Saved Money Replacing Old Manufactured Home with New, Energy-Efficient Model

During the winter, Nicole Legare was paying $600 a month to heat her 1968 model mobile home using propane gas; but after she sought help from NeighborWorks Montana, all of her bills combined – mortgage, groceries, heating, etc. – came out to be less than her old gas bill.

What made the difference? She replaced her older model of a mobile home with a new, larger, more energy efficient model.

Frequently, mobile homes built before 1976 are "energy hogs," using up the environment’s resources and the resident’s money. In addition to the expensive heating bill, an energy audit found poor insulation, numerous air leaks and asbestos in the skirting. Repairing Nicole’s pre-1976 mobile home would have been more costly than replacing it with a post-1976 manufactured home. Today's manufactured homes are highly rated for their energy efficiency. In some cases, total estimated energy cost savings add up to $17,000 over 15 years.

NeighborWorks Montana, a member of CFED’s Innovations in Manufactured Homes (I’M HOME) network, launched a pilot program to document the cost effectiveness of replacing rather than repairing dilapidated manufactured homes. CFED supports several housing replacement programs across the country to demonstrate that modern manufactured housing can provide safe, quality homes and also help low-income homeowners build assets.

Through the program, Nicole not only qualified for a low-interest loan, reduced her monthly expenses and moved into a brand new home, but was also able to have her son, Dustin, move back home.

“My teen-aged son had been staying with my parents nearby because I just didn’t have the room,” she said.

NeighborWorks Montana works to keep mortgage payments for the replacement homes low. The typical monthly payment on a $15,000 mortgage through this program is $76.