From the Introduction
This book is the direct outgrowth of my first
consumer guide to manufactured housing, published in 2003, The Grissim
Buyer’s Guide to Manufactured Homes and Land—How to find a reputable dealer
and negotiate a fair price on the best kept secret in American housing. Shortly
after that book’s release, I began receiving emails and phone calls from readers
asking if there were any books available that provided ratings of all the
builders. When I answered, no, often the reply was words to the effect “You
should write one. There’s no way to tell who’s who out here, let alone how good
a house they build.” I had to agree.
I knew from previous research that the venerable
Consumer Reports magazine had once considered rating MH builders, but after it
discovered there was a great diversity of homes from region to region, produced
by dozens of builders promoting hundreds of brands, the magazine dropped the
idea as unwieldy. Yet clearly a great need was there. As time passed and buyers
of my book continued to urge me to tackle the task, I took a closer look at
possibilities.
What quickly became apparent was that MH builders
generally believe that when it comes to homes, consumers don’t know, or don’t
care about, brands. There is some truth in this. After all, a home is not
something that one buys regularly, like beer or cars, for which one develops
loyalty...
As I continued my research, however, I discovered
that few manufacturers build homes for every sector and price point; rather,
they choose a market niche and carefully assemble a formula of construction
features and specifications that together yield homes competitively priced for
that niche, typically at two or three price points. When I began compiling lists
of features and specs—leaving aside brand names for the time being—and plugged
them into a universal table of construction features and specifications,
arranged from one to ten in quality, the picture became much clearer—and much
simpler. The process also lent itself to a numerical construction rating that
seemed both fair and objective, and that could be enormously helpful to home
buyers.
In the fall of 2004, now convinced that a ratings
guide was feasible, I resolved to research and interview every HUD-code home
builder in the U.S.—79 in all—to obtain not only detailed construction data, but
additional information useful for home shoppers that would be presented in an
at-a-glance directory format. I anticipated the task would involve at least a
year of research and interviews, and would demand patience and bulletproof
civility. It took all that and then some.
Having learned from my last book that this can be a
secretive industry, wary of outside inquiries, I anticipated resistance from
some manufacturers. Alas, I was not disappointed. Some manufacturers behaved as
if they thought I was with Sixty Minutes....
Some manufacturers refused to respond, even when
informed that their listings would be completed and published, with or without
their assistance. In the interest of home shoppers, I mention this
unresponsiveness in those companies’ listings, leaving consumers to draw their
own conclusions. But in fairness, I believe many manufacturers, while
well-intentioned, are simply clueless—they have no idea how today’s media
operates, have no one assigned to handle media inquiries, and have little idea
how these shortcomings may potentially affect consumer perceptions of their
products.... I realize that some manufacturers may be less than happy with their
listings, but I hasten to add I have no axe to grind. If I have erred, I have
done so on the side of the consumer.
And there you have it, the first comprehensive
consumer ratings guide to every manufactured home builder. My sincere hope is
that this book, used in conjunction with The Grissim Buyer’s Guide to
Manufactured Homes and Land, will help you become an informed, pro-active,
confident, swindle-proof buyer. But if these books do nothing more than give you
the peace of mind that comes from knowing you made the right decisions at each
step on the path to acquiring your new home, their purpose will have been
served.
|
