Many people know now that manufactured and prefab homes are just as good, if not built to higher standards than site built homes. In addition, the average consumer interested in manufactured homes also understands that these homes are highly customizable and feature high end options, sometimes a wider range of options than can be found in new, site-built developments. But why buy a manufactured or prefab home from Hallmark-Southwest? Here are the top five reasons.

#1 Energy Efficiency. Hallmark Southwest has spent a great deal of time and money to develop energy efficiency options that home buyers can not only afford, but will produce a real return on investment. One of the greatest aspects of Hallmark Southwest is our long term manufacturing experience, a total of 35 years. Over this time, we have come to be known for the highest quality craftsmanship in the industry and now, we are quickly becoming recognized as leaders in energy efficiency. Our clients benefit from the investments in green technology we have developed. A recent article of ours describes the painstaking efforts we placed in building an exceedingly energy efficient guest home for a Monastery in New Mexico.

#2 Customization. Hallmark Southwest builds completely customized homes for our clients. One example recently is a home for a client in Norther California that is used as a hunting cabin. The floors, according to our management staff, “…are so durable, you could land a helicopter on it!” The exterior wrap around porch is an excellent feature as well as the mud room built custom for the client to remove soiled clothing before entering the home. If you want a truly customized home, built to the highest quality standards, Hallmark Southwest is the manufacturer of choice.

#3 Savings. Compare the features and benefits of a Hallmark Southwest home to a comparable site-built home with the same features and benefits and we are confident you will discover two important things. First, you’ll save a lot more money buying a Hallmark home than a site-built home. Second, you’ll understand our quality of construction exceeds most site-built developers. This means long term satisfaction.

#4 Modern Look and Feel. Hallmark Southwest offers some of the best design options on the planet. When a Hallmark home is installed on private land, you really can’t tell the difference between a Hallmark home and a high-end site built home. Our homes can be customized both inside and outside. Want a modern looking metal roof? Done. Want granite throughout the entire home? That’s easy too.

#5 Long Term Benefits. Since Hallmark homes are built to the highest standards in the industry, our home owners rest assured that their investment will stand the test of time. Our most recent build, a guest home for Our Lady of the Desert Monastery, was designed specifically to withstand extremely high winds and extreme fluctuations of temperature all the while delivering exceedingly energy efficiency.

There’s a lot of different manufactured and prefab home builders in America to choose from. We believe that when a consumer does an apples-to-apples comparison, talks to owners of Hallmark Southwest homes and compares our homes to site-built homes, Hallmark will be the obvious choice.

                          

Modern manufactured and pre-fab homes are still gaining in popularity regardless of the economic conditions. High end home buyers place far more emphasis on features in a home than your average consumer because they can afford it. Features that many high end buyers gravitate towards include energy efficiency systems, sustainable building materials and customizations to the floor plan.

All of these features are available in modern manufactured and pre-fab homes but not all designers are built the same. Most designers place emphasis on design primarily and their infrastructure for scalable manufacturing is limited. In turn, consumers pay extraordinarily high prices for custom features including solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems.

Hallmark-Southwest is unique among high end manufactured and pre-fab home builders because we maintain the infrastructure sufficient for scalable manufacturing. Our homes are completely customizable and the company has spent more than many other manufacturing companies on the development of smart home systems. Our newest project, a home built for Our Lady of the Desert Monastery, features solar photovoltaic and solar systems and smart home technology that monitors environmental conditions throughout the home and in each individual living space. This new home was built with extreme environmental conditions in mind as the Monastery is located in Gobernador, New Mexico, known for extreme winds, extreme heat and extreme cold.

Elegance and efficiency in modern manufactured housing is available from a wide range of manufacturing companies, but Hallmark-Southwest has made the process of customization and adding energy efficient systems easy to integrate and less expensive than other companies that place more emphasis on design than on construction.

You can learn more about our energy efficient systems by downloading our free Net-Zero Energy Efficiency guide at: http://hallmarksouthwest.com/net-zero-energy-efficiency-guide/. The free guide discusses in detail most of our new energy efficiency options in detail so you can see for yourself exactly what the Hallmark-Southwest difference is.

                          

Peruse the new homes available on the marketplace and what you will recognize quickly is that new home builders are not selling their homes for severely discounted rates like homes in the foreclosure, short sale and REO marketplaces. Why? It is because many of these re-sales were once homes that were in foreclosure and, as such, they are almost all, at minimum, cosmetic fixer-uppers and, at worst, require significant investment to make them livable again.

