Luca Brammer | Hallmark Southwest

Manufactured Home Options Vs. Site Built Home Options

April 27, 2011 | 3 Comments | by Luca Brammer | Manufactured Homes

Many people think that a site built developer may offer a wider range of option in a new home compared to new home options offered by a manufactured home builder. This is far from the case. In fact, manufactured home builders often offer more options than your typical new home developer for a number of reasons you are about to discover.

Developers of site built homes typically work with a local design firm that they subcontract out the process of ordering many options through. Flooring, upgraded fixtures and sometimes even landscaping is part of the function of the local design firm’s function in the process of development. However, new home buyers are often restricted to using this particular design firm alone. Buyers in most residential developments can’t just go to home depot or lumberliquidators.com to order the flooring they want and have it shipped to site and installed. This is a significant limitation forced on a consumer when buying what is most likely their largest purchase in life. It makes sense that when buying a home, a home owner should be offered the maximum flexibility possible.

Contrary to popular opinion, manufactured home builders, in coordination with qualified retailers, offer the flexibility that home buyers ought to have when buying a home. There are two main reasons why buying from a manufacturer through a retailer can offer a greater range of home options.

First, manufactured home builders often maintain their own inventory of options just like a site built home developer in terms of flooring, fixtures, lighting and other upgrades. Buyers can select from any of these options or they can incorporate custom options when working with a qualified retailer. Retailers are not limited to use a company designated design firm if you do not particularly like the options offered by the manufacturer. Retailers can assist you locate the exact flooring options you desire and have them installed during the home installation process after the home leaves the factory. You may incorporate green landscaping from local landscape architects through the retailer or purchase other upgrades from wherever you can imagine and have them installed in the process of your home installation. SO when you walk in to your new home after installation is complete, you can literally walk in to a factory built home that is far more custom than a nearby tract home using a design firm. It may sound counter intuitive but it is true that working with a qualified retailer that cooperates well with the manufacturer can result in a very unique design.

The second reason why factory built homes offer more unique options is that many manufacturers focus on offering energy efficiency options better than site built home builders. It is true that any site built developer these days offers Energy Star(tm) appliances as an option, but do they offer energy efficient, sustainable building materials as an option? Do they offer solar photovoltaic systems as an option? The fact is, manufactured home builders typically offer energy efficiency options much more frequently than site built home builders do.

The days of manufactured homes and their prefabricated and modular counterparts being considered inferior to site built homes is quickly coming to an end. When consumers look online for green homes, energy efficient homes and the like, they are more often seeing factory built homes now.

Why Manufactured Homes are Typically More Energy Efficient than Site Built Homes

April 26, 2011 | 2 Comments | by Luca Brammer | Sustainable Living

If you have been searching the internet for keyword phrases like “green living”, “sustainable housing” or “green homes” you are most likely well aware that the majority of news and articles related to green homes is all about manufactured homes, modular homes, prefabricated homes and tiny houses. What’s interesting about these homes is that they are all made in a factory and transported and installed on a site or transported in pieces to a site and installed. There are a number of different reasons why the trend in energy efficient living is moving towards manufactured homes. This article discusses the various reasons why factory built homes are typically more energy efficient than site built homes.

The first clue as to why these types of homes are more energy efficient is based on a common value shared between all of the different kinds of homes aforementioned: they are all factory built. Homes that are built in a factory produce less waste. As such, less materials are required to complete a home than a site built home and the so-called “waste” produced when building a home in a factory can often times be used in another home within the factory. The factory itself is a controlled environment. This means that the entire build process is not exposed to the natural elements which can warp, deteriorate or render useless some of the building materials. This saves not only product, but time and money as well. The standardized building process itself produces time savings and cuts waste.

