There was a lot of protest at first about a “trailer park” being built in a neighborhood of $300,000 to $700,000 homes in Absecon, New Jersey. This is an upscale community located just west of Atlantic City. Residents bought homes there to enjoy the scenery that overlooks Absecon Bay, an inlet that flows into the Atlantic Ocean, and they didn’t want anything to adversely affect their lifestyles or home values.
At the time, residents did not understand what an upscale manufactured home community would look like, but now they are discovering that it is not too different from their own neighborhoods. Press of Atlantic City tells MHProNews that currently, there are 14 home sites at Absecon Shores, with six custom-built homes already occupied and two with models that are available.
These Manufactured Homes Are Custom-Built
More than 30 floor plans are available at Absecon Shores. “The options for homes are endless. It’s literally 27 pages,” one new homeowner said. “It took me nearly four days to pick the details for the new model.”
These custom-built homes range in size from 1,400 square feet to 1,700 square feet with prices ranging from $137,000 to $164,000. They are constructed by Pine Grove Homes at its factory in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania. This is a 33-year-old company, which markets its homes through dealers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
From the time a buyer finishes choosing the new home’s options and the order to Pine Grove Homes is submitted, it typically takes about three months for the house to be built, shipped to Absecon Shores and completed on site.
The owner of this new community is Ralph Clayton (not affiliated with manufacturer Clayton Homes), who owns several other manufactured home communities in New Jersey. He is also a dealer for Pine Grove Homes.
Residents of Absecon Shores Manufactured Home Community buy their homes and lease the lots from the community. The monthly lease costs of $462 or $482 covers real estate taxes, sewer, well water for irrigation and common services, such as landscaping, snow removal and street lighting.
Currently, a three-bedroom, two-full-bath model is being constructed and will be on site and finished in February. It will become available for immediate occupancy, selling for $137,000 and featuring Frigidaire stainless steel appliances, a deck with a view of Absecon Bay, an olive exterior with sandstone shutters and trim, and “two dormers on the side to give it some depth,” according to Kim Santa Maria, sales representative for the Clayton Companies community.
“The home will also have an air-conditioning unit, an 8-by-12-foot shed, and blinds and draperies which are included in the price of any home,” she added. 
She also mentioned that currently there is a two-bedroom, two-bath model ready for occupancy that has a sun room off the back. It also offers a lease-purchase option and is priced at $164,000.
Santa Maria explained that these homes are delivered in two sections and put together on a concrete slab foundation with a 2½ to 3 foot crawl space. Then they are set on piers of concrete, tied to the piers and anchored into the concrete slab.
“What sets these apart is that we use concrete blocks for the skirting. It’s not a foundation, but it looks like it,” she said.
The Growing Preference for Manufactured Homes
While most U.S. manufactured homes are still placed on private, typically rural lots, the trend has been toward more of them being built for communities such as Absecon Shores. Overall numbers are growing strongly, according to Kevin Post, author of the Press of Atlantic City article.
His research revealed that of the 49,717 manufactured homes shipped in 2009, only 22 percent were for community locations, according to data compiled by the Manufactured Housing Institute. However, by 2013, 30 percent of the 60,210 homes shipped were headed for communities.
Although single-section, smaller manufactured homes have been gaining in popularity, they only comprised 37 percent of the market, compared with 63 percent for larger multi-section homes in 2009. As of 2013, 47 percent of manufactured homes were built in one section, with the remaining 53 percent being built in multiple sections.
As residents of Absecon, New Jersey, see the beautiful and custom-built manufactured homes going up in Absecon Shores, their previous mindsets about a manufactured home community are changing. ##
(Photo Credit: Pine Grove Homes)
