Part of the reason is because trailors are now being listed as manufactured homes. Inaccurate, however you will find them listed that way in phone books and real estate ads and when looking for parts for trailors! There is no comparison; they are not the same thing at all.

About 13 years ago, my parents and I bought a large (and beautiful) manufactured home in northern Calif. Every home in the 'park' had serious construction issues, but ours faired better than any other because my father and I were able to make random visits (almost daily)to the indoor building site. Obtaining homeowners insurance was a challenge. We were originally denied by 23 companies, finally being underwritten
by a small company at a dear price...$102.37 per month more than a 'stik-built' home. The company's rationale was that our home was considered a trailer. My comment for them was,
"Strange, I didn't see a trailer hitch on either section of the home!" Sadly, my observations fell on deaf ears.

I live in a 2500 square foot upgraded "modular" home that my wife and I had built in 1999. The problem that we had had more to do with finance institutions wanting to float a construction to perm loan in those days. My home was built by Foremost Homes of Greencastle Pa. Their products are impeccable. Even the fixtures and things that are installed, things that you may term "builders" grade are quality.

Any Quality company that sells modular, compartmentalized, system built, etc. will suppply you with any and all plans and details that you may need to contract well, septic and or sewer hookup, but more importantly; insurance companies want to know that your abode will be sitting on a solid foundation of some masonary product. The companies that we looked into guaranteed that all their homes, upon completion, would comply with all BOCA building codes. The rest is up to local state and couny building inspectors. They have to pass county building codes.

My only advice is that potential buyers choose a reputable firm with which to do business. As always, buyer beware. Be sure to do your homework before choosing a company and select on a combination of quality and price. We chose to act as our own general cont. and probably saved $35k dollars by doing so. Others may not be so inclined. The companies that build the houses have established contacts in the industry and also reputations with the local builders.

Do your homework. Make sure that you choose a modular company that will work with you when you're ready to fight the funding battle and the insurance battle should be easier. Our home is sitting on the second highest spot on what used to be grazing pasture in a retired dairy farm. When the wind blows in the Sheandoah valley, it doesnt play around. There have been nights when I thought we "werent in Kansas any more TOTO". Stick built homes in the neighborhood, most having been constructed by custom home builders, (up to 4000 sq ft) have all experienced some loose siding or blown away shingles over the past nine years. We have not experienced any of these situations.

The exterior of our home is 2x6 outerwall and it is rock solid. After all it traveled in 6 or 7 pieces for aprrox. 150 miles on a flat-bed. I wonder how many of the "custom" homes could be sectioned and hauled around in this manner. To sum it all up I guess I'm saying that the technology has been out there for a good while. The guys that set my home in place were magic. From the crane operator to the guys holding the ends of the cables they absolutely knew what they were doing. Their systems are down to a science.

I think that insurance providers need to open their eyes if they still belileve that modular equates to Double-wide. In the Gulf States there may be more concern for storm damage but from first hand experience I can tell you that some of these Mod firms build an outstanding product. Time to get into the 21 century and stop using feeble excuses for declining coverages. If I am ever faced with the prospect of building another home it will be a modular home. Cost, quality, and timeliness of modular cant be beat. I own a small handyman business, and come in contact with many contractors. Some say that they dont like modular homes. Most have the attitude that they make more per square foot building stick built. It's fairly easy to figure how that translates to the homeowner. Don't be afraid! Go "intelligently" modular and find a 21st century insurance carrier. Good Luck. Bill H.

FEMA did a report on Modular homes, post Hurricane Andrew(FIA-22 Item 3-0180)Stating Modular homes were able withstand the 131-155mph winds better than site built homes

I have owned several Mobile Homes and never had trouble insuring them. I use Foremost Insurance Company. They specialize in insuring Mobile Homes. Their premiums are very reasonable. All I had to do was give them the manufacture's name, the year it was built and the price I paid for it. I never had any problems with any claims that I had. Since I live in a very rural area all I had to do was give them a call, submit an estimate and they paid for the repair minus the deductable.

i have worked on mobile,sectional & modular homes for 30 years. like i tell everyone you can pull one down the road at 70 mph for 1000 plus miles & they stay together.they have the same problems a stick built home has.the problem with manufactured homes is peoples predjudic toward mobile homes.not everyone can spend 200,000.00 on a home.mobile homes have metal straps on most studs top& bottem.a mobile home also has many more supports under it.i hope this will help. beware the dealer they can be a shifty lot.look for a good reputation & word of mouth.

Good for you ! We've been considering a "manufactured" home - a Deltec, which is supposedly highly wind-resistant - and have been concerned about this as well.

If you're up for taking input from manufacturers, you might contact them - the durability of their structures is a major selling-point.

Thanks...PH

I DON'T HAVE ONE YET BUT,I DID DO MY HOMEWORK.A MODULAR HOME IS BUILT WITH THE SAME CODES AS A HOUSE THAT'S WHY YOU ARE ABLE TO PLACE THEM WHERE EVER HOUSES ARE.MODULARS AND MANUFACTURED HOUSING ARE DIFFERENT AND ARE NOT BUILT BY THE SAME CODES.SO IF YOUR HOME HAS THE SAME CODES AS A HOUSE INSURANCE SHOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM.

We have a modular home. While shopping, we were educated on the modular vs. mobile vocabulary. Our modular home was built under the same building code as "stick-built" or on-site building. The only difference is that our home was built inside, transported to the site in 2 pieces, and craned into place on the foundation.
"Manufactured" homes ARE mobile homes, not modular. There are totally different building codes for mobile/manufactured homes.
Builders of each are required to identify the building code under which they were built - we have a label under the kitchen sink with all the information.
We had no trouble with insurance.

I built a modular home here in Florida a few years back . Down here its a little new ,they also thought of them as trailors . But I had no problem getting insurance .There are insurance companys that know what they are and will tell you that these homes are built better and stronger then site built homes .My modular went thru the hurricanes here in Fl. and not even so much as one shingle lost ,Yet site built homes had thousands of dollors in damage .The wind speeds this home was built for were 215 mph .And the insurance companys that we talked to wanted our business bad .The reasons they gave us were , the modulars are built with higher specks ,better quility control ,and the biggest one was because these homes are built inside . Other words as they put it better quility then site built . Just look around there are many insurance companys that love insuruing modular and because of the above mentioned the insurance rates are sometimes alot lower then regular site built homes

I own a manufactured home, delivered to my site with wheels and axles that are removed after the house is set on the foundation. I didn't have problems with insurance, but lenders treat us as second class citizens. Some won't lend at all, others charge higher interest rates and will only loan 65% loan to value.