Another reason why factory build homes are often much more energy efficient than site built homes is that many builders focus specifically on energy efficient design. Not only is energy efficient design good for the environment, it’s good for homeowners and good for business. Energy efficient design is good for homeowners because it lowers the cost of supplying all of the energy needs of the home. Energy efficient design in heating and cooling systems combined with energy efficient design in insulation can save people hundreds to thousands of dollars each year. Designing energy efficient homes is good for business for two related reasons: (1) offering a product that will reduce the out of pocket expense of a homeowner when compared to a site built home is a significant benefit to the homeowner but an excellent selling point that manufactured home builders can point to in the sales process; (2) Efficient design is not limited to heating, cooling and insulation; it is also applied to a wide range of building materials that are used in the process that may be less expensive than others, more durable and environmentally friendly. You can, therefore, benefit the bottom line of a business while supporting the environment and cut the expenses of a homeowner.

The last reason that factory built manufactured homes are often more energy efficient than site built homes is due to the fact that energy efficient options, like solar photovoltaic systems, are more often offered by manufactured home builders than site build developers. Most site build home developers offer a wide range of options like flooring, exterior and interior upgrades. Some site built developers also include landscaping as an option. However, offering solar photovoltaic systems as an option on a new site built home has not taken off with the majority of developers. Manufactured home builders, like Hallmark Southwest, offer a wide range of energy efficiency options like the Net-Zero energy efficiency option that incorporates solar photovoltaic systems making it possible for a new homeowner to buy a home and upon moving in have most or all of their electricity needs taken care of by the energy efficient system itself based on normal occupant usage.

In short, factory built homes are typically more energy efficient than site built homes because the factory environment itself is conducive to energy efficient home building, consumer demand for energy efficient living in manufactured homes is increasing and manufactured home builders incorporate energy efficient design and options in to their homes because it’s good for the environment, for the consumer and good for business.

Manufactured Home Energy Efficiency Certification

April 26, 2011 | 3 Comments | by Luca Brammer | Sustainable Living

Who rates and certifies energy efficiency in manufactured home building these days? There are a wide variety of organizations and websites that help people understand what an energy efficient home is but in this article, we are going to focus on four groups that classify homes as energy efficient or help consumers make decisions about living as efficiently as possible.

The first group is the United States Environmental Protection Agency running the well known Energy Star program and they maintain guidelines for what meets the definition of an Energy Star certified product and their own definition of an energy efficient home.

The EPA maintains strict standards for what qualifies as an Energy Star Home. These four variables are:

Effective Insulation

Energy Star qualified homes must have highly efficient insulation in doors, walls and attics to insure even and efficient temperatures throughout the home thereby reducing energy consumption providing for the most comfortable environment possible at the lowest cost.

High Performance Windows

Energy and expense saving windows installed in Energy Star Home must comply with their standards employing new technology, highly evolved framing technology and protective window coatings.

Tight Construction and Ducts

A tight seal throughout the home insures that the home’s envelope, especially within the heating and cooling systems, provides for the highest levels of energy efficiency. Homes that meet these standards benefit from higher quality construction and lower maintenance costs as well.

Efficient Heating and Cooling Equipment

The heating and cooling systems employed must meet the standards of Energy Star rated heating and cooling systems.

Hallmark Southwest manufactured homes currently exceed Energy Star Standards. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, new home construction compliant with today’s standard building and energy codes produces homes that are up to 30% more energy efficient than homes built as recently as the 1990s. If the home is fully Energy Star qualified, the savings can be as much as 45%.

Another important group that rates and regulates “Green Home Builders” and offers another level of certification is the U.S. Green Building Council, a registered 401(c) 3 non-pro$t organization (http://usgbc.org). The U.S. Green Building Council originated the LEED
program, an internationally recognized green building certification system. According to the USGBC the LEED system provides “building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design,
construction, operations and maintenance solutions (source: USGBC.Org, http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?
CMSPageID=1988).

Southern California Edison provides a completely free guide to help consumers and builders benefit from best practices in their efforts to design communities and homes that meet their standards of energy efficiency. The free guide provided by Southern California Edison can be downloaded for free at: http://asset.sce.com/Documents/Shared/2010_CAHPHandbook.pdf.

