A Builder's Guide to Marketable, Affordable, and Durable Entry-level Homes (MADE) To Last

Despite the steady demand for affordable homes, builders are developing fewer site-built homes for first-time homebuyers. Competition from the manufactured homes industry and expectations of new homebuyers are making it more difficult for builders to produce and sell well-built, affordable starter homes. Marketability, affordability, and durability are often seen as competing ideas that cannot be combined in one home.

To increase the number of site-built, entry-level homes, HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research recently released a manual that illustrates how developers can construct high-quality, energy-efficient, durable, and affordable housing. A Builder's Guide to Marketable, Affordable, and Durable Entry-level Homes (MADE) To Last, developed as a part of the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing, provides builders with:

• Tools to market affordable housing to entry-level buyers.
• Successful techniques for building affordable, durable housing.
• Methods to define homebuyer expectations and fulfill their needs both before and after the sale.
• Preliminary plans illustrating how many of these techniques fit into a MADE-to-last demonstration home.

To develop the MADE prototype, researchers consulted housing experts, surveyed first-time homebuyers and some of the Nation's top affordable homebuilders. They also reviewed statistics on home sales, housing characteristics, and durability issues. Although they are price-conscious, first-time buyers want an attractive home, the ability to expand it for growing families, and a flexible floor plan. The manual provides tips on how to achieve these characteristics while controlling the cost of construction. Case studies also provide insight on how builders are successfully using these techniques.