New car loan mobile

For a growing number of U.S. consumers, a house doesn't have to be permanently attached to the earth to be considered "home."

During the past decade, the number of mobile homes in the country increased by about 16 percent to nearly 9 million, according to the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey. That's nearly double the number of mobile homes that existed in 1980. And while consumers who live in such lodgings are typically less affluent than consumers who live in non-mobile housing, research from Simmons Market Research Bureau (SMRB) reveals a notable upscale component to the mobile-home market.

A mobile home is defined as a residential structure that's been constructed in a factory, and then shipped in one piece to its address, according to the Manufactured Housing Institute, an Arlington, Va.-based trade association for the industry. While the term "mobile home" is widely used by the people who actually live in these structures, it's a bit of a misnomer: only 5 percent of mobile homes ever leave their original site.

There are several reasons these manufactured houses have grown in popularity during the past decade, says John Mcllwain, senior resident fellow for housing at the Urban Land Institute, a housing-oriented think tank and research institution in Washington, D.C. Thanks to improved quality in mobile home design and construction, many communities that once banned these structures in their zoning codes have since relaxed their restrictions, he says. In fact, newer manufactured mobile homes look quite a bit like a traditional "site-built" homes. For instance, Noji Gardens, a new development of manufactured mobile homes in Seattle, offers two-story structures that even have attached garages.

Boosting their popularity, these spruced up structures now come with more favorable financing terms, says Mcllwain. In the past 10 years, the relatively low price of manufactured mobile homes (nearly $100,000 less than the cost of an average site-built home) has become a more attractive proposition to consumers. Buying a mobile home has become a financial transaction that's less like buying a car, and more like buying a house, he says. This means that a new mobile home owner will enjoy the same longer loan terms and lower interest rates as buyers of traditional housing.

To be sure, the affordable price of mobile homes attracts plenty of lower-income, less-educated consumers. Nearly half of mobile home dwellers have household incomes below $30,000, and a similar share are not in the work force: they're either unemployed or retired, according to Simmons. But the data also reveals that the more attractive designs and financing options of manufactured homes have lured a more upscale crowd: 27 percent of mobile home dwellers have some college education, and 52 percent have an annual income of $30,000 or higher. A significant 20 percent earn $60,000 or more.

For marketers selling products and services for the home, these mobile home-owning consumers offer similar opportunities to the traditional home-owning market. Last year, 45 percent of mobile home dwellers bought new furniture for their homes, and spent an average of $885 in the process, Simmons' research reveals--a figure that's lower than the $1,240 average expenditure for residents of traditional homes. The most commonly purchased items for these consumers are the same as consumers in traditional homes: mattresses and box springs, recliners, sofas and love seats.

But it's not just furniture that's going into these dwellings. Consumers who live in mobile homes spent an average $1,000 on remodeling last year, according to Simmons, and nearly one quarter have plans to remodel their homes next year. The rooms most likely to get a makeover are the bathroom, the kitchen and the family room or den-the same order of priorities that consumers in traditional site-built dwellings maintain. Apparently, a house is still a home to be invested in--whether it's mobile or firmly planted in the ground.