The last mention in green building certification programs that can help consumers make informed decisions is BuilditGreen.Org.
BuilditGreen.Org is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping consumers and professionals build green living environments focusing on
both consumer and commercial applications. This non-profit agency has developed guidelines for both building construction and landscaping. On their website you will find a wealth of information, however, their building guides are not free. While the building guides are for sale they are rather inexpensive. They do offer a free construction guideline spreadsheet that helps consumers with site plans and preparation, foundation guidelines, landscaping planning and infrastructure, structural framing and building envelopes, siding, insulation, plumbing, heating ventilation and air conditioning, renewable energy concerns, building performance, finishing, flooring, and finally a lighting and appliance selection. You can download the spreadsheet free of charge from the following URL: http://www.builditgreen.org/guidelines–checklists/.

If you would like a free resource guide that takes you through not only all of these resources but serves as a guide for manufactured homes in general, you can download our free guide providing homeowners with a wealth of information about manufactured homes and energy efficient living free of charge. Follow the following link to download our free guide now: Manufactured Home Guide.

Free Manufactured Home Buyers Guide

April 25, 2011 | 2 Comments | by Luca Brammer | Manufactured Homes

Hallmark Southwest is proud to announce our new guide on manufactured homes: A Reference Guide to Your New Manufactured Home from Start to Finish. The goal of the free manufactured home guide is to help consumers make critical decisions throughout the manufactured home buying process.

You may download the guide for free here: Manufactured Home Buyers Guide

In total, the guide covers the following important information:

Important Key Terms and Phrases all Manufactured Home Buyers Should Know
Executive Summary of the Manufactured Home Buying Process
Retailer Visit Checklist
Manufactured Home Tour Checklist
Chapter One: What is a Manufactured Home?
Chapter Two: Before you Buy: Thinking Through the Basic Requirements
Chapter Three: Tests, Permits and Site Preparation on Private Land
Chapter Four: New Home Options
Chapter Five: Energy Efficiency and Solar Options
Supplemental Resources

The key terms and phrases section informs consumers not only about standardized phrases, but also new developments in the industry as it pertains to government standards for building and safety, new developments in the world of finance in the post mortgage meltdown world and a wide variety of important keywords and terms in energy efficiency as well.

The executive summary section is like no other we have come across as it reflects the lived experience of the manufactured home buying process. Most of the home buying process summaries we have seen online are published in a very static format, e.g. step one, step two etc. Instead our guide presents the steps in a dynamic format showing how many consumers need to make multiple decisions simultaneously to get the job done right.

Our retailer and manufactured home tour checklists provide buyers with an extensive list of questions to ask both retailers and manufacturers before they make a final decision about any home builder or retailer to make excellent comparisons and choices.

The first chapter that covers the historical definition of manufactured homes goes above and beyond providing the critical differences between many terms that are used interchangeably like mobile home, manufactured home, modular home, prefabricated home, panelized homes and other important terms as well.

If you are looking to plan out the entire process of buying and installing a manufactured home, chapters two and three help consumers navigate through the complicated process. These chapters help consumers decide on important factors like whether they should live in a planned community or on a privately owned lot, whether a park model home may suit their needs and also provides a wealth of resources for understanding the basics of many required manufactured home permits, tests and site preparation requirements.

Chapters Five and Six take the homeowner through the wide variety of new home options available, helping them understand why some options can be installed during the construction process and why others are done on site for the purpose of both efficiency and cost savings. If you are interested in green living and energy efficiency, the guide also provides a wealth of information on solar photovoltaic systems and a description of our exclusive Net-Zero energy efficiency options.

Finally, consumers benefit from a wealth of supplemental resources in the guide giving them access to a database of solar tax incentives by state, government links, energy efficiency links and other consumer oriented material.

If you would like to download the guide completely free of charge, just follow this link: Manufactured Home Buyers Guide

California Manufactured Homes: Resources for Home Buyers

April 25, 2011 | 3 Comments | by Luca Brammer | Manufactured Homes

There are a wealth of resources for buyers of California manufactured homes online. This article is designed to help consumers think through the entire process of buying a manufactured home in California from start to finish. As such, this article will cover how people search for manufactured homes online and the ups and downs of doing so. In addition, this article will cover important resources online, specifically, government websites and resources for energy efficient living as well.

