Is It a Modular Home or a Manufactured Home?

Most people don’t know the difference.

I’m blown away daily, by how many Real Estate Agents don’t know the difference between a modular home and a manufactured home!

I see them listed in the multiple listing service as a modular home, all the time, only to find out that it is really a manufactured home. To add insult to injury, I’ve talked with them, and walked through a manufactured home, and they tell me oh – this is a modular.

How are we as consumers supposed to know the difference, when the ‘Professionals’ don’t know the difference? They think, that when you put a manufactured home on a foundation, it instantly transforms it into a modular home.
The fact is, that you have to put a modular home on a foundation, or it will have no support!

How far from the truth! A modular is a modular and a manufactured is a manufactured – period! End of conversation.

Well, I’m going to clear it all up, once and for all. Without going into a long and lengthy explanation, it goes like this:

• A modular home has no steel frame or wheels under it.
• A manufactured home has a steel frame under it.
• A manufactured home may have axles and wheels under it, if the installer didn’t haul them away.

That’s how simple it really is! Now you know the difference. If you know a Real Estate agent, please pass this on to them. If they don’t already know the difference, this will help them.

Of course, there are many other differences, too numerous to list here. You can get a more in-depth explanation of the different types of prefabricated housing at Prefab Home Buying Guide.

Modular homes are built in environmentally protected building centers and transported to the home site. As a result, they are much stronger than comparable site built homes.

The ‘trailer’ is then hauled away, unlike a manufactured home. Thus the name ‘Trailer.

by Bob Lindner - 7/20/2008

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Source: http://www-prefab-home-buying-guide.com