How Much do Manufactured Homes Cost?
Shelter is a basic necessity of life, and finding the right home to suit your lifestyle and budget can be a challenge. The decision to build a new custom home is exciting, but it’s important to make good decisions about your housing needs while keeping an eye on affordability.
Before embarking on the home buying process, it’s essential to know how much you can comfortably afford to spend on homeownership.
Lenders have developed two rules to determine how much you can borrow based on your income and other payments you are obligated to make.
RULE #1 is that your monthly housing costs should not exceed 32% of your gross (before income tax deductions) monthly income. This rule ensures that you will have sufficient additional income to live comfortably in the home you have purchased. Housing costs not only include your monthly mortgage payments, which are composed of principal and interest, but also property taxes and heating expenses. If you are leasing your site, the entire annual site lease is also included. Lenders will add up your housing costs and based on your gross family monthly income, calculate how much 32% is of your total gross income. This calculation is called your gross debt service ratio.
RULE #2 is that your entire monthly debt payments cannot be more than 40% of your gross (before income tax deductions) family monthly income. Your entire monthly debt includes your housing costs and all other payments; for example, car loans or leases, credit card payments, lines of credit payments, student loans and any other payments you are obligated to pay. This amount is called your total debt service ratio.
These TWO RULES apply to the purchases and mortgages of manufactured homes AND any other type of home construction.
Other considerations in addition to your household gross monthly income are the amount of your down payment and the mortgage interest rate you negotiate. An important element in the mortgage process is mortgage loan insurance, which helps protects lenders against mortgage default, and allows home buyers to purchase with a minimum down payment of 5% yet qualify for interest rates comparable to those with a 20% down payment. More information on Mortgage Loan Insurance can be found here: https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/moloin/moloin_005.cfm
By applying these RULES to your family’s circumstances you will have the amount that you can reasonably afford to spend on your shelter needs. This is something we are happy to assist you with, if you like!
The cost of a manufactured home compared to its ‘site built’ option depends on: How big? How fancy? How many options? SAME as for ‘site built’ homes BUT you get the added benefits of the engineering and a fixed price and a contract for your home.
One constant for manufactured and site built homes is the cost of the land, its preparation and servicing.
Manufactured homes can be designed to be set up as surface mount foundation homes, keeping site costs to a minimum, or can be installed on a full foundation, depending on your budget and lifestyle. An economical alternative to a full basement is a 4’ crawlspace or frost wall.
As a retailer for Kent Manufactured Homes, we can quote you a price for a single section or multi section design and give you a price on the home itself, and a price on additional setup and land, servicing, land preparation, depending on what your needs are.
A basic single section home, such as The Bayfield (FLOORPLAN) at 960 sq. ft., with standard construction and features, set up on a surface mount foundation (which includes blocking, tie downs and white vinyl skirting), plumbing and electrical connections, and waste disposal, will start at approx. $169,600 + HST.
A basic multi section home, such as The Snug (FLOORPLAN) at 1088 sq. ft., with standard construction and including a frost wall foundation with plumbing and electrical connections, and waste disposal will start at $263,900 + HST & New Home Construction Rebate.
If your plan is to start with an undeveloped building lot, site work and setup will add to these amounts. Rural land will typically require, in the least, the following:
| Surveying | $1,500.00 | |
| Clearing Land | $1,500.00 | |
| Excavation & Backfill or Pad for Surface Mount (assuming no import or export of material required) | $3,000.00 | |
| Driveway | $2,500.00 | |
| Platform Steps | $4,000.00 | |
| Lawyer Fees | $500.00 | |
| Drilled Well & Pump | $12,500.00 | |
| Septic (Incl. Design & Approval) | $15,000.00 | |
| Appliances | $8,400.00 | |
| Building permit | $400.00 | |
| Ductless mini split heat pump | $4,200.00 | |
| ESTIMATED TOTAL + HST: | $58,100.00 |
A frost-wall foundation will start at approx. $20,000-$25,000. A full basement will start at approx. $35,000-$45,000. Basement finish to code will start at approx. $15,000-25,000 – not including pony wall, windows or doors. Postech piers system is also possible.
*PLEASE NOTE THE FIGURES ARE ROUGH ESTIMATES AS OF APR 29 2024 FINAL COSTS WILL VARY GREATLY DEPENDING ON YOUR SPECIFIC SITE REQUIREMENTS AND GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION. PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. PLEASE REQUEST A QUOTATION BY EMAIL TO CONFIRM ACCURATE ESTIMATES.
A Town lot may be serviced, and save you the expense of installing a well and septic (approx. $20,000).
If you are interested in further exploring the manufactured housing option to fill your dream of home ownership, and want to have confidence that you will be living in a home you can comfortably afford, and it fits your life style today, and tomorrow, we welcome your inquiries! We will share our expertise and knowledge with you in a relaxed and professional setting.