New home builders offer reasonable prices comparatively, however, you’ll notice that, for the price, brand new site built homes are far more expensive than their factory built counterparts. Once you compare the features, benefits and upgrades available in factory built homes versus site built homes, you’ll quickly see that the wise decision is to opt for a manufactured home in California right now.

New home developments often feature a small hand full of models and, these models are extremely limited in their ability to be customized. For example, in a new site built home, it’s impossible to get a major developer to move walls around, increase the square footage of the kitchen or add a wrap around porch to the home. In essence, with a site built home, what you see is what you get except for flooring options and options in the kitchen like tile, granite or other kinds of counter tops.

Factory built homes are inherently customizable, especially with Hallmark-Southwest. Our design team can take custom orders from clients and turn them in to truly one of a kind homes. In addition, Hallmark features upgrades that most large, site built developers simply don’t offer like our energy efficiency and Net-Zero options that can supply the home with all it’s electrical needs based on average occupant usage. With a Hallmark home, you’re able to redesign interior layouts, redesign kitchen size, add almost any conceivable interior upgrades and include cutting edge green home options that most builders cannot match. Best of all, out homes are far less expensive than site built homes with equal or greater craftsmanship.

Anyone in the market for a new home should consider available features, build quality, energy efficiency and the level of customization available. We’re confident that in a side-by-side comparison, you’ll choose a California manufactured home.

                          

According to SolarBuzz.Com, the largest market for solar photovoltaic installations is, by far an away, California. By 2014, it is estimated that solar photovoltaic installations will be ten times the figures posted in 2009 and the growth rate per year thereafter is expected to be 30.00%. Given our present economy, this is an incredible figure. What’s even more interesting is that the vast majority of these installations will be on existing homes. Our question is why more home builders and manufacturers have not made the leap in to installing photovoltaic and solar thermal systems as options when buying a new California manufactured home or a new site built home in California?

If the growth rate by 2014 is projected to be 30% per year, then it clearly indicates a strong demand in California. Given the demand, it makes sense for manufacturers to incorporate solar systems as options for new homeowners, especially if the home is factory built. Building a home in a factory from start to finish is widely known to decrease overall construction costs and these savings, especially in the manufactured home industry, are passed on to consumers. So why don’t more manufactured home builders add solar systems as options? The answer, unfortunately, is quite simple.

Incorporating solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems as regular options for manufactured home buyers isn’t exactly an easy feat to pull off. You need engineers, capable of designing solar systems, to incorporate their designs in to existing and/or new home pans. These engineers need to work with design teams to insure the installation meets the esthetic demands of the design team. Manufactured home companies then must decide on a price-point for these options that consumers will find valuable and find means of installing these systems affordably. This is a process of incorporating energy efficiency options in factory built homes requires capital investment, research and development that can take years before a profit is ever realized. This is the main reason why many home builders, factory or site built, cannot incorporate energy efficiency options in their product lines.

                          

One of the finest areas to retire in is Orange County California. While home values are perhaps at their lowest levels nationwide in the last decade, many retirees looking to buy a new home in the Orange County metropolitan area still have to contend with a $420,000.00 median home price according to DataQuick (Source: DQNews.Com). Is retirement in a new home in Orange County a viable option still? The answer is yes, even for people that want the most home possible for the lowest possible cost.

Manufactured homes are growing in popularity and will continue to play a significant role in retirement options for seniors. In Orange County, there are a large number of gated, planned communities offering clubhouses, excursions and trips as well as social events that only allow manufactured homes to be developed on their grounds. Some of these exclusive communities are in high end locales and others are located near some of the best beaches that Southern California has to offer.

More and more people are turning to manufactured homes as a retirement option, not solely because of cost, but because of the quality of construction, custom options available and the ability to cost effectively retire in desirable areas like Orange County.

The quality of construction in modern manufactured homes is equal to or in some cases superior to site built homes. In addition, modern manufactured home builders have been leading in energy efficiency options that many site built developers don’t even think to consider. For example, Hallmark-Southwest provides solar thermal and solar photovoltaic options for all prospective home owners. Go to the average site built developer and ask them to engineer solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems in to a new home in the average development tract and they’ll most likely shake their heads in disbelief that you’re asking the question. Not so with manufactured home builders.

Aside from solar photovoltaic and solar thermal options, manufactured home builders are able to re-arrange the placement of interior walls, build kitchen islands and extend dimensions of interior rooms far more easily than your average site built developer. The fact of the matter is that modern manufactured home builders are far more able to provide their clients with truly custom homes that the average site built new home builder in planned developments.