How do most people start their search for manufactured homes? The answer is: online. But when you type in a search query like “california manufactured home” in google, yahoo, or Bing (formerly MSN), you will get a mixed bag of results as it is a very competitive marketplace online these days. In this mixed bag of results you will get manufactured home builders, manufactured home retailers and builders and retailers that may not even provide services in California. So how do you know how to make critical decisions? Here’s a simple plan:

First Step. Distinguish between builders and retailers online. Builders only sell their products and will most obviously provide only positive information about their products and services (as is expected). Moreover, many builders themselves may not sell directly to the public. Many builders work with independent retailers that sell one or more manufactured home product lines. Retailers may sell one or more lines of homes from manufactured home builders. They may favor one line of product over another merely for financial incentives they derive from the sales of those products so it’s important to do a careful comparison of standard featured and benefits of various homes if you intend to visit a retailer you meet online.

To make a very well informed comparison, it might be useful to have checklists for both manufactured home builder and manufactured home retailer visits. Hallmark Southwest offers these completely free of charge on our guide to manufactured homes. You can download the free guide here: Manufactured Home Guide.

Second Step. Once you’ve found both builders and retailers online you think are favorable, draft a list of question to ask them all. Determine what company seems to offer the best standard features. Compare products and pricing before you go out in to the real world. Once you meet a builder or retailer yourself, ask them those questions and compare your findings with what you are told.

Third Step. Before making any decisions, check out the resources available online. Here’s a good list of resources in California to help you make a critical decision:

California Department of Housing and Community Development; Information on Manufactured Home Construction and Sales: http://www.hcd.ca.gov/codes/mhp/12-19-07MHconstrction.pdf

State of California Manufactured Home Code Matrix: http://www.hcd.ca.gov/codes/fbh/CodeMatrix.pdf

Listing of HUD Offices by State: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/states

Manufactured Housing Institute: http://manufacturedhousinginstitute.org

How to Buy a Manufactured Home by The Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/homes/rea06.shtm

California Department of Water Resources: Construction, Alteration and Destruction of Wells: http://www.dpla.water.ca.gov/sd/groundwater/wells.html

Features and Benefits of Energy Star Homes: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new_homes.nh_features

U.S. Green Building Council: http://usgbc.org

California Advanced Homes Program: http://www.sce.com/b-rs/bb/cali-new-homes/california-new-homes-program.htm

Solar Homes Partnership: http://www.gosolarcalifornia.org/about/nshp.php

Database of State Tax Incentives for Solar Energy: http://www.dsireusa.org/

Using this list of links in conjunction with our free manufactured home buyers guide will help you make educated decisions about one of your most important purchases in life.

The Process of Hooking up Utilities to a New Manufactured Home

April 1, 2011 | 1 Comments | by Luca Brammer | Manufactured Homes

In general, most buyers of manufactured homes either set up their homes on private land or in a planned community. If you are planning on building on private land that you own, the process can be a bit overwhelming. The purpose of this article is to help people understand the process of setting up their home with necessary utilities.

Here is a simple list of the things you will need to get your project off the ground on private land:

A thorough understanding of the requirements to get water, utilities and sewerage connected to your home in your area

A soils report

Site survey

Knowledge of and permits for, if applicable, local planning department guidelines

Home building permit

Permits for electrical, mechanical, plumbing and structural work.

Lots without existing water supply will require a well or a hookup to a local water district. If you are interested in and if the area allows for a well, the process of drilling a well can be complicated and, in most areas throughout the United States, a licensed contractor is required.

Prior to the construction of a well, permits are typically required in all areas. Once a permit is submitted and approved the construction process can begin. When finished, a completion certificate must be obtained, filled out and submitted in most areas throughout the U.S. within a certain time frame.

Should your land have public water and a meter on site, connecting water to the home is much easier. This is done through the installation process and the required permits will be obtained through the assistance of your retailer. If there is no public water meter at the site and you want public water then you will need to consult with your local water district, city or county planning departments. If water is not available in your immediate area and you wish to install a meter, this can be very expensive. Factoring the cost of a water meter in to your plans is critical.

