Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1.    Great Product, Checkered Past, Flawed System

• World War II and the first house trailer

• Mobile home parks and snob-zoning

• Tarnished image - abuses, defects and disasters

• The Magna Carta of manufactured housing

• Recent history - the great boom and bust of the 1990s

• Enter Wall Street

• The bust - and the aftermath

Chapter 2.    The Manufactured Home - A Quick Look

• Is a manufactured home right for you?

• Pros and cons

Chapter 3.    Your Piece of the American Dream - Just Across That Pressure Pit

• The heavenly deal from hell

• The purchase contract - description

• The grim slide

• The post mortem - what happened, and why

• The current lending environment

Chapter 4.    Getting Started - Calculating Your Buying Power

• Consider a personal advocate

• Research, obtain your own credit rating and calculate your buying power

• Finding answers on the Internet

• Shop for the money first, get pre-approved for a loan

• Conventional home loans and dealer-financed contracts compared

• The happy ending versus the nightmare

• Do what many dealers won't do

Chapter 5.    Finding and Buying Land for Your Home

• Welcome to "No Mobiles" land

• Land-home packages

• Working with a real estate agent

• Purchasing raw land in a rural or semi-rural area

• Your purchase offer - more questions to ask

• Closing escrow

• Purchasing land in a manufactured home subdivision

• The waltz begins

Chapter 6.    Leasing a Home Site in a Land-lease Community

• Pros and cons

• Is land-lease a smart option?

• Conventional home loan interest rates for land-lease communities?

• When a land-lease deal can make sense

• Two cardinal rules - and a cautionary tale

• Your greatest vulnerability: uncontrolled rent increases

• Your second greatest vulnerability: losing your home because of lease violations

• Questions to ask when shopping for a site in a land-lease community

• Community rules and regulations

• In all, a trade-off that can work

Chapter 7.    The Anatomy of a Dealership

• Independent dealerships

• Factory-owned dealerships

• A dealership's profit centers

• About factory rebates

• Wild and crazy profit centers

• The trapped entrance, locked homes, up rotation and other mysteries

• "Write ups" and the blight of high pressure sales

• Where are the price stickers?

• Knowing the territory

Chapter 8.    Finding a Reputable Dealer

• Getting the local low down

• Checking out a dealership

• Questions you or your personal advocate should ask the dealer

• Questions to ask "satisfied customers"

• Warning signs, encouraging signs

Chapter 9.    Selecting the Right Home

• A quick look at the price range - and some tips

• Tips before you begin shopping

• Checking out the lot models

• The checklist, features, comparisons

• Narrowing the field, getting to apples to apples

• Real bargains on the front and back lots

• All those spinning plates

Chapter 10.    Getting to a Fair Price and a Square Deal

• Keep your options open - don't sign anything

• A common cutthroat tactic

• Dealer financing - Don't be a Charlie the Tuna victim

• How one reputable dealer operates

• A word about the Kelly Blue Book and the NADA Appraisal Guide

• The strategy for determining a home's fair market value

• How dealerships price their homes

• Negotiating a square deal on a home price

• Getting to a square deal on a home price and dealer financing

• Negotiating the terms of a loan package

• Deal terms: important details

• The 10-80-10 pay-out

• Before you sign the purchase contract

• The new rules of the game

Chapter 11.    Site preparation, delivery and set-up

• Site preparation - what, and who, is involved

• Hiring a general contractor

• Should you be your own general contractor?

• When being your own general contractor makes sense

• Working with a general contractor

• Manufactured home foundations

• The delivery

• The setup (or installation)

• Your new best friend - the building inspector

• Installation sequence

• Final touches
   

Chapter 12.    The Walk-through Inspection, Warranty Service and Long Term Care

• The walk-through inspection

• The checklist

• Manuals and documentation

• The honeymoon - and after

• When problems arise

• Maintenance for the long haul

• Don't forget those warranty cards

• It's all about people

Afterword

• Some key issues, The heart of the dilemma

• Three strategies, Ethical standards

• The path ahead

Appendix

Resources - Web sites, miscellaneous

List of State Administrative Agencies

List of Manufactured Home Industry state associations

Washington State home installation inspection checklist