Why I'm a Pew Fan

I put The Pew Charitable Trust in my top spot 

for two reasons. 

1. Their research is some of the best in the world, IMHO.

2. I agree with most of what they conclude and recommend. (What a concept!)

Like this:

The Rundown

Manufactured Homes Could Ease the Housing Crunch By encouraging more manufactured homes—factory-built, modern, and often half the cost of traditional site-built houses—the U.S. could vastly increase the number of available and affordable housing options. The challenge: While these houses aren't the trailer homes of the past, they are still treated that way by the laws in most states. Most manufactured homes are classified as personal property, like a car—not as real estate, like a home. That means fewer protections and higher-cost loans. At a recent Pew event, experts called for common-sense fixes:   🏡 Let buyers title homes as real estate to unlock mortgage access. 💵 Modernize federal loan programs for "home-only" buyers—people who finance just the house, not the land. 🛡️ Add protections for the riskier mortgage alternative known as contract financing, an arrangement typically made between a buyer and a seller rather than a lender. Dave Anderson of the National Manufactured Home Owners Association sums it up: "If the financing was improved, it would open the floodgate. … It would make manufactured home buying easier, cheaper, and safer." My kind of problem-solving, inexpensive, common sense idea.  Check out Pew if you haven't. Some clean thinking goes on there.