Don and I both feel comfortable with buying this manufactured home and long-term written lease agreement. Now, it’s time to pull out the checkbook and put our money where our dreams are.
Our first down payment of $500.00 is “earnest money” which is required before we can select tile, carpet, window treatments and other interior and exterior décor. We received a sales contract which includes the total price of our new manufactured home, customized options on the home, customized options on our home site (such as the covered patio), warranty information, escrow fees and title fees.
A second down payment for 10% of the total selling price of the home is due in one month. This much larger payment must be made before the actual construction of our home begins. All our payments go into an Escrow Trust Account, not to the Sun Meadows community directly. We created a special home buying file that includes the written contract, receipts from the escrow company and any other documents we are likely to receive. Keeping track of these documents all in one place makes it easier to know where we are and where we are going during our home’s construction and land placement.
Freight, set-up, excavation, block foundation walls, earthquake braces, utility connections and meters are all included in our home’s price. Metal, extruded, seamless rain gutters, wood fences with metal, hidden posts, a matching wood fence gate, underground surface water disposal system and a two car garage with sectional metal roll up garage door are also provided at no additional cost to us.
These charges can really add up if they are not part of the basic price. Some other homes we looked at seemed like a better buy on the surface, but when a bunch of extra charges were added to the final price the “good” buy didn’t seem so great after all.
Also included at no extra charge are our dual glazed, vinyl-framed, “Low E” windows with ceramic glazing that reflects a high percentage of ultra violet and transfers much less heat into the home. No matter where Don and I live energy costs are a big part of our budget. That’s why we are so pleased with the energy efficient features on this home.
Fiberglass, R-19 insulation in the exterior walls, R-33 insulation in the attic space and R-11 insulation in the floors is also provided at no extra cost. Another real money saver is the central heating and cooling system that re-circulates interior air and designed to run on less amperage. Our home will have both a mechanical air exchange system and passive air exchange systems, allowing household air contaminants to be eliminated without affecting indoor temperature.
Our monthly energy bills should be further reduced due to steel clad, insulated exterior doors and an insulated water heater. We are even able to customize the placement of our home and windows in relationship to the California sun for additional energy efficiency.
We plan to use money from the sale of our Florida house to pay cash for our new manufactured home so no financing will be necessary. This type of financial arrangement will probably be the case for many “baby boomers” that sell their site-built home to move into a 55+ manufactured home community.
If we had decided to finance our home we would have applied for a Personal Property loan because we lease our home site rather than own it. If we placed our manufactured home on land we owned, we probably would have applied for a home loan. In either case, we would be very careful because financing terms and interest rates vary widely. Don and I always take a pro-active role with any financial transaction - asking questions, reviewing the contract and looking at our total financial picture before making a decision.
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