More of the Process

911

Here are some facts that many of the manufactured home salespeople may forget to inform you about. They are crucial to the process. We found them out by trial and error.

It may be necessary to apply for a house number at the planning and zoning department. It is often called a 911. It is used by emergency services to find your home. It is also necessary before you can obtain a building permit and mail service. If you have not done this at the time of your official inspection you will not pass inspection. You apply for this a your local county building and zoning department. Someone from that office then drives to your property and measures the distance from the corner of your street to the point you place your driveway. That becomes your house number. This takes several days. This should be done before you order your home. You must provide them with a sketch of how to get to your property and you must have your driveway marked clearly. It helps if you have your name up somewhere also.

Things can and do go wrong during the process.--Take it from us. We were the first people to apply for our 911. We were given our official address and proceeded to change everything over to that address. We ordered phone service with that address. We signed our bank papers with that address. One day we received a postcard in the mail. They were notifying us that we had the wrong address. That somehow, (possibly from the road being widened or some such thing as that), since all the other homes were now in, our number was wrong. We had to notify everyone that there had been a mistake made by the building and zoning department, when they had measured our distance from the corner, and get everything changed over. It was a real hassle.

In planning your driveway, talk to the person from the sales lot who handles these items. It us usually the person who is responsible for setting the house. He can come out to your land and help you stake out your home boundaries as well as your driveway. He can also tell you of any problems that he might see that will affect the delivery of the house on the lot. We had to widen our driveway to 40 ft, have gravel delivered and hire a bulldozer operator to take the top off rises and other obstacles that would hinder the delivery of the house. We had to take more trees down that would be in the way of the delivery. This step is very important so that your delivery schedule is not delayed by unexpected problems.

Gravel and other land changes are often out of pocket expenses not included in the financing package. So talk to the land owner, developer , and sales people at the lot about these items and make arrangements well in advance of your house delivery. Often these costs are up front, so asking the right questions early in the process can save a lot of time and frustration, not to mention financial delays.

The post office will tell you where to put your mailbox and at which height they require it. Your house numbers must be on the mailbox or post on both sides for ease in seeing the address. The post office will provide you with all the information. This includes size of numbers etc. Even though we applied for our 911address early in the process, we waited until the house was delivered before putting the mailbox in. This was done so it would not interfere with the delivery. The house would have to make a wide swing as it was brought onto the property and the mailbox would be in the way. It is important to ask these kinds of questions before the problems arise.

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