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Modular homes have many green options available and we also offer completely Solar Homes.

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Happy Thanksgiving from DRA Living!

Our offices will be closed to celebrate the holiday on Thursday November 26th and Friday November 27th. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Modular homes are built better, faster and stronger than traditional on-site construction homes.

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The Expanded Home Buyer tax credit is not just for first time homebuyers!

On November 7th President Obama signed the law extending and expanding the first-time home-buyer tax credit, opening it up to many current homeowners and expanding the income limits. This makes it the best time ever to buy a new home from DRA Living!

 Who Qualifies …

 Under the new rules, there are actually two credits:

First-Time Home Buyers with adjusted gross incomes up to $125,000 (singles) or $225,000 (married) can get the full $8,000 tax credit if they purchase a primary residence before June 30, 2010 and haven’t owned a home in the past three years. The credit shrinks if your income is over those levels and is not allowed once income hits $145,000 for singles or $275,000 for married couples.

Current Homeowners can snag a credit of up to $6,500 if they’ve lived in their primary residence for five concurrent years out of the past eight, meet the same income thresholds as first-time buyers, and purchase a primary residence before June 30, 2010.

How Long Do You Have?

The new extension actually pushes the deadline back an additional seven months. Although the credit technically expires on April 30, 2010, if you have a binding contract by that date and close by June 30, you’ll still qualify. (The original credit was due to expire November 30, 2009.)

Members of the U.S. armed forces, military intelligence, or foreign service on qualified extended duty get an extra year to take either credit. And if you or your spouse has been deployed overseas for 90 days or more in 2008 or 2009, you have until April 30, 2011 to claim the tax credit.

 

When Do You Get the Credit?

Buyers don’t actually have to wait to file their 2010 returns to get the credit. As long as you buy a home in 2010 before the program expires, you can claim the tax break on your 2009 federal tax return.

 

Additional Information

If you’re married and never owned a home, but your spouse owned one within the past three years, the two of you won’t qualify for the $8,000 first-time home-buyer credit. You will qualify for the $6,500 credit for current homeowners, assuming you both meet the other requirements.

If you want to buy a house with your child, the credit’s available even if you already own a primary residence. Your child will get the credit of up to $8,000 as long as he or she meets the other qualifications – even if you own half of the property.

Who Doesn’t Qualify?

In addition to buyers who top out the income limits, there are a few other buyers who are excluded:

Luxury Market: You can’t use the new tax credit to buy a property that costs $800,000 or more.

Vacation or investment homes: You can’t claim the credit to buy a second home, vacation residence, or investment property.

House Flippers:  If you take the credit, you will need to stay put. If you sell the home or move to a different primary residence within three years of closing, you’ll then be forced to repay the tax credit.

Also worth noting: You can’t take the credit if you acquired the home as a gift or inheritance or from your spouse, parents, grandparents, children, or grandchildren.

Don’t delay! Contact DRA Living and start planning your dream home today!

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Take a Tour with us this Weekend!

DRA Living will be conducting a tour of the Handcrafted Homes Precision Built Factory in Henderson, NC this Saturday, September 12th at 11 AM. Please join us and see how our homes are constructed. We know that once you have seen the process, it will change the way you view home construction. In fact, we are so confident that you will be impressed by the precision built modular process after taking a factory tour that we will be giving all qualified* home buyers that complete the tour with us on September 12th a $100 Home Depot gift card. In addition we will give every homebuyer that completes a tour and later purchases a home an additional $500 gift card to Home Depot. **

Contact us today to reserve your spot. It could be worth up to $600 for you!

*Qualified home buyers must complete a credit application and must qualify for a home loan with approved credit

** Gift cards will be awarded after home closing

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Take a tour – it will change the way you think!

Most people have never had the opportunity to tour a modular home factory to see a modular home constructed, but those who have will tell you that it has changed the way they view home construction. In fact, they will tell you that the modular construction process truly must be seen to be believed.

We fully believe that the modular homes that we sell are constructed better than traditionally built homes and we believe that once you see the building process, you will agree. In fact, we are so confident that your thoughts will change after taking a factory tour that we will be giving all qualified* home buyers that complete a factory tour with one of our manufacturers during the month of August a $100 Home Depot gift card. In addition we will give every homebuyer that completes a tour and later purchases a home an additional $500 gift card to Home Depot. **

We have several modular home manufacturers throughout North Carolina and in Western Virginia that conduct tours on a regular basis or by appointment. Contact us today to set up your factory tour. It could be worth up to $600 for you!

