PreFab housing is a foreign concept to me, so I decided to investigate…
- “There is no single definition of prefab. In fact, one could argue that almost every house built today has elements of prefabrication, since components such as roof trusses and windows are built off-site. Prefab can perhaps be best understood as a continuum with several points along a path—from a unique, custom-designed, stick-built home at one extreme to a complete factory-built house delivered on-site as a single unit.”
- [photopress:FF_82_prefab3_f.jpg,thumb,alignright]Are prefab homes destined for middle America? “Other architects are embracing this vision of mass customization. Charlie Lazor, a founder of the iconic Blu Dot furniture company, recently left to start his own concern selling FlatPak houses. Los Angeles-based architecture firm Marmol Radziner + Associates just opened a 64,000-square-foot factory to fabricate the steel frames for its new prefab line. And renowned LA architect Ray Kappe has designed a model for a prefab venture started by former dotcom mogul Steve Glenn.”
- The people from Royal Homes Modern remind us that size isn’t everything (so does the WSJ)
- However, small does not mean cheap… At least when Ray Kappe is involved.
- Prefab park?
- Wouldn’t it be nice if Seattle Modern got “modern” (i.e. a blog!) so that I could add him to my feed reader and link to his articles?
- Modern MyWay: Modern-style designs submitted by Dwell readers.
- Allison (the recently announced former editor at Dwell) literally wrote the book on PreFab.
- (Considering Alison helped market modular homes in addition to being an editor, Dwell has some work to do to fill her shoes…)
- Container Bay: “for shipping container enthusiasts”.
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The Prefab movement is strange: it’s surprisingly doctrinal and conservative within its supposedly “modern” and progressive field. Everything about prefab still screams white, wealthy, modernist-aesthetic, enviro, urban-dweller. It’s stll merely a style, not a movement. No one can seem to get the prices down to anything much lower than other custom construction, and no one’s bothered to design anything that would appeal to anyone but the modernist early-adopter crowd.
I recently went to purchase a home in my area..It was not till the inspector I hired let me know that it was a 20 year old modular home..My question is it ethically correct or even legally correct to not put this into the listing info???..Perhaps you can suggest some articles..I have searched and even spoke to real estate professionals in this area..
Debbie,
That’s definitely interesting info, but I’m not sure what type of articles you are looking for…
If you are looking for legal advice, then talking with a lawyer would be best. But I doubt that the fact that a home was factory built needs to be mentioned in a listing brochure. If there is a field in your particular MLS that mentioned the fact that a home was modular, and the listing agent specified otherwise, then that could definitely be a problem. But even then I’m not sure how far you would get considering the listing agent could always play dumb.
Personally, I’d be more mad at my buyer’s agent if (s)he missed the boat on this one. Are you using an agent?
Our mls has “stick built ON lot” vs. “stick built OFF lot”. Sometmes it is very diffucult for anyone to know for sure if a house was built off lot or not. I have suspected that a home was modular twice in the last few years, but often that fact is not visible to the “agent” eye or even the inspector;s eye. I have not sold one of the ones that I suspected to be modular homes, so have not seen how an inspector would know for sure.
Sometimes things DO have to be revealed by the inspector and not by the owner or the agent. That is why we have home inspections. If the buyer’s agent could SEE everything that needs to be known, we wouldn’t need inspectors. Just be glad the inspector picked it up and you didn’t find out after you bought it.
If the house went through three or four owners, it is possible that the owner doesn’t know for sure either.
Pre-fab could be much more than all of this. Here’s a different take:
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/h00199.asp
http://www.bensonwood.com/prodserv/openbuilt/index.htm
Consider that the “open-built” system is being pushed by the pre-eminent timber framer working in America today, I’d say there’s options out there that are not “modernist early-adoptor.”
-t
TY for your quick response..I have an agent she sold my home. We were pretty shocked that day it was a modular..There r a few easy ways to detect a modular built..especially the older homes..The door jams r much thicker then stick built, also the attic is the sure way to tell..The structure is built to travel..not the usual beam work..For future reference putting an addition or a possible pull down staircase is impossible with a modular..My inspector picked up on this immediately..I have researched this and old modulars had serious issues which have improved on..I specifically didnt want a modular..I was hoping to find info. of the legality of not listing the facts..Most realtors I spoke to felt that this issue was did the realtor in fact know this and did he intentionaly leave this info out of listing..I cant believe that there is no legal line to be crossed when righting a listing info..My realtor sent me a copy of my listing info before put it on mls..I just thought maybe someone on the list may have had experience with this problem…