As it pertains to sewage, in most areas the same agency that handles water handles sewage, that is, if you want to hook up to city or county services. If your lot has sewer access nearby then, like water, your installer and/or retailer will help you with the process of hookup and permits if applicable. If your lot does not have access to local sewer hookups then you have two options, generally speaking: (1) paying for a local agency to bring sewer hookups to your site or installing a septic tank.

If you research and find that city or county sewer services are available to be brought to your lot, you will need to contact your local department that handles this process and determine (a) cost and (b) permit requirements. If access is far away from your location, the cost of bringing the service to your site can be very expensive. Again, in many areas, the agency that handles water service also handles sewer so contacting the local agency is key.

If you want a septic tank instead, there are a number of different requirements you will need to fulfill. First, a septic tank requires a percolation test and a permit to install. A percolation test determines how well the soil on your lot can absorb wastewater. Percolation tests are conducted by contractors and are overseen by a local inspector in most cases. To install a septic tank, your lot will have to pass a percolation test and you will have to get a permit to install the septic system. Your city or county will want to inspect the septic tank prior to completion to determine whether or not your new tank meets local guidelines. Once the tank has been inspected and approved, your contractor can finish the burial of the tank and you will be able to obtain a certificate of completion.

In today’s world of modern manufactured housing construction, builders can add solar panels to power the entire home or add enough solar to supply some of the electrical needs. However, many people will buy a new home with the intention of hooking the home up to the local electrical and gas grid supplied by the power company in the area. Find out from your retailer or installer who the local power company is. Call them to determine an approximate cost to bring gas and power to your home. Note, however, if they need to bring gas and power to your home from a distance, they typically will only bring the power and gas lines to your property line. As such, you will need to factor in the cost of bringing the gas and power from your property line to your home (typically accomplished through trenching).

Installation requirements and codes vary from city to city and from county to county. Moreover, you will need to follow the precise guidelines of the agency responsible for providing the permits for installing the following: electrical meter, electrical panel, air conditioning unit, gas lines, water heater, furnace and, depending on your area, other additions like built-in appliances and even ceiling fans in some locales.

Setting up utilities for a new manufactured home may be an involved process. However, understanding the steps involved will make the process much easier.

What is a Manufactured Home?

March 31, 2011 | 2 Comments | by Luca Brammer | Manufactured Homes

When people think of manufactured homes, a great number of images, concepts and thoughts come to mind. This article is designed to enable a prospective manufactured home buyer to understand the proper definitions of various manufactured home types, understand the regulatory agencies involved in manufactured home construction and also understand the major differences between mobile, manufactured, modular and prefabricated homes. In our experience, many consumers and even homebuilding industry insiders incorrectly use these terms interchangeably. It’s important for consumers to know these differences so they understand the standards that manufactured home builders must live up to.

In 1974, an act of Congress designated the Department of Housing and Urban Development as the regulatory agency for manufactured homes. All manufactured home builders are required to build their homes to the minimal standards set forth by HUD. The Department of Housing and Urban Development provides access to local offices in every state and finding these local offices is quite easy to do online. The following URL will link you to a directory of HUD offices by state: ( http://portal.hud.gov:80/hudportal/HUD?src=/states ). Following the link to your state within this directory will lead you to a local HUD office.

State and local agencies also play a role in the regulation of the manufactured housing marketplace. For example, in California, The Department of Housing and Community Development administers the Manufactured Housing Program, a state government body responsible for regulating and enforcing both HUD and state specific manufactured housing codes. Counties, cities and local architectural commissions may pass stricter code standards and manufactured home buyers must make sure they understand local permitting issues so their new home will be installed properly within these locations and meet local building codes.

The state agencies like the California Department of Housing and Consumer Affairs also serve as a general complaints board. HUD refers to the state bodies as “SAA’s”, that is, State Administrative Agencies. These agencies are required to inform HUD of all complaints filed each and every month within the state to insure consumers complaints are addressed properly.

