The housing market is competitive. Are manufactured homes the solution?

If you are looking for a home, you already know that it is rough out there. With a low supply of homes for sale across the country, prices have skyrocketed, pricing many prospective homebuyers out of the market.

In many of the nation’s hot spots, multiple buyers are competing for each home. Prospective buyers are making all-cash offers, writing personal letters to convince homeowners to choose them and paying significantly more than the asking price.

Home prices have been on the rise for the past few decades, according to research conducted by Fannie Mae, while the inventory of available houses has been steadily decreasing. In fact, according to Fannie Mae, the average price of a home has risen by almost 47 percent since 2012, and 76 percent since 2008. Wages, meanwhile, have gone up 17 percent.

If you are worried about being frozen out of the housing market, there is some good news — there are alternatives to traditional housing. While structures such as earth berms, tiny homes, shipping-container houses and RVs tend to get more attention, manufactured homes are the unsung heroes of the housing market right now.

While the median home price across the United States in 2021 is $390,900, the average sales price of a manufactured home (not including land) is around $106,500, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

What is a manufactured home? Manufactured homes are built to standards set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, constructed with quality materials and typically meet or exceed the specifications of site-built homes. There are multiple categories of manufactured housing, including traditional manufactured homes and CrossMod homes.

Site-built homes describe homes that are built on location, while off-site-built homes are built somewhere else. Manufactured homes are built off-site inside homebuilding facilities, then completed on your land. Homes built off-site have a number of benefits, including the following:

• Manufactured homes are built more efficiently for reduced cost.

• They are built more sustainably with less waste.

• The homes are inspected by HUD at select points during the building process. Perks of manufactured homes Manufactured homes built today are stylish and can feature an array of upgrades. Whether you want high-end cabinetry, a standing tub, hardwood flooring or drywall, these upgrades are typically available. A manufactured home can look just like a contemporary site-built home.

Because of innovative building practices, these features can come at a more affordable price point. In many circumstances, manufactured homes can appreciate in value like traditional housing when affixed to land as real property, and manufactured homes can be more energy-efficient than a typical site-built home. Affordability

The average price of a new manufactured home can vary. The average size is 1,184 square feet, which is smaller than most sitebuilt homes sold this year.

That is not a bad thing. Most new site-built housing is, on average, 2,322 square feet, and finding something smaller and more affordable is a challenge. For first-time homebuyers or for those wanting to downsize, manufactured housing could be a better fit for your lifestyle.

If you are looking for a large home with a smaller price tag, multisection manufactured homes are available for those looking for lots of square footage. The price can still be significantly less than a site-built home. Manufactured homes hold value Manufactured homes attached to a permanent foundation appreciate at an average rate of 3.4 percent, while traditional homes appreciate at an average rate of 3.8 percent. So while manufactured homes may not appreciate at the exact same rate, they are pretty close. That is a common misconception most people are not aware of. But as with any home, you will need to maintain your manufactured home and property to retain long-term value. Energy efficiency

ENERGY STAR-certified manufactured homes are built with energy efficiency in mind, which means lower energy bills and less of a negative impact on the environment.

If you own land and are looking for an alternative to a brand new site-built home, a manufactured home may be a great fit for you. But what if you do not have land? Financing tips for manufactured housing The conundrum many potential homeowners face when considering manufactured housing is finding land. If you own land, no matter how big or small, the process can be a lot easier, especially with Vanderbilt Mortgage. That is true whether the land is in your name or if it will be gifted to you at closing. Depending on eligibility, you can even use your land in lieu of a cash down payment.

Vanderbilt Mortgage’s Express Portal makes the loan process easy by keeping all documents online. It tracks where you are in the process and keeps communication flowing smoothly between you and your loanprocessing team. When it comes to financing your manufactured home, here are just some of the loan options that are usually available in the marketplace:

• Fannie Mae’s MH Advantage loan offers low down-payment options for CrossMod homes, which are a new class of manufactured homes that can appraise like site-built housing and have conventional financing programs.

• A simple land-home loan through Vanderbilt Mortgage allows you to bundle a manufactured home with land, while a construction-to-perm loan will work for you if you are getting a new manufactured home from the factory.

• You can even work with lenders who are approved to offer government programs such as Veterans Affairs and the Federal Housing Administration to purchase a manufactured home at lower interest rates.

Buying a manufactured home without accompanying land can be a little more complicated. Typically, without a permanent foundation, a manufactured home is considered chattel, which just means it is personal property, not real estate. Loans for chattel typically have a lower lending limit than a mortgage, and interest rates can be higher. If you do not want to own land, you can always lease land to accommodate your manufactured home.

Manufactured homes are a more sustainable alternative to traditional housing and a smart, fast solution to owning a home. With comparable features to traditional homes and a similar appreciation rate, manufactured homes just might be the solution the current housing market needs.