Resale values in Los Angeles

Just starting to explore the idea of a modular home. My family (wife, 18 month old boy) and I live in Venice and love it, but long term I'd like for us to get into a good public school district and settle there for a few years. First off, has anyone had experience with modular homes in the Los Angeles area? To build in Venice is 250-300 per square foot - Michelle Kaufman's web site quotes $130-160, not including transpo and setup (which is probably significant). How much do these costs jack up the cost? And what kind of a hit, if any, does the resale value of the home take if it's prefab? Any effect on it as a rental property? Thank you!

Hey there fellow Angelean. I'm not sure about the answers to your questions, but I wanted to say hello because I too am in the process of info gathering. My husband and I have a 7 month old and we just started looking for land about a week ago. We are in Sherman Oaks. You may want to look at Sara Sage's blog. She is building up in Val Verde and gives a very detailed account of her building process. Also, if you are wondering about mortgage's on building prefab, we are using Andrew Reid in Seattle. Here is his link:

https://countrywide.dorado.com/andrewreid/RequestRate

What's cool about him is that he has worked with loans on modulars and actually owns a Glidehouse!

In the blogs, there is a blog by a gentleman who is building an LV in Bel Air. His blog is useful as well. I think his sign on name is Angeleno if you want to do a search.

Hope this helps, and since we're both starting to look into this process right now we should keep in touch. Feel free to contact me at
corincartagena@sbcglobal.net

Good luck,
Corin

Honestly you should be prepared to take a hit with a pre-construction modular appraisal. You may not get the full value of the home in a pre-constuction appraisal regardless of its method of construction. Appraisers make an extraordinary assumption that the house will completed as planned so, in our case, they tended to be conservative. We found an appraiser who dinged us only $10,000 based on the fact that it was a modular, (listed as design appeal -10K) so we were happy with that.

Now that our house is here we have a constant stream of visitors dropping by and when it's done, I am sure that the appraisal value will be higher... and that its design and appeal will add to the value instead. Also, if you plan to build in Venice, which is a more metropolitan area than mine , your experience with modular appraisals should be much more favorable than ours. L.A. property values will certainly make the endeavor worthwhile anyhow.

Good Luck!

Michelle Kaufmann Designs will work with you to work with your appraiser so that you are not "dinged" simply because you are buidling a modular home. Her attention to this detail begins right away as you work with her on the design of your home, and she has prepared materials that your lender and appraiser can use to understand the home better and give you the best appraisal possible. As these homes are built to alllocal building codes, and often built better than site built homes (they have to be picked up by a crane at least once), there is no reason it should appraise any differently simoply because it is built in a factory. Ignorancce of the building process is mostly what appraisers have to overcome, and MKD does her part to help you do that.

Above all, as you talk to anyone about your home, don't use the word prefab. People, expecially lenders, appraisers, building departments, i.e., anyone that could affect the building of your home, automatically think mobile home. It really is not the best way to start a conversation about your home.

To help you prepare a budget for your MKD home, we've published some budget guidelines .

Also note that an MKD home was actually installed in Los Angeles yesterday. It may have been on the local evening news as I know that some local media were invited to watch the show (big cranes always attract some interest!). It's a private residence, and I have not received permission from the owner to let people drive by (we do try to protect our owner's privacy). If I can get that permission, I'll let all you Angelenos know.

Marshall

Hi...

I too live in the LA area and am currently looking into land in Northern Calif (marin county)...interested in putting up one of those breezeway homes....property is cRaZy all over this state, especially near the water (ie: venice beach) and land seems to be the most difficult to obtain as opposed to a home..... I appreciate the web site given of the fellow who does mortgages for pre-fab homes PLUS has a glidehouse....wondering is there anyone in thr LA or Northern Calif area who actually has one I could see prior to plunking down some 300k ?


thanx::zz:

Dear Marshall,

I am dying to actually see either a breezeway or glider home from MKD........however I have been unable to find out if anyone in this state has one I could actually see prior to plunking down some 300k for one.........been shopping for land in Northern Calif (marin county) and am actually going up north labor day weekend to view 4 lots.....IF this new LA area owner is adversed to allowing folks to view the place, then might you know of another owner in the state who would be willing to allow me to see the place ?

thanx,
Judy Worth

Judy,

We work with all owners to show their homes by invitation-only and scheduled appointments. Unfortunately, we don't have an owner in the LA or SF area now that has agreed to show their homes. They want to live in them! And we will help prptect their privacy while they do. I'm sure you will appreciate this when MKD builds your home.

Rest assured, we'll let you know via the Breezehouse News when there is an open house.

Note that there will be a Glidehouse displayed at the Vancouver Home and Interior Design Show, October 13-16. It's the next best opportunity to view a Glidehouse, and the Breezehouse uses many of the same fixtures and finishes, and is built in the same factory.

Marshall

Marshall....

Thanx.I respect the fact people would rather not have their home on display....it just makes it hard to see something prior to buying it.....especially since it's not a small or inexpensive object.....but I totally understand. I spoke with someone today who said that Sunset's Breezeway might still be on the magazine's lot from a large viewing they had last May.....so I contacted the project manager from that whole thing and asked if I could possibly see it before the new owners took pocession.......guess I'll know soon enough.

Thanks.....and I'll keep my eyes out for anything local...

Judy

wanted to give a holler as we also live in venice and have a 15 month old daughter. We started demo this week and will spend the next year watching our house go up.

I wanted to comment on what Judy said above, as it's not much different than the process that happens with an architect and a custom built home. You look at drawings, look at a model, decide on materials, and sign a contract.

I get to nit pick as they build it, but I don't get to walk through a house like mine until I have a house to walk through.

jamie

Is there anyone out there who has recent experience with this topic? I don't want to spend a year working to do this if there are bunches of you our there who've been through this already. Help! We're renting in Santa Monica and can't find anything ANYTHING decent for $500K but we can move into a crackhouse next to the 5 if we want to.

I'd order a Breezehouse in two seconds if MKD offered some sort of fee service to help me with the process that they know all about and I know nothing about and am on my own to learn. I just need local help finding costs for things like contractors and foundations and stuff like that. I don't even know where to look.

I've got the MKD budget happening. Any Angeleno input? Why aren't there modulars all over the place? I know about a zillion people who want one.
/diane
:zz:

/diane,

I've checked through my emails, I don''t think I've heard from you directly. You can contact me anytime about these questions. Click on my email below.

Marshall

Hello everyone, "Angeleno" here...

Housing costs in Los Angeles are really high, no question there. However, I want to challenge those of you who think pre-fab is the solution to these high prices! Land is scarce and expensive too!

Pre-fabs in the middle of the forest are beautiful; high-design goes well with nature. These greenfield pre-fabs create the "anomally" that we are all fascinated with - a beautiful home for a relatively low cost.

Urban infill prefabs are a different story altogether. Urban locations are inherently "mature markets" that are characterized by a scarcity of developable land - when land is available, it is either (1) desirable and expensive (usually requiring purchase and teardown of an existing structure), or (2) undesirable and worthless. For example, I worked long and hard to find a mispriced piece of land. I am building on the flat pad at the base of a steep hillside that is currently improved by a small shack. Turns out that the land was priced just about right...by the time I am done paying for the architecture, engineering and concrete necessary to finish the project, I will have invested about the same amount that would have been required to buy a piece of land that was more readily developable.

Real estate markets are pretty darn efficient - you get what you pay for! There really aren't too many anomolies in a mature urban market! Don't think that pre-fab is the solution for the high cost of housing in urban locations!

(stay optimistic!)

Peter