MONROE – Less than nine months elapsed between the moment Cheryl and Scott Jamtaas customized the blueprints for a factory-built rambler and the moment they moved into their new home.
The 2,200-square-foot, three bedroom, two-bathroom Silvercrest house arrived – in three pieces – at their family property in December 2004. By then, Brent Walker Construction had graded the site and prepared a recessed pit, poured a concrete slab, set braces for securing the house well enough to withstand an earthquake and installed a drainage system.
| To learn more about manufactured housing, visit the following Web sites:
www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/mhs/mhshome.cfm: The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, general information from the agency that oversees the FHA mortgage insurance program. www.manhousingfoundation.org: General information from the national trade organization for the manufactured housing industry. www.consumersunion.org/other/mh/policy.htm: Consumers Union resources and research about the risks and benefits of manufactured housing. www.gregersons.net/: Gregerson’s Homes is a dealer and can provide pricing and service information. |
Once the house was secured and the earth piled back around the slab, it looked like it had been built on the property.
“It’s lovely. They did a nice job with it,” Cheryl Jamtaas said. “It looks like it has a foundation.”
More homes like the one the Jamtaas family is now enjoying may be headed for cities throughout the region this summer. Starting July 1, a new state law forbids municipalities from discriminating by housing type. Manufactured housing can’t be barred, but it must meet whatever design standards a given jurisdiction has specified.
“We’re really pleased to see the positive, steady stream of inquires we’re getting from the jurisdictions and consumers,” said Joan Brown, executive director of the Washington State Manufactured Housing Association.
“The last thing anyone wants is more regulation. So we wanted to make this easy and show cities that they are in total control of their neighborhoods and design standards. But they have to let everyone play the game.”
Bias against manufactured homes often exits where old images of the industry persist, said Scott Gregerson, manager and housing consultant for Gregerson’s Homes in Edmonds. Manufacturers have struggled for decades to overcome the image of the original cramped, boxes.
The Jamtaas’ home is a good example of today’s manufactured homes, Gregerson said. With a multilevel shingled roof, vinyl windows, recessed base, full stone porch with posts, freestanding garage and deck, it passes as site-built.
Like other Silvercrest homes, the interior features spacious rooms with high, flat ceilings, crown and baseboard molding, energy efficient windows, insulation and appliances, and high-end accents.
Pleased as the Jamtaas family is with the home’s aesthetics, they are confident and proud about what it truly is. They chose a manufactured home after conducting thorough research and coming up pleasantly surprised.
“We discovered that these more modern manufactured homes are built like stick-built houses, to the same standards or better,” Cheryl Jamtaas said, citing the minimum standard for 6-inch walls. “I think they’re well built.”
They found that manufactured homes are held to stringent federal quality standards. In 1974, Congress passed the National Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards Act, which replaced the term “mobile homes” in all new federal documents with manufactured housing. The act established clear minimum standards for strength, durability, transportability, fire resistance, energy efficiency, quality control and heating, plumbing, air conditioning, thermal and electrical systems. It became effective June 1976 and was reaffirmed in 1980.
But the Jamtaas family didn’t stop with that data in hand. The couple visited the annual Puyallup Home and RV Show, where they toured models made by several manufactures. They later went to the Silvercrest factory in Oregon.
“We saw every step of the way and we were very impressed,” Cheryl Jamtaas said.
The couple visited the dealer they ultimately chose, Gregerson’s, about two dozen times before committing to the Silvercrest Artisan model.
“We fell in love with the house,” Cheryl Jamtaas said.
Then they customized it. They chose the location of every outlet and heating vent, added storage space in place of standard features and selected specific countertop, flooring, window covering and paint styles.
The basic Artisan model costs $120,000. Even after adding and customizing features to create the home they wanted, the Jamtaas family paid about $55 to $60 a square foot, leaving them plenty from the sale of their former Lynnwood home to add a porch, a garage, a deck and landscaping.
Such custom orders have been on the increase, Gregerson said.
“There are more people considering a manufactured home now who never would have one to five years ago,” Gregerson said, “especially as interest rates creep up and there’s a lot of pressure on people.”
Younger people, in particular, are taking an interest.
“These are people who don’t want a $1,600 mortgage payment. That’s not how they want to live,” Gregerson said. “A lot of them have lived in developments with tiny lots and 5-foot setbacks, and now they’re looking for alternatives to that lifestyle.”
Developers are beginning to consider using manufactured homes for new projects, said Brown, adding that they are feeling the same sense of urgency in this hot real estate market that consumers are.
“People want to do things as quickly and effectively as possible,” she said. “Going with a factory-built product is a far more efficient and speedier way.”
For now, the industry is eager to see what, if any, impact the new state law will have this summer. Because land prices are so high in much of the Puget Sound, Brown doesn’t expect an immediate rush. But, continued high prices will keep pushing up the cost of stick-built homes as well.
As for Cheryl and Scott Jamtaas, they are comfortable with their choice.
Even on cold mornings, the sun warms their prized porch while the wood stove and energy efficient features keep the interior cozy.
“When there’s any little bit of sunshine, it’s a lovely place to sit,” Cheryl Jamtaas said.
Kristin Fetters-Walp is a Lake Stevens freelance writer.
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