San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Texas company bringing luxury to mobile homes
The words “luxury” and “mobile homes” don’t often go together, but a Houston construction company seeks to unite them as it launches six manufactured housing communities across Texas capable of accommodating nearly 3,000 homes.
Live Lone Star Communities is planning projects in San Antonio, New Braunfels, Corpus Christi and near Tomball. Those will follow a 55-acre project in Pearland, where it recently broke ground on a $34 million, 420-home community. Each is expected to begin welcoming residents next year. It’s San Antonio project, called the Enclave San Antonio, is slated for the Southeast Side within the East Central Independent School District, according to Live Lone Star’s website.
The developer — started by executives at Houston-based Jacob White Construction — aims to hit the sweet spot between luxury and affordability. Live Lone Star wants to elevate the standard approach to a mobile home park by creating gated communities with some of the perks found in neighborhoods that have master plans.
Its Pearland community, called The Landing at Pearland, will have a 6,000-square-foot clubhouse, resort-style pool, workout facility, event lawns, playgrounds, dog parks and sports courts.
“When people hear manufactured homes, the first thing they think of is a trailer park. That’s not glamorous,” said Chris White, a Jacob White Construction executive who started Live Lone Star last year with Jeff Mickler and Sean Mickler. “We really want to provide a great alternative for people here in Texas, and we’re excited to offer these amenity-rich neighborhoods.”
Prices will be much lower than a standard home in a typical gated community. The average price for a manufactured home was $123,500 at the end of last year in the south region, which includes Texas, according to census data. That excludes the cost of land, which is leased or bought separately.
In comparison, the average home sale price in San Antonio in April was $395,847, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors.
Live Lone Star is launching its community at a time when homeownership is slipping out of reach for more Texans as prices and mortgage rates rise. The national average percentage on a 30-year, fixed-rated mortgage on Thursday was 6.1 percent, according to Forbes Advisor.
White said manufactured homes offer a solution.
“This gives people an opportunity at a different price point to come in and still own a home,” White said. “There’s so much demand for affordable, quality homes. We’re really trying to offer a first-in-class experience.”
Like the rest of the housing industry, the manufactured housing sector boomed during the pandemic as demand soared. Manufactured home producers have a backlog of
about eight to nine months in Texas, about double what it typically was pre-pandemic, said Rob Ripperda, vice president of operations at the Texas Manufactured Housing Association, an Austin-based industry trade group.
The association forecasts shipments of manufactured homes in Texas to grow by 13 or 14 percent to about 20,100 units this year.
Live Lone Star represents a niche within the manufactured home industry of companies catering to owners seeking a more luxurious lifestyle. Roberts Resorts of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Yes! Communities of Denver are established players in the luxury manufactured home space with communities throughout Texas, Ripperda said.
Amenities can include things like resort-style pools, miniature golf, playgrounds, sports courts and dog parks, as well as beach access and boat launches for waterfront communities, according to Roberts Resorts’ website.
“If you go in a Roberts Resorts parks for example, it’s pretty cool and it’s not what most people expect when they hear manufactured homes,” Ripperda said. “These are true lifestyle communities that have a lot to offer.”
At Live Lone Star’s planned communities, homeowners would buy a new manufactured house — which can range from $80,000 to $150,000, depending on the size and features — then
enter typically a five-year lease to rent the land where the house would be placed. Live Lone Star’s monthly leases range from $550 to $675 per month.
Unlike a standard site-built house, a manufactured home is considered movable personal property, not real property, so buyers needing financing take out what’s known as a chattel loan rather than a standard mortgage. Interest rates for chattel loans are higher, typically 7.75 to 10.5 percent, according to Bankrate.com.
Live Lone Star’s goal is to keep the lease rates low enough that owners’ monthly payments and land rents together would not exceed the cost of renting a two-bedroom apartment in the area, said White of Live Lone Star. Median rent for two-bedroom apartments last month in San Antonio were $1,299, according to ApartmentList.com, an online apartment marketplace.
Live Lone Star will partner with a management company to maintain the grounds. Residents must pass background checks and adhere to community guidelines on landscaping, noise, dog breed requirements and visitor access. Only newly built manufactured homes will be allowed, and the houses must meet specific architectural requirements.
The goal, White said, is to change the “perception of factory-built housing.”