So, what exactly is a manufactured home according to the parent agency, that is, HUD? According to HUD…

“A manufactured home (formerly known as a mobile home) is built to the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (HUD Code) and displays a red certification label on the exterior of each transportable section. Manufactured homes are built in the controlled environment of a manufacturing plant and are transported in one or more sections on a permanent chassis.”

While the HUD definition describes what their agency refers to as a manufactured home, their definition leaves a lot to be desired. In the course of performing research on manufactured homes, you will most likely encounter the following terms: manufactured home, modular home, panelized home, pre-cut home, and mobile home. Here are some working definitions of the various kinds of manufactured homes on the market:

Manufactured Homes: Homes built completely in a factory following the standards of the federal building code codified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The safety standards were made mandatory by HUD on June 15, 1976. Manufactured homes are either single or multi-section construction, built in a factory and shipped to a site and thereafter installed. The best part about homes that are truly “manufactured homes” is that they are built in compliance with the only federally-regulated national building code.

  Modular Homes: Like manufactured homes, modular homes are built in a factory. Unlike the manufactured homes, however, these homes are built to local, or state codes, not the federal code established by HUD.

Panelized Homes: Instead of building a home in large, transportable sections that are essentially complete when leaving the factory minus installation, panelized homes come in multiple “pieces” referred to as panels. Like modular homes, panelized homes are built to local or state standards and codes and not the HUD code.

Mobile Homes: Generally speaking, “mobile homes” refers to any home built in a factory, either partially built or completely built, prior to the establishment of the HUD code.

Other terms and phrases you will find more frequently include: “park model home” and “prefab” or pre-fabricated home. Park model homes are most often designed to be installed in recreational vehicle parks. Park model homes, typically required to be under 400 total square feet, are built to comply with the ANSI 119.5 Standard for Recreational Park Trailers. This type of home is licensed and titled as a Recreational Vehicle. Park model homes are built on a single chassis, are mounted on wheels and are less than 400 square feet. The chassis of a Park Model is typically less than 8 feet and six inches in width and needs no special permits to be towed. These smaller park models can be kept on their wheels and remain mobile for easy transportation.

Prefab or Prefabricated homes typically refer to what the Manufactured Housing Institute refers to as a modular home. These homes are designed to be permanently affixed to a foundation. These homes are built completely within a factory environment and the pieces, that is, modules, are shipped to the site. Some prefabricated home manufacturers ship entire modules and piece them together on site and others will ship both modules and panels and piece the home together on site.

Whether a park model home, manufactured home, modular or prefab home is what you are looking for, they all share a wide variety of benefits when compared to homes completely built on site. The following is a brief list of the benefits of homes built entirely or mostly built in a factory:

Manufactured home prices are typically 10%-30% less per square foot than comparable, custom site built homes.

The quality of manufactured homes is often higher.

The entire process of the build is controlled by a single team in a factory environment.

The factory environment is controlled and construction materials are not subjected to harsh environments during the build process. Less waste is generated in the process as well reducing the amount of materials ending up in our landfills.

The time required to install a manufactured home on a permanent site is significantly less that the time required to build a site built home from the ground up (weeks versus months).

Nowadays, many manufactured home builders offer energy saving options that site built homes rarely offer like Net Zero Energy packages designed to meet the specific needs of the homeowner.

Most contemporary manufactured home builders offer a wide range of options that are equivalent, if not superior to custom site built home options.

Floor plans offered by manufactured home builders are highly customizable. Many manufactured home builders offer multiple variations on a single model and may even offer custom design options as well.

Manufactured home builders must submit their plans to state regulatory agencies prior to building homes for their clients. This means that manufactured homes sold by retailers in your state meet the minimum federal and state codes before they are sold to the public saving consumers both time and money.

