It is only the stigma associated with trailer parks that keeps more people from buying modular houses, reports Business Vancouver.
British Columbia’s biggest pension fund, the BC Investment Management Corporation (BCIMC), hopes to change that perception.
In 2010, BCIMC bought Parkbridge Lifestyle Communities Inc., Canada’s largest modular park developer according to realtors for $790 million.
Mortgage manager Abdul Safi of TD Canada Trust in Vancouver notes that modular homes offer an “extremely affordable” alternative for homebuyers in Metro Vancouver, where a recent Royal LePage survey found the average bungalow now sells for more than $1 million. Most of TD’s modular home loans are for less than $80,000, he said.
Safi added that modular home buyers can qualify for a chattel mortgage, which are used to buy modular homes, easier than with a conventional mortgage because of the much lower loan values. The chattel mortgages offer the same financing options as a conventional home loan and include mortgage insurance, most often from CMHC.
