If you have a manufactured home, you may be wondering how to convert it into a stick built home. Is this possible? Can you really convert a manufactured home into a real home that qualifies as real estate property?
Many people buy a manufactured home for the time being but end up ultimately wanting to live in a stick build home. The good thing is that you can have the best of both worlds and find a solution to this problem.
Just because your home is a manufactured home doesn’t mean that you can’t turn it into a traditional home. Keep reading to find out how to convert a manufactured home to a stick built home.
Table of Contents
How Do You Convert a Manufactured Home to Stick Built?
If you want to convert your manufactured home to a stick built, you need to first create a foundation. Once you have the house on a foundation and the utility hooked up, your home will no longer be considered to be a manufactured home.
Your home will now be considered to be equal to a stick built home, and you will need to do some legal processes to complete this project. Then you will have a real home that will now qualify as being real estate property.
This not only increases the value of your home and property but will make it more comfortable to live in. it will feel and look more like a real home rather than a manufactured home.
There are several reasons why a homeowner may want to do this, whether they want their home to be a stick build or want to sell it. This is a great way to convert your manufactured home into a traditional home.
Build a Foundation
Manufactured homes are not created with permanent foundations like a stick built home is. To convert your manufactured home, you need to first create a permanent foundation for it to be attached to.
You will need to have the land cleared where the foundation is going to go and have the concrete poured. This is a very intense step that many homeowners may choose to hire someone else to deal with.
Once the foundation is ready, you will need to remove any structure underneath your manufactured home before attaching it to the foundation. This includes things like wheels, axels, or a towing hitch.
Connect Utilities
Once your home has been attached to the foundation and is completely stable, you need to attach the utilities. Make sure you have the utilities approved by the country code department first.
You will need to connect utilities, including:
- Electricity
- Plumbing
- Landlines
- Sewerage
You should hire professionals to do this so that everything is up to code and done correctly. This is important as you don’t want potentially dangerous issues coming up late on.
Deal With Legalities
Now that your home is considered to be a real home and not just a manufactured home, you need to file a certification of location. This will indicate that your home is tied to a parcel of land, making it a real estate property.
This will require that certain things be done to show that this is real estate property and that everything was done legally. You will also need to get a decal number as this is required when converting a manufactured home.
You will also need your HCD registration card and certificate of title. Once you have all of these important documents, your home will be officially considered, to be a real home, not a manufactured home.
Can You Make a Manufactured Home Look Like a Stick Built?
There are several things you can do to your manufactured home to make it look like a stick built. This is something that many want to do to make their home look more traditional and like it was built right on the site.
You can do this in several ways, including doing things like:
- Making the roof higher
- Extending the eaves
- Adding crown and molding
- Adding larger doors
- Building a garage
- Adding landscaping
These are all things that can make your manufactured home look like a stick built that is more eye appealing. This takes a bland boxy-looking house and transforms it into a home that looks like it was built by hand.
This can be very important if you are trying to sell your home and want it to have more curb appeal. People tend to shy away from homes that are recognizably manufactured as they just don’t look as nice.
Combine these steps with adding the foundation and hooking up the utilities, and you will have completely transformed your home. No one will be able to believe that it is a manufactured home.
Is a Manufactured Home as Good as a Stick Built Home?
Though manufactured homes may have a bad reputation, they are really just as good as a traditional stick built. The only difference is that one is constructed and is made to be transported, and the other is made by hand at the location.
Both can last a very long time and can be considered a high-value homes. Manufactured homes tend to get a bad reputation if they are made poorly, decreasing their value.
Many manufactured homes are very well made but the few poorly made ones tend to give them all a bad reputation. As long as you buy a high-quality manufactured home, it will be just as good as a stick built home.
How Do You Make a Manufactured Home a Stick Built Home?
To make a manufactured home into a stick built home, you need to follow a few steps to do so. This includes making a foundation to attach it to, adding the utilities, and gathering all of the necessary legal documents.
If you want to make your manufactured home look more like a stick built home, there are also a few things you can do. All of these steps will help to transform your home and make it look less manufactured.
This can increase its value as well as its curb appeal if you ever plan on selling it.