If you are looking to buy a home and retire in Orange County, the good news is that while the median price in the are may be $420,000.00, you can quite easily afford a similar or higher quality home for half of this figure or less. The moral of the story is that manufactured homes in Orange County are a good consideration for retirees that want it all: new home, custom features and affordable price.

                          

Almost everyone has dreamed of living in a home on the coast. For most, the reality is that coastal living is far out of the mainstream budget. Some people feel that during difficult economic times, such as we are experiencing now, that it’s the best time to buy. And while this is true in a general sense, it may not necessarily be true about coastal living. Properties along the California coastline always rebound faster than inland areas and, in fact, in some of the most exclusive areas and in beachfront locales, sometimes prices don’t fall very much at all.

So, how can people obtain the dream of living in a coastal community and remain in budget? The answer is by living in a planned community along the coast that caters specifically to manufactured homes. Perhaps the though of a coastal, manufactured home conjures up images of low rent areas, but, in fact, there are a number of coastal communities that cater specifically to manufactured home buyers that are gated, secured and feature all of the amenities of large tract home gated communities.

Manufactured homes these days are rarely distinguishable from their site built counterparts as the quality of construction has increased substantially due to consumer demand and from industrial competition to offer manufactured homes that consumers want to live in. Manufactured homes are also far more customizable than many consumers think. Walk in to a tract home development and ask the sales staff if walls can be moved to fit your needs. They’ll look at you like you’re asking questions that don’t fit the context of their business, and they’d be right because tract homes are not unique, they are simply variations on a theme, that variation is typically something site built developers refer to as “elevations” or the exterior facade of the home.

The fact is, gated, planned communities along the coast are far less expensive to live in, in most cases, than buying an existing coastal home. New manufactured home buyers can choose to live in a community that leases land or sells the land to the new home owner. Manufactured homes themselves are typically much less expansive than their site built counterparts so the overall coast of achieving the dream of coastal living can be actually far more affordable than many people think.

If you want to live on the coast and you want the best possible home and pay the least overall price, consider a manufactured home.

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While most people find buying a site built home is preferable, there are a number of people buying new manufactured, modular and prefab homes. What’s the reason? Often times you get more for your money, you can customize the home more and they are exceedingly energy efficient. Here’s a brief list of the top five reasons why you should consider a manufactured, modular or prefab home.

#1 Value. More often than not, you can have a lot more home for the money when buying a manufactured, modular or prefab home. They typically cost less to produce, meaning, your dollar will go a lot further in terms of acquiring a home with the greatest amount of square feet possible and interior and exterior upgrades.

#2 Efficient Construction. Manufactured, modular and prefab construction is fast and efficient. How often have you heard of friends, family or associates complaining that a general contractor quoting X amount of time to build a home but actually came in late on the final project? Time delays cost money and since the factory build process is controlled and efficient, the likelihood of additional expenses is limited.

#3 Quality of Construction. Many manufactured home builders exceed the building standards of many site built developers. In fact, Hallmark Southwest not only exceeds regulatory and industry standards, but also exceeds most site built standards in even the most affordable homes Hallmark offers. Manufactured, modular and prefab builders must remain competitive and offer superior products to stay competitive with their site built counterparts.

#4 Energy Efficiency. Most site built homes are not engineered, planned or designed to incorporate solar photovoltaic or solar thermal systems. Many manufactured, modular and prefab homes have energy efficiency in mind from the drawing table. Almost all of the competitive manufactured, modular and prefab homebuilders offer some access to energy efficiency options. Hallmark Southwest provides every buyer with a Net-Zero energy efficiency option that can reduce energy consumption by as much as 50% and provide the electrical needs of the homeowners based on average consumption rates.

#5 A Unique Home. Customization is far easier with a manufactured, modular or prefab company. If you walk on to a major site built developers lot, you’ll find a few models and floorplans available with different elevations. However, these site built developers will not move walls or make significant changes to design. This is not only possible with manufactured, modular and prefab homes but quite regular.

                          

Manufactured and Prefabricated homes aren’t just good for the environment, energy efficient and built to higher standards than many site built homes in the United States, they may turn out to solve many of the world’s housing problems.

It may sound like a bold claim, but global corporations, engineers and architects are planning and building homes that can sell for as little as $720.00 USD. One designer even feels that cooperatives may be able to build homes made of earthen brick for absolutely nothing.

Today, TATA Motors of India announced plans to offer a prefabricated home complete with windows, doors and a roof for an anticipated sales price of only $720.00 (source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43809684/ns/business-personal_finance/). While the home is not a permanent structure by any means, the company believes the home will last for 20 years. That’s just $36.00 USD per annum to own a home minus the cost of land and installation.

