With rising energy costs and concern about global warming, more buyers than ever are considering environmental impact while looking for a home. They ask questions like:
- How much energy will it take to heat and/or cool the home?
- Is the home well-insulated?
- How much waste will the building of the home produce?
- How big is the home’s carbon footprint, factoring in the production of materials and the fuel and emissions of trucks needed to transport those materials?
- What kind of outdoor maintenance will be required, such as lawn care and snow removal?
These are all great questions to consider when looking for a home. If you have concerns about any of these issues, a manufactured home may be the right choice for you.
Manufactured Homes: A Green Choice
Let’s start with energy efficiency. Today’s manufactured homes are incredibly energy efficient, decreasing an owner’s energy costs and reducing energy waste. Newly built homes often come with the latest ENERGY STAR certified appliances, further decreasing energy costs.
Energy Efficiency in Modern Manufactured Homes
Even if a buyer isn’t looking for a new manufactured home, all manufactured homes built after 1976 must comply with the HUD Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards, which includes rules for energy efficiency. According to The Niskanen Center, an American think tank, “Today’s manufactured homes are not your grandma’s vacation trailer or 1970s-era mobile home. Modern manufactured homes have strict standards for structural integrity, material durability, and safety.”
Sustainable Manufacturing Practices
Furthermore, the manufacturing process of manufactured homes, because of their standardized practices, is very efficient, leading to less waste and less materials ending up in landfills. The manufacturing process is also more cost effective than traditional housing construction because there are no delays due to weather. Weather can be a particularly challenging variable in the construction of traditional homes and can result in unexpected cost overruns.
Fast Assembly and Affordable Housing
Manufactured homes are also assembled and ready to live in much faster than traditional homes. With a shortage of affordable housing available on the market, this is an advantage as it allows manufactured homes to better and more quickly meet that need. The Niskanen Center calls manufactured housing “the often maligned and more often forgotten housing type quietly providing 8.4 million affordable homes across the country.”
Size Matters: Finding the Right Fit For Your Home
In addition to speed, manufactured homes also offer a variety of sizes. Many of the single-family homes being built today are quite large and are even disparagingly called “McMansions.” As a result, these homes are quite expensive to buy and expensive to keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter. A manufactured home helps home buyers find the right size for their needs at a price they can afford with reasonable energy costs.
Compact Lots: Less Maintenance, More Sustainability
This goes for lot sizes as well. Many of today’s large single-family homes have sprawling front and backyards. Manufactured homes are often on a much more compact lot. This means less outdoor maintenance for the manufactured home owner. There is no need to buy a riding lawn mower or hire a grounds crew. A compact yard also reduces the use of fertilizers and pesticides that sprawling yards require. Fertilizers can pollute groundwater, a serious environmental and health hazard.
Reducing Your Carbon Footprint
If you are in the market for a home and are frustrated by high housing prices, are looking for more variety in sizing than large newly constructed homes, are concerned about energy efficiency, and want to reduce your home’s carbon footprint, a manufactured home is worth looking into.
Creek Valley Properties: Your Partner in Manufactured Homebuying
At Creek Valley Properties, we know that buying a home is a major life decision. We’d love to help you with finding the right manufactured home for you. We will give you the respect you deserve, working with you every step of the way to ensure that the entire process is smooth and efficient.
Call or text us at 248-495-8664 or reach out via email to jibe@creekvalleyproperties.net. We look forward to working with you.
