Buying a Home

Tired of your trailer home?  If you’re interested in buying a home, why not try a modular home?  Modular homes are pre-fabricated in a factory and assembled onsite.  Modular homes, unlike log homes, are made with steel frames and all the aluminum siding you can dream of.  But what are the advantages of buying a modular home rather than a log home?  Log homes burn down whereas a modular home is designed to contain the blaze so that only its contents are incinerated.  Keep this in mind the next time your family is buying a home.

Some real estate agents will tell you that buying a modular home is a terrible investment, as these homes tend not to increase in value – ever.  Nonetheless, modular homes are really hot real estate right now.  I would know – I’ve sold more modular homes than I can count.    

If this is your first time buying a modular home, here are a few things to note.  Buying a modular home is like buying IKEA furniture:  your modular home is delivered to your house in a cardboard box complete with home-assembly instructions.  A modular home’s the best kind of home you can buy – better yet, get a modular home on sale.  Look for modular homes for sale in real estate magazines, such as Real Estate Today, Let’s Get Some Real Estate, This Real Estate Sucks, This Real Estate Rules or the popular This Real Estate is Five Hundred Dollars… Let’s Get It!

But there’s more to buying a home than knowing where to find great houses for sale.  First, consult a real estate agent, preferably one who specializes in modular home sales, like myself.  Second, search for some modular homes that appeal to you.  Or, if you don’t want to make the first move, let your dream modular home find you.  Some bold modular homes aren’t afraid to seek out a buyer if they really like them.  In fact, some modular home buyers prefer it; sometimes it’s refreshing to have a modular home come after you for a change.  Third and most importantly, make sure that your modular home is not in fact a log home in disguise.  Some real estate agents will shamelessly lead clients to believe they are buying a home made in a factory, while what they’re really getting is an inferno-fuelling log home – probably in the woods.  Ugly situations can be avoided by making a few quick checks before buying a home.  Does it have a heavy frame?  This is usually a dead-giveaway as modular homes tend to have much lighter steel frames than heavy log homes.  However, some log homes are so carefully disguised that you may not notice.  Also keep an eye on your real estate agent.  Is he/she trustworthy?

Which brings me to another important point:  when buying a home, take the time to find a first-rate real estate agent.  There’s nothing worse than finding your dream modular home only to have your real estate agent botch the sale.  When I was a young man, I bought a modular home from a log home salesman.  Now back then, log homes were all the rage and modular homes were for the elderly.  Then in the seventies, people began to appreciate the beauty of the modular home.  In no time, all the log homes were up for sale and modular home factories couldn’t keep up with the demand for new modular homes.  Then tragedy struck.  Hastily-assembled modular homes collapsed across the country, killing thousands.  Real estate agents were the first to move back into their log homes.  Other modular home owners followed suit.  Many modular homes were put up for sale but were ultimately abandoned… a sad chapter in modular home history.  But with the seventies long forgotten, and threats of terrorism, arson, and the like, modular homes are making a comeback! 

Sometimes people ask me why I got into real estate.  And I tell them …to save people from those death-trap log homes.  Not to mention that feeling you can only get from selling a home, buying a home, helping someone else buy a home, or listing homes for sale – especially those modular homes; they’re really hot right now; hotter than a log home burning in the woods. 

But let’s now talk about modular homes.  You don’t have to know much about real estate to recognize a fine modular home.  You’ll just know.  Log homes, on the other hand, are a different story altogether.  You may come across far more log homes for sale than modular homes for sale.  This is because people don’t want log homes.  But don’t despair – sometimes real estate requires improvisation.  Why not buy a log home, burn it down, and assemble a modular home in its place?  Or you could buy a modular home and a log home and build your modular home around your log home so that the neighbours can’t see that you actually live in a log home.  Another option is to use your log home for fire wood in your modular home.  After all, anything’s better than your trailer home.

Perhaps you have a friend who’s buying a home?  With so many houses on the market, finding the home that’s right for you can be like looking for a miniature modular home in a big pile of oversized log homes.  But that’s Real Estate.  You might want to tell your friend about some of the benefits of buying a modular home.  As I’m sure you are aware, log homes will self-combust if not treated biweekly with expensive log-home fire-retardants, whereas modular homes require hardly any upkeep at all.  You might also be interested to learn that log homes have a tiresome fresh-cut-wood smell that can’t easily be got rid of;  modular homes only smell of what you put in them.  Finally, log homes give you splinters whereas modular homes do not.

Whether you decide to buy a modular home or a log home, though I don’t recommend buying a log home, make sure that your real estate agent has experience buying and selling both log homes and modular homes.  Buying a home through a real estate agent who can’t tell a modular home from a log home is like selling a dead parakeet to a blind child.  So ask yourself, ‘What kind of real estate agent would swindle a blind child?’  The same kind of real estate agent that tries to sell you a log home when you really deserve is a well-built, carefully-assembled, reinforced hurricane-proof modular home.  Modular homes won’t tip over in a storm like trailers do.

The next time you’re buying a house remember that without real estate agents there would be no modular homes, and without modular homes there could be no inferior log homes, and maybe that would be for the best because we all know what a mistake it is to buy a log home when you could buy a modular home for half the price and be twice as happy with your purchase.  As a real estate agent, I see an awful lot of homes for sale, including modular homes, log homes, big homes, small homes, even medium-sized homes.  People often tell me that buying a home with a real estate agent like me – someone who knows all about houses for sale and buying a home - is better than buying a home with real estate agents who don’t.  That’s why I’ve listed more homes for sale than anyone.  I make buying a home easy for you, whether it’s a modular home or a log home you’re looking for.

Right now, one of my clients is buying a home in the city and she asked me to help her to decide what type of home she should buy.  Usually I find that modular homes are best, but this client was leaning toward log homes.  Though she knows nothing of real estate, she is convinced that log homes are better than modular homes.  And while modular homes have their obvious advantages over log homes, modular homes aren’t for everyone.  So I told her to go ahead and buy a log home.  While she’s looking for log homes for sale, I’ll be looking for some modular real estate for myself.  I’ve been thinking of buying a home up north for years but I just haven’t seen any houses for sale that I liked.  I’ll likely find a property and bring my own modular home with me.  The beauty of living in a modular home is that I can simply pack it up and assemble my modular home somewhere else when I decide to move.  You can’t do that with a log home. 

If you’re looking for modular homes for sale, check out the modular homes in the Real Estate catalogue.  You can find Real Estate catalogues wherever modular homes are sold but you can’t necessarily find modular homes wherever Real Estate catalogues are sold.  Usually modular homes and log homes each have their own section in Real Estate Catalogues.  If you’re not looking for homes for sale, then don’t bother looking for Real Estate catalogues.