*Qualified home buyers must complete a credit application and must qualify for a home loan with approved credit

** Gift cards will be awarded at home closing

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New Modular Homes And Manufactured Homes Are Here To Stay

In the wake of the US housing crisis, a tidal wave of new modular homes and manufactured homes is about to hit US markets. The fact is, factory-built modular and manufactured homes offer many clear advantages over traditional site-built houses. They cost much less money to build, and those savings get passed on to consumers. The process of putting together a factory-built home wastes considerably fewer resources. Factory-built homes take less time to build than regular houses. Finally, once the homes are built, they tend to be more energy-efficient and less expensive to maintain.

Learn more about our New Modular Homes

People used to hold severe misconceptions about modular and manufactured homes. It was assumed that “modular” or “manufactured” described a look, rather than a process of construction. It was believed that modular and manufactured homes had to look a certain way–boxy, small, and cramped.

Today, more and more people are beginning to understand what “modular” and “manufactured” homes really are. These words describe a highly practical method of construction. Modular homes and manufactured homes are houses that are pre-built in a controlled factory environment, and then transported to their final destinations.

Modular homes are also factory-built. However, they’re built according to local and State building codes (that is, the building codes governing the locality where the homes will ultimately stand), rather than according to the HUD Code. Modular home components are built in a factory thean transported piece-by-piece to their final destination, where they are assembled on a foundation or basement by a specialized team of builders.

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Eager Buyers Push Up Manufactured And Modular Home Sales Figures

Manufactured and modular home sales are taking the housing and home-building industry by storm. Right now, modular homes comprise somewhere between 7 and 8% of the US housing market. That’s not an impressive figure in itself. However, the figure becomes impressive considering the rate at which manufactured home sales have been going up during the last decade-and-a-half.

Contact us for our Modular Home Sales

The Building Systems Council, a committee formed by the National Association of Home Builders, has issued a report on the rapid growth of manufactured and modular home sales since the early 1990’s. According to this report, manufactured and modular home sales have increased by 48% during the period between 1992 and 2002. That’s faster than any other segment of the housing industry at the time.

The meaning of these statistics is clear. This is an exciting time for the housing industry, because modular and manufactured homes have finally achieved mainstream acceptance. To understand why, one must understand the difference between modular homes, manufactured homes, and site-built homes.

Both manufactured homes and modular homes differ from site-built homes, in that both kinds of homes are pre-fabricated–in whole or in part–at a specialized facility, then shipped to their final destination. Manufactured homes in the US, however, are built according to federal specifications set out in 1976 by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development . To facilitate transportation to their final destination, manufactured homes typically have a chassis with wheels on a frame. Thus, they are usually shipped to their final destination in one piece.

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Prefabricated Modular Homes: Engineering Meets Architecture

Prefabricated homes, also called prefab homes, have been built on and off throughout the 20th century. Ever since mass-production and industrialization became widespread, there have been people in architecture, in design, and in government office, who looked to manufactured housing as a solution to the industrialized world’s housing ills.

Learn more about our Prefabricated Homes

What are prefabricated homes? Unlike “modular home” and “manufactured home,” the term “prefabricated home” does not have a precise definition within the housing industry. It is a colloquial phrase. It refers to the notion of a house built far from the site where it is intended to stand. In this way, a factory can theoretically build a large quantity of identical homes in an assembly line fashion. Then, the structures can be transported to many different locations, either as complete buildings, or in several separate components. When prefabricated homes are transported to their final destination in several components, they are considered to be prefabricated modular homes.

Lately more and more and more architects and engineers are starting to recognize the aesthetic potential and practical utility of prefabricated homes. One of the first architects to do so was Buckminster Fuller during the late 1920’s, with his dome-shaped Dymaxion House. The Dymaxion House was one of the first prefabricated homes especially designed to be easier to build and to use resources more efficiently than conventional site-built houses. These days, Richard Rogers, designer of Paris’s innovative Pompidou Center, is continuing the legacy of Buckminster Fuller. Rogers is building innovative prefabricated homes in the town of Milton Keynes, England.

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How To Find Modular Home Builders

There are dozens of web sites and directories that offer listings of modular home builders all over the USA and abroad. This is definitely a good thing, because finding a modular or manufactured home builder is the first step to living the dream of owning your personal modular home.

Learn more about Modular Home Builders

Once you’ve taken that first step, the process seems to take hold of you. Before you know it, you’re talking to modular home manufacturers, and you’re reading about modular home companies. When your friends come over, you find that you’ve turned into something of an amateur lecturer on modular home construction and manufactured home construction. Yet, getting in touch with a builder is definitely the first step.

Before beginning your search, you must take into account how the process of modular home building works. Modular homes are built on assembly lines according to precise, uniform standards. You simply cannot put together a modular home on your own, even if you have all the parts in front of you. That task requires the services of professional modular home builders.

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