Understanding the basic definitions related to various types of manufactured homes is important so that you can choose the right type of home for your needs. Furthermore, knowing that the industry of manufactured home building is the only federally regulated home building industry and is highly regulated is a comfort to many homeowners. Still, some people will find flaws in the finished product. Remember, the home is built by a manufacturer, installed by contracted set-up crews, and the entire process is overseen by either the individual homeowner or a selected retailer. Flaws in the finished product, therefore, may result from any one of these stages of development and installation. The role of the SAA is to assist the homeowner file complaints formally and insure that HUD is made aware of specific problems in order to insure a prompt response to all valid issues raised by the homeowner.

How to Finance an Off the Grid Solar Home

March 29, 2011 | 1 Comments | by Luca Brammer | Sustainable Living

Consumers from all walks of life come to Hallmark-Southwest for answers on how to build their very own version of a perfect home. More and more frequently, consumers of ours and consumers around the globe are looking for a means of financing sustainable energy solutions when buying a home. This is especially true for people that want to live off the grid. To be clear, by living off the grid, I mean not connecting your home to a local power company at minimum. At maximum, this can include not hooking your home up to a city or county sewer system or any other public utility of any kind.

The specific question this article tries to answer is more focused on how to finance solar photovoltaic systems in to manufactured homes specifically, focusing on the unique conditions that many people that want to live off the grid face.

The first challenge some people face that want to live off the grid is that they plan to live in areas where utilities are not present in the first place. This may sound redundant, but it’s important for one reason: in many of these areas, appraisers have a difficult time estimating the value of a property since they are in remote or rural locales. This is not to say that an appraiser cannot determine value by extending the area of comparable sales beyond the traditional appraisal process. It is to say, however, that when values are determined based on non-traditional, yet perfectly legal and ethical means, home loan underwriters tend to use a more careful eye when signing off on the estimated value of a property. So, let’s assume that a solar photovoltaic system costs a consumer $30,000.00 as a line item in construction costs. The estimated value of the home, according to an appraiser is $350,000.000, yet the total amount of the loan requested is $280,000.00 meaning, the buyer is willing to bring a 20% down payment. Now assume the lender disagrees with the estimated value as the property, in their estimation, is not as valuable as other homes that are 10-15 miles away, the nearest comparable sales. In fact, the lender will only give the home an estimated value of $325,000.00 and still wants a 20% down payment. This means the maximum loan amount is now $260,000.00, $20,000.00 less than what the buyer was planning on. To make the deal work, the buyer can either (a) bring more money to the closing table to cover the shortfall or (b) exclude their much desired solar photovoltaic system or (c) find financing for the solar PV system after closing escrow.

These are some of the troubles experienced not only by people that live in rural or remote areas, but also by buyers that live in traditional areas as well due largely to increased scrutiny in the loan underwriting process and declining property values. So, it’s not necessarily that people who want to live off the grid are getting treated unfairly, it’s more like a perfect financial storm has caused many of these problems.

So what are some available solutions? First, and most obviously, put more money down during the escrow process. Second, acquire the solar photovoltaic system after escrow has closed through a completely different process and determine if your manufactured home builder maintains financing for solar photovoltaic systems or can direct you to a source. Often times, the companies that work with solar PV systems can point you in the right direction easily.

Manufactured Homes and Energy Star Certification

March 28, 2011 | No Comments | by Luca Brammer | Sustainable Living

The phrase Energy Star and the Energy Star brand are both clearly recognizable to consumers. Anything associated with the phrase or wearing the Energy Star label is considered energy efficient to most people. However, few people really know exactly what the Energy Star certification process is like or how the Energy Star program works when it comes to rating manufactured homes.

The purpose of this article is to demystify the commonly seen Energy Star label and program and explain how manufactured home builders get to wear the Energy Star label. First and foremost, a bit of history is in order. The Energy Star program was started by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 with the goal of rating products based on energy efficiency with the goal of reducing green house gas emissions. Since then, the Energy Star program has grown from rating products like refrigerators to more complex systems such as manufactured homes.

The Environmental Protection Agency chooses products to wear their label based on the following principles.

(1) Categories of products to be rated must be able to significantly reduce energy consumption nationwide, e.g. a company that produces an energy efficient widget intended for use in one location will most likely not be rated. Another company that produces a similar widget intended for mass production will meet the guiding principle to be rated.