Ingersol-Rand promotes The $300.00 house challenge; a contest awarding $25,000.00 USD for the best home design that will cost a person only $300.00 USD to build. One of the best designs proposes collectives to make earthen brick to construct homes based on their specific design plans. You can learn more about the $300.00 challenge at: http://www.jovoto.com/contests/300house/landing .

Why do architects, designers, and multi-billion dollar corporations care about building homes that will solve global housing problems? One would like to believe altruism is perhaps the primary motivation, but there is a great potential for significant earnings in inexpensive design and fabrication. The salient problem is this: design is an idea that costs nothing more than a keen intellect and training in the fields of engineering; manufacturing is a completely different ballgame.

To make these design ideas come to fruition, it takes a great deal of time and, perhaps much more importantly, investment capital. The benefits can be enormous. Manufacturers may be able to obtain government contracts for building inexpensive housing for emergency shelter, NGO contracts and foreign government contracts for building inexpensive housing.

Manufactured and prefabricated housing holds promise for the future on a number of different levels. Will these forms of housing help save the environment and conserve energy? Yes. Can the industry solve major humanitarian problems? We shall see.

                          

Most consumers may feel that site built homes outpace manufactured homes in terms of features and benefits. Perhaps this belief exists because hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars are spent annually on convincing consumers that they should buy site built homes and that manufactured homes are inferior products. This article presents a counter argument we feel that site built developers will be unable to explain away easily.

Many people that desire to buy a new home from a site built developer want custom options, features and benefits. However, these same consumers are met with only a handful of customizations they can choose from. Most of these are variations in the external appearance of the home, referred to as “elevations.” Other than changes in elevation, site built home models are almost identical from lot to lot. As far as interior options go, if you’re buying from a developer new, you’re relegated to the flooring options, lighting, fixture and other internal options that mega-builder design centers force you to use. Then it comes to lot selection. There aren’t many options. Once a new phase is opened for sale to the public, there may only be a few options open to chose from on a specific elevation.

The reason why manufactured homes offer a wider range of features and benefits is that consumers are not constrained when selecting manufactured homes and lots. Buyers of new manufactured homes can choose to purchase a lot in a planned community if they desire to do so. They can lease a lot if it seems financially a better decision than purchasing a lot. In addition, consumers can buy their own private lot in town near all services or far away from the hustle and bustle.

As far as interior and exterior options are concerned, manufactured home builders have site-built developers beat hands down when it comes to delivering customizations the homeowner desires. For example, a site built developer may give a buyer the option of a den in lieu of a bedroom in a specific model, but they aren’t going to move major walls, redesign kitchen layouts or give you an entirely unique home design. It just can’t be done affordable for site built developers. Manufactured home builders can do all of this and far more.

In addition to being able to make major changes to design, manufactured home developers can offer a wider variety of energy efficiency options than most site built developers. Your manufactured home retailer can help coordinate landscaping in both your back and front yards and help you acquire interior options that are as unique as you can imagine because they are not constrained to use a corporately sponsored design centers. All-in-all, manufactured home builders can give consumers a far more unique living environment than site built developers.

                          

Buying homes in California is big business. Major site built developers make billions from the site built home industry. However, many of these same developers that earn billions of dollars in profit are way behind the energy efficiency ball when it comes to giving people solid energy efficient design. This is odd, given the fact that the California climate varies so much and energy efficient design could greatly reduce the overall cost of buying and owning a home in California.

There are climates in the state that are exceedingly hot almost year round, e.g. Palm Desert/Palm Springs and the Inland Empire. Moreover, there are areas where it is exceedingly cold almost year round. You would think major developers would see the fluctuation in climate and the energy demands these climate variations impose as a reason to offer energy efficient homes.

Compared to their site built counterparts, manufactured home builders offer the flexibility and energy efficiency to meet energy efficiency demands quite easily, especially in a state like California. Buying a California manufactured home for energy efficiency makes a great deal of sense. Companies like Hallmark Southwest are able to offer customized energy efficiency packages that will meet the unique needs of consumers in almost any climate. And with a state larger than most countries with a wide variation of climate types, it makes sense to buy a manufactured home in California if you really want the savings an energy efficient home brings.

Perhaps the major site built developers will catch on one day that energy efficiency is what many consumers want because they appreciate anything that will reduce their overall cost of ownership and features that benefit the environment. Maybe they won’t. The point is, however, that if you want an exceedingly energy efficient home in California, you should take a serious look at the craftsman quality, manufactured home options available on the market today.