All Forum Posts by: Michael Frank

[Warning - i'm not a mortgage broker, but based on my experience....] 

One can definitely finance many container homes via banks or other construction lenders. The key thing is most banks need to approve the fabricator for container homes, its going to be similar than any other modular home where the bank either has to be cool with a different draw schedule or a the prefabricator (container company) has to be cool getting paid a little bit after they've completed their work.

But in most cases where the container company is legitimate, I think one can find options. 

I've gone pretty far down the road on shipping modular in from the west coast. Plan to add $50 / sqft for that.

If you're doing high end, its potentially a good option, but you're looking at $450+/sqft 

hey all - i have some experience with this. I've helped a few people with considering modular rebuilds in fire areas and there are some modular and manufactured companies that I work with with that have some specialization in the area. - Orbit is one.

@Kevin Purvis Ya there are not a ton of plans for Jadu's but they do exist or you can just easily design one yourself. 

I'm doing one modular single family home project right now (in northern california) that includes 4 bed main house with 1 bed-1bath jadu over the attached garage.

@Eric Veronica what are the terms? - I do projects all over the country so always looking for new lenders comfortable with prefab and modular

@Eric Teran ya - those terms are solid. 

@Eric Veronica you lend on modulars? What are the attributes on your products?

Thanks

@Eric Teran. wow - that's quite a story! I've thankfully never had to deal with that during a project. Which other banks were also willing to work with you? Also, what were the attributes of the lending products? Was it just a short term product construction product that you had to refi out of or was it a one time close product?

Prefab and modular projects often require a different draw schedule than stick built homes. What construction lenders have others used for prefab or modular projects?

$250-$350+ is definitely the pricing I'm seeing in the east bay.

You can definitely buy a home from a factory and figure out the rest. You could also buy a kit of panels and other exterior stuff for maybe $100 / sqft. But I'm skeptical that you'll be able to drive the cost way down doing any of these methods unfortunately.

If you do figure out a better way though, let me know! 

I've had a bunch of good experiences and a couple tough ones with modular, but i'm generally a big believer in them.

The key times modular makes sense: 

- cost of modular is lower than comparable quality with stick built (this applies to most high cost areas in the U.S.)
- you have a site that isn't prohibitively challenging with modular (i.e. no blocking power lines, accessible by a large truck, etc. - I have a large checklist for this)
- you're in an area where the inclement weather or demand for local labor means building much of the house offsite will make the process easier and faster