Prefab/Modular Housing for 2nd home in mountains - thoughts?

[crash_davis 23470]

I am looking towards retirement and planning how to enjoy it. Interested in buying land in CO, NM, UT in or near the mountains to have a summer home. Depending on the location, in a 6-8 years may even sell house in Austin to move there permanently. But we'll start with a 2nd home for now. Plan is to buy some property and build a small vacation home on it.

We won't be living there your round, not yet anyway and may not be this house when we do. The idea is to have a mostly nice, mostly trouble free home to stay for 1-3 weeks intervals. So I'm not looking for top notch amenities and plushness. Just need something comfortable and reliable, and most importantly, cheaper to build.

That led me to entertain the thought of prefab/modular homes. Perusing the net and seeing pics and floorplans, they look like a great solution. I don't know anything about pros and cons, reliability, heating/cooling cost, repair, etc.

Anyone have experience with building or living in a prefab/modular home? Anyone not have experience want to share your mean and not so mean thoughts?

[Guest]

Talking completely out of my butt, I'd have the impression that anything like that would have a real cheap build quality. Somewhere with lots of snow would seem like you'd want something more sturdy. 

[UT_OB1 2266]

2-3 years ago I looked around on pricing, and I didn’t get all the craze over it because it didn’t seem like that much of a price break, if any.  Depending on what size you need, I’d look for a nice rv or mobile home. 

[crash_davis 23470]

1 hour ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Talking completely out of my butt, I'd have the impression that anything like that would have a real cheap build quality. Somewhere with lots of snow would seem like you'd want something more sturdy. 

the modular homes are built to the same safety and specs as built from ground homes. i've read a few testimonials of modular homes surviving florida hurricanes with no issues. i'm sure not all companies are the same, although that's the same with home builders in general. some cut more corners than others. 

1 hour ago, UT_OB1 said:

2-3 years ago I looked around on pricing, and I didn’t get all the craze over it because it didn’t seem like that much of a price break, if any.  Depending on what size you need, I’d look for a nice rv or mobile home. 

this is what i'm seeing also. there's not much, if any, cost break for modular versus normal build homes. time frames are about the same when factoring permitting, shipping, fees and shit. 

trying to avoid mobile homes as their resale value is shit. plus i'm not ready to become an honorary oklahoma dipshit yet. rv idea is nice but i like the idea of being nimble with needing only an suv or a quick flight to visit the property. 

i guess i'm going back to the idea of just airbnb'ing when i vacation. the thought of owning mountain property is just alluring as fuck.

[UT_OB1 2266]

41 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

the modular homes are built to the same safety and specs as built from ground homes. i've read a few testimonials of modular homes surviving florida hurricanes with no issues. i'm sure not all companies are the same, although that's the same with home builders in general. some cut more corners than others. 

this is what i'm seeing also. there's not much, if any, cost break for modular versus normal build homes. time frames are about the same when factoring permitting, shipping, fees and shit. 

trying to avoid mobile homes as their resale value is shit. plus i'm not ready to become an honorary oklahoma dipshit yet. rv idea is nice but i like the idea of being nimble with needing only an suv or a quick flight to visit the property. 

i guess i'm going back to the idea of just airbnb'ing when i vacation. the thought of owning mountain property is just alluring as fuck.

Well hold on before you give up on buying the property. I agree it would be awesome to have your own chunk of land.

On mobile homes, you can get decent enough ones at a low price and not worry about resale.
 

You mentioned comfortable and reliable. Maybe go in to some more details of what you need. And what do you want that you couldn’t have with an RV?  Since it sounds like something you might build on eventually, what about an RV plus a small warehouse (think you can get 20x30 for $10k). So if you wanted a washing machine and dryer you could have it in there plus whatever else you don’t want to drag back and forth. Again, if this a forever place, you could add a nice outdoor covered deck and kitchen that you eventually build next too. Lots of possibilities. Don’t give up yet.