When looking at homes in Durango, Bayfield or anywhere else, it is important to know what you are looking at when you walk through the door. It can be difficult sometimes to tell if it is a mobile/manufactured, modular or a stick built. Why does it matter and what are the differences?
 
Manufactured homes and modular homes are not the same. They are constructed to different codes. Manufactured homes are built to HUD code and modular homes are built UBC/IRC code (which is the same code that stick-built homes are built to). Most lenders won’t lend on mobile/manufactured homes. There are loan packages for mobiles/manufactured homes they are just more difficult to come by.
 
Generally, you can tell if it is a mobile/manufactured by either a plate outside or a sticker around the main electrical box in the home. A modular home is partially built off-site and has a sticker usually located underneath the kitchen sink.
 
The difference seems insignificant at a glance, but can mean all the difference when looking into financing. Make sure that you find out which kind of home you are looking at. You can’t always tell at a glance and many people do not know there is a difference. Just because the MLS sheet says that it is one type it still could be the other…always double check for accuracy.