Linda Hazelhoff shares with Kovach that she has been selling real estate in Kalamazoo, Michigan for 19 years, including hundred of manufactured homes. Her husband is a custom designer and builder, so she is familiar with the real estate industry inside and out. She says inventory is low in her market, and that it is difficult to find anything under $250,000.
She tells other realtors about the quality of manufactured homes, and agrees that home site fees in a land lease community are roughly comparable to homeowner association fees in a condominium setting. Buildable lots in Kalamazoo run from $25,000 to $75,000 and up depending upon the location, which translates into substantial savings living in a land lease community, paying site rent instead of buying the land, in addition to not having real estate taxes on owned land.
Hazelhoff was very complimentary about the quality of manufactured homes, and has forged a long-lasting relationship with Saddlebrook Farms in Kalamazoo, an upscale manufactured home community.
Bobbi Lepi has been in real estate for 35 years in the Zanesville, Ohio. She has 30 agents in her organization selling real estate, doing property management and land sales—acreage, farms and hunting areas. She is in an area where energy exploration is increasing her industrial sales.
She says the world of manufactured homes has come a long way since the mobile home days. “The most amazing thing about (today’s) manufactured housing is the way the space is so well utilized,” says Lepi. Her customers have been very pleased with the quality of the homes and the efficiency of the utilities. She says people come in to an open house and their jaws drop, they did not know MH could be so comparable to a site-built. For sale inventory in her aea is low, and she sees an upsurge in the sale of MH as the Utica Shale exploration continues to expand.
The inventory of homes for sale is low in many areas, driving prices ever higher. The inventory of affordable housing is even lower. The affordability and quality of manufacture homes is at an all time high. The time is now to contact a realtor for a possible mutually beneficial relationship. MH industry professionals know their product, just as realtors know their markets and their customers.
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(Image credit: Saddlebrook Farms, Kalamazoo, MI)
