All Forum Posts by: Alberto Pina

I have heard it said over and over that mobile homes not only don’t, but can’t, appreciate. The other day I came across two articles that finally prove what I’ve known for years. Both the Urban Institute and Market Watch reported on recent data put out by the Federal Housing Finance Agency that demonstrates the appreciation of manufactured housing in direct relation to traditional site-built housing. The conclusion? Traditional housing grew at an average annual rate of 3.8% while manufactured housing averaged out at 3.4%.

According to the Urban Institute article, this is the first year the FHFA has released this kind of data on manufactured housing. It would seem all the bad investment myths surrounding mobile home purchases have really been opinions repeated often enough to sound like fact.

You can read the rest of my thoughts on this new report and what that will mean for the MH industry here - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fhfa-data-proves-mo...

What are your thoughts on the FHFA report regarding manufactured homes?

Jon, 

You have a few options. If you would like to act as your own GC and secure the licensing and insurance needed to get a brokers license, its really not overly difficult and you may be able to go through a factory directly. 

That being said, demand is very high in the industry at this time and several factories are no longer signing new brokers. 

My team and I built Mobile Homes Direct for the owner of Alamo Homes and then decided to launch our own company - Braustin Mobile Homes where we leverage technology to help families and investors shop for and purchase mobile homes entirely online and over the phone. Our business model makes the process faster, simpler and less expensive since we do not have the over head of a typical mobile home retailer. 

Its not entirely wholesale as we do have to make our margins to stay in business, but we work with a number of investors who would rather pay a fee to let us leverage our team and experience to deliver a turn key project. 

As for price, it all depends on how many bells and whistles you want in the home. We offer 2,000 sqft homes starting from the low 50's to the mid 80's plus the cost of factory direct delivery to your home site. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions. 

Alberto Pina

Co-Founder|Braustin Mobile Homes

Kyle, 

I'd be happy to help and know both sides of the industry well. There are several lenders that would offer financing for the home only. 21st mortgage is probably the easiest to get done, but keep in mind if this is a rental, they will want at least 20% down and only offer a 10 yr term. Still, if you are under 50k all in, you should still be able to cash flow with your projected rents. 

I would agree with Mitchell's comment. For 50k you would be able to get a 1,300 sqft 3BR/2BA doublewide that would get higher rents and open you renter base up quite a bit. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions. My brother and I co-founded Braustin Mobile Homes so feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions. 

- Alberto Pina