(2) In addition to delivering energy efficiency, the product must meet consumer needs and demands

(3) The product must be cost effective, that is, if it costs more than other products that are less efficient, consumers would need to recoup the premium over time through reduced energy costs.

(4) Energy conservation should be able to be achieved through non-proprietary technology and through more than one manufacturer.

(5) The consumption of energy of a product must be open to empirical testing.

(6) The label of rated products must be clearly recognizable to consumers.

If a product meets these basic principles and passes scrutiny based on the specific criteria of the Energy Star program, it may wear the recognizable Energy Star Badge. Since 1992, manufactured homes may also wear the badge and be certified through the Energy Star program.

At present, Hallmark-Southwest exceeds Energy Star standards through our standard construction process. We use energy efficient products in our construction and also offer a wide variety of energy efficient options, one of which exceeds Energy Star standards and has the potential to meet or exceed the electrical requirements of homeowners depending on their consumption habits.

This new option we offer is referred to as a Net-Zero energy efficiency option. Through advanced systems and engineering, coupled with solar photovoltaic systems, we truly offer consumers the ability to potentially produce all of their electrical needs with a Hallmark-Southwest home.

Manufactured Homes: Sustainable Living Solutions

March 18, 2011 | 1 Comments | by Luca Brammer | Sustainable Living

There is a growing perception that manufactured homes, modular homes and pre-fabricated homes are built specifically for sustainable living and energy efficiency. Far more often than not, internet searches for “green homes”, “energy efficient homes” and “sustainable homes” return search results for manufactured homes of all kinds. For whatever reason, it’s a good thing for consumers. The leading builders of manufactured homes are keenly focused on increasing energy efficiency in home design to satisfy a growing consumer and environmental need.

The needs that many builders are catering to are consumers that want to build homes in remote areas an in high end areas where general contractor fees are sky-high.

If you are considering building a home in a remote area, manufactured homes are the way to go. It makes perfect sense: If you want to build a site built home in a remote area, then you’ll need a general contractor and subcontractors. Coordinating electric, plumbing framing, foundation work, finish carpentry and every other detail in a remote area can be very difficult. You may even find it impossible to get certain kinds of subcontracting specialists to perform work and if you do, it may be at a considerable premium. These considerations don’t even take in to account that local specialists in remote areas my not be well versed in energy efficient design or building.

Australia is known for its vast, expansive and unpopulated areas and many people find it desirable to build homes in these areas to “get away from it all.” A recent ABC News Australia report, Modular homes offer cheaper remote housing discusses this problem referring to homes built in a factory and assembled on site as the most preferable method given the remoteness of their West Coast and the cost savings. In fact, Australians are saving 30% on construction costs on average using modular homes constructed from cement, transported to their remote West Coast.

A growing number of individuals and families are looking to manufactured housing in America in either remote areas or in very high-end locales where site build home contractors charge excessively high premiums. In both areas, manufactured homes help consumers in two ways: (1) they accomplish the goal of the consumer, that is, building a high-quality home in a short period of time and (2) they reduce overall costs to get the same quality, if not better, than a site built home all the while offering the energy efficiency options high-end buyers are looking for.

Manufactured homes are often far more energy efficient than their site built counterparts. Hallmark Southwest’s Net-Zero Energy equipped homes are a testament to energy efficiency and more and more buyers of manufactured homes are expecting energy efficiency and solar photovoltaic options when shopping the marketplace. So while many traditional builders of manufactured homes are experiencing downturns in sales due largely to the economy, those buyers that want to live a sustainable, green life understand that high-end manufactured home builders cater to their needs. The growing assumption in the manufactured housing industry is that the companies that adapt and overcome, providing energy efficient or Net-Zero Energy homes will do well in the long term, especially with the market segment that has a deep care and concern for living a sustainable life.

While housing in general may be hurting, manufactured home builders, modular home companies and pre-fabricated builders that cater to people that want to buy a sustainable dwelling will do just fine.

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