Unconventional

LAKE PLACID - There are more homes on the market than just the conventional variety.

Sun Ovation Homes has opened a manufactured homes sales center in Lake Placid at 1450 U.S. N., which is next to American Legion Post 25.

The sales center is open from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday by appointment.

There are seven models on the site. They range from two-bedroom, two bath to four-bedroom, three-bath homes, according to Valerie Kersey, who is the manager of the Lake Placid location.

The models in Lake Placid come from Homes of Merit in Bartow and Skyline in Ocala.

Similar to the slow housing market for conventional homes, the manufactured market is also down, according to Jim Ayotte, executive director of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association Inc.

There were 11,036 manufactured homes built and shipped in Florida in 2006, Ayotte said. The industry is estimating the number to be 6,000 this year.

Ayotte noted that sales numbers are not used because homes are custom built.

"The big stumbling block is that people are having difficulty selling their homes," Ayotte said.

However, the industry is "cautiously optimistic" about a turnaround in 2008.

The homes seem to be popular in Florida. The 2000 U.S. Census showed the state had the most manufactured homes in the country with 834,177.

Ayotte said factory-built homes offer a better value, with the cost per square foot 25 to 40 percent less that a site-built home. The quality "is comparable" to site-built homes.

Ayotte said it is an efficient way to build homes. He added builders are are increasingly not building trusses on-site.

According to the Manufactured Housing Institute, manufactured homes are built entirely in the factory under a federal building code administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Modular homes, the institute's Web site said, are factory-built to the state, local or regional code where the home will be located. The homes are transported to the site and installed.