In Prefabulous and Almost Off the Grid, Sherri Koones’ most recent book about prefabricated housing, she features over 30 homes which consist of pre-made components to varying degrees. A long-time proponent of factory-built homes, Koones notes that many home builders are more focused on selling homes than adapting to new …
Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.), Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) sponsored The Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act, HR 1779, which will amend the provisions in Dodd-Frank that curtail the availability of manufactured housing loans. In remarks in the Congressional Record of April 26, 2013, Rep. Fincher, …
Rep. Fincher’s Remarks Regarding HR 1779 in the Congressional Record Read More
The “Father” of the used manufacturing housing business and author of the book “Deals on Wheels,” Lonnie A. Scruggs passed away April 15 in Chesapeake, VA at age 83. Mobile Home University says he was the first best-selling author of a book about how to make money from buying, selling, …
The number of Americans who own their homes fell to 65 percent in Q1, 2013, down from 65.4 percent the first quarter of 2012, and the lowest level since the third quarter of 1995. While it peaked at 69.2 percent in June 2004 because of easy credit, Paul Diggle of …
CNNMoney informs MHProNews the S&P Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 major markets rose 9.3 percent in Feb. over the last 12 months, an increase from January’s 8.1 percent rise, and the biggest gain in home prices since May 2006. Over a five-year period through May 2012, the index …
In an interview in Forbes, Nicolas P. Retsinas, former Federal Housing Commissioner and Director Emeritus of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, says the housing recovery is being spurred by new household formation, which in turn has been sparked by the improving job market, and abnormally low interest rates. …
Housing Expert: Modify the Mortgage Interest Deduction Read More
After having raised $100 million from Citi, Morgan Stanley, Prudential Financial, Inc., the John D. and Catherine t. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation, the new Housing Partnership Equity Trust (HPET) is collaborating with 12 nonprofit housing providers to invest in affordable rental housing. The goal is to provide low-cost …
MHProNews has learned from HousingWire the National Association of Realtors (NAR) says its pending home sales index (PHSI) rose 1.5 percent to 105.7 in March after sliding 0.4 percent in Feb., but the index is seven percent above the 98.8 reading in March 2012. The index is based on 2001 …
Reviewing the qualified mortgage (QM) rule handed down by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in trying to broaden access to Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans, may modify the safe harbor provision, as nationalmortgagenews informs MHProNews. Any interest rate that exceeds the …
As nationalmortgagenews tells MHProNews, according to the Zillow Home Valaue Index, the home value appreciation rate slowed in the first quarter, dropping to 0.5 percent, as compared to 2.1 percent in the last quarter of 2012, even though overall national home prices rose in March for the 16th consecutive month. …
According to what the americanbanker tells MHProNews from Washington, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is attempting to amend a provision that will adjust the thresholds of high-cost loans under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act for manufactured home loans, while maintaining consumer protections. Under the current provision scheduled to …
Amendment to High Cost Lending Provision has Bi-partisan Support Read More
As it looks for ways to drop its risk, marconews reports Citizens Property Insurance Co., the state-run insurer that covers 130,000 factory-built homes in Florida, most of which are over 20 years old, is depreciating older homes, offering cash value in case of a loss instead of replacement cost. In …
Manufactured Housing in Florida is Losing Insurance Coverage Read More
SeekingAlpha reports Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc., the largest operator of manufactured home communities in the U.S., issued the transcript of its conference call for the first quarter 2013 financials April 23. CEO Margeurite Nader, noting the consistency of growth in their funds from operations (FFO), said demand continues to be …
Updating a story MHProNews last covered April 27, 2011 regarding the wildfire that destroyed 488 of the 600 manufactured homes at the Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar, Calif. in Nov. 2008, 60 spanking new manufactured homes have risen from the ashes and are now rentals. The dailynews says the …
Noting that baby boomers are poorer than their parents, with half of those facing retirement having less than $10,000 in the bank and one of six of them living in poverty, psmag informs MHProNews the residents of the 333 factory-built homes at Pismo Dunes Senior Park in central Calif. have …
According to nationalmortgagenews, banks are the ones walking away from vacant homes these days, starting but not completing the foreclosure process because they do not want the responsibility for maintaining the property, resulting in hundreds of thousands of homes being withheld from the market. In some cases, homeowners who have …
Abandoned Homes Continuing to Hold Back the Market? Read More
The estevanmercury tells MHProNews the city council in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada is considering two proposals to help ease the housing shortage in the city. One is a modular subdivision with room for 474 homes proposed by developer Kurtis Dmuchowski of Regina-based West D Construction. He has offered to buy the …
MHProNews has learned from the Wall Street Journal there is rare bipartisan support in Congress to roll back a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that could produce a decline in manufactured home lending, thereby hurting builders, lenders, and owners. A part of Dodd-Frank sets a threshold for interest rates beyond …
Both Parties in Congress Favor Revising Dodd-Frank Read More
The National Association of Home Builders reports newly-released figures from the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau indicate sales of newly-built single-family homes rose 1.5 percent in March, a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 417,000 units. Says NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe, “The latest sales report …
A modular home builder with operations in Aberdeen, South Dakota is hoping to open a facility in Fort Yates, North Dakota to provide housing for the Bakken Oil Field boom. As bismacktribune tells MHPronews, the ATechBuilder Corp. expects to hire 45 full time employees to build the 1,100 to 2,500 …
