Is your appraisal a bank appraisal or a real estate agent's appraisal based on comparable recent sales ?

If a bank appraisal you may need to shop around for a bank or lender with more experience of manufactured homes. One clue to your home value is the class or grade. You should be able to find an information sheet mounted on the cabinet side wall under the kitchen sink. The higher the class, the more valuable the home.

I live in Oregon and appraised our class 6 Silvercrest home 3 years ago for a mortgage to help our kids purchase homes of their own. The appraiser knew where to look to see the class of our home and when it was built.

His difficulty was finding any comparable sale within 25 miles - none in the past 3 years. So he appraised the house at exactly what was needed for the loan we were taking out. That was HALF the value of our home.

We are currently marketing the home since purchasing a couple of acres nearby in the foothills. The real estate comp came in at $420,000.

Our home sits on an 8000 sq. ft. corner lot a block from beach, village shops and city park. The lot alone is worth over $350,000. The location should take our home value to nearly $500,000. The stick built 2 story homes around me go for $600,000 up so we are back to the stigma attached to mfg homes.

If you are trying to sell your home as we are, consider selling it yourself. I have found that people who are interested in my home want a one level home and love the location of the home. That is how I market it and have two very interested buyers now.

I have for sale signs out and an information box with a very well designed 4 page full color brochure available. My phone number is there along with an invitation to knock on the door and see the house immediately.

It does mean I have to keep the house "show ready" at all times. Since I am on a corner lot that gets both foot and car traffic going to and from the beach and the village, this has worked well fo me. I am on the MLS but all my interest has come from passersby researching the area for a home.

Hope this is helpful!

redcap