are joined after setup on a foundation.

For about $36,000, a buyer can get a house with 1,400 square feet of living space, appliances, carpets and drapes.

In general, factory-built houses offer cost savings because of automation, year-round production schedules, mass production and reduced labor costs.

Law says he's looked at triple-wide models that sell for less than $60,000.

``The old ones were so small you could barely open the door to go to the bathroom. The new ones are like a regular house,'' Stacey said.

Law recommends shopping around to see what is on the market. Some dealers will include the cost of installing a foundation, setting the house, hooking it up to utilities and finishing the interior seams.

The base price of a manufactured house averages about $27,000. The selling price depends on options like skylights and extra insulation. The more you customize the house, the more expensive it gets.

When a modular or manufactured house leaves the factory it is about 95 percent complete. The sections are joined at the site, carpeting and drywall seams are finished, plumbing and wiring are joined and the molding completed. The quick setup saves money on construction-loan interest.

The most common way of financing a actory-built house is through the dealer, who generally know which banks and mortgage companies will finance manufactured homes.

Karen Russell, service manager for Heritage Homes in Everett, said lenders will make 20-year loans on mobile homes priced more than $15,000. Single-wide models, which often cost less than $15,000, usually qualify for 15-year loans. Buyers of older-model used mobile homes may only get loans for 7 to 10 years, Russell said.

The rates on financing a mobile home alone range from 12 to 13 percent, she said.

If the home and land are purchased together (as in a planned development), lenders offer traditional mortgages. To qualify for a 30-year- mortgage, the house must be permanently attached to a foundation. Russell said the interest rates for land packages have been running between 10 and 11 percent this year.

To encourage lenders to make loans for manufactured housing, government-insured financing is available through the Federal Housing Administration Title I program. The Veteran's Administration also guarantees loans for the purchase of new and existing home sites and manufactured houses.

Manufacturers generally offer a one-year warranty, but there may be other warranties offered by the dealer and by makers of the home appliances.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development oversees construction standards for manufactured homes. Therefore the agency also is charged with monitoring complaints. In Washington, the state Department of Labor and Industries also administers a consumer-complaint division.

One historic concern with mobile homes has been fire danger, especialy since many of them had only one exit. Today's manufactured homes meet more stringent fire and safety codes than older models. Two doors at separate ends of the house are required. Fire standards established in 1976 by HUD have decreased the incidence of fires in mobile homes, according to a 1986 study by Foremost Insurance Company of Grand Rapids, Mich. Fires are twice as likely to occur in site-built homes, but the severity of the fires is greater in mobile homes, the study found.

``Before 1976 there was no regulation at all,'' said Ron Clarke, a lobbyist with the Washington Manufactured Housing Association.

Older models also are more likely to have high levels of formaldahyde, which causes health problems for some people. In 1985, HUD established regulations restricting formaldahyde in manufactured houses. Formaldahyde gas is released from adhesives used to bond or laminate wood and to back carpeting.

State regulators say there's no greater safety problems in manufactured house than in conventionally built houses.

Most problems commonly occur during transportation and from improper setup, says Norm Williams, chief of construction compliance for the Department of Labor and Industries.

``The biggest complaint is about damage to sheetrock or siding during transportation,'' Williams says. ``Sometimes if a trucker is hauling down the highway too fast, the shingles on the house split and crack.''

If the foundation blocks aren't set correctly, the house may separate at the seams, he said. The state is trying to develop a training program to teach proper installation of factory-built homes.

``Most of the problems have to do with installation. Each manufacturer includes a manual explaining how to set up the house. When those rules aren't followed, we find walls cracking over windows and doors. If the foundation is on unstable soil there's settling damage,'' he said.

Another common pitfall for buyers of manufactured homes is not budgeting enough to pay for land and development costs. Adding gutters, porches, a carport and storage shed also can erode efforts to keep a manufactured house within budget limits.

Brown said a manufactured-home dealer and contractor should inspect the proposed site to see if it is appropriate. A contractor's estimate for developing raw land should include site clearing, grading, footings, water supply, sewer or septic system, electrical supply, road access and any necessary permit costs and connection fees.

And before you rush out to buy a manufactured house, make sure you have a place to put it.

Law said he has found long waiting lists at mobile home parks in the area. Rising land costs have caused mobile-home park owners to reconsider the use of their land. County housing officials estimate that 1,000 mobile-home owners will be displaced in upcoming years.

Because there's no room at mobile home parks, Law plans to buy land for a home site in rural Snohomish County. Even with the cost of land and development, he's planning to spend less than $90,000 for a new, three-bedroom manufactured house.

`For that price (about $90,000), I'd only be able to buy a noisy condo or a torn-down house that needs a massive amount of work. This way, I'm going to move in and have everything the way I want it.'

FOR MORE INFORMATION

-- The Washington Manufactured Housing Association has free booklets on selecting and buying homes. Call them at 357-5650, or call the Mobile Home Owners of America at 1-800-562-5928.

-- The state Attorney General's office has a handout called ``Buying a Mobile Home.''

-- The Washington Department of Labor and Industries, construction compliance division, takes complaints about factory-built homes at 753-6341.