As the traditional home sales falter, OC manufactured home company breaks sales records.
Jim Wilson shows off a park model style manufactured home in the lot at J and M Homes just outside of Oregon City. The park model is like a “fancy fifth wheel,” and features a second story loft.
Ellen Spitaleri / Clackamas Review
Jim Wilson’s company, J and M Homes, keeps “breaking the records” for sales of manufactured homes. The company, just on the outskirts of Oregon City, sells new and pre-owned manufactured homes
“I’m not sure why we’re so busy, but I have to believe it’s the affordability of what we offer and our staff,” Wilson said.
Traditional custom-built new homes these days run $150 to $200 a square foot, while the manufactured homes that Wilson sells average about $40 per square foot.
As far as his staff is concerned, Wilson noted, “We can offer the whole service package and we’re here. It is very seldom these days where you can go into a company and meet the owner.
“This is also a great place to work for our employees, and we are family friendly.”
In fact, J and M is a family-owned business, with the J coming from Wilson’s first name and the M coming from his wife Molly’s first initial. The two co-own the business and live in Happy Valley with their two children.
Variety of services
Wilson started the business in 2000, after retiring from working as a regional vice president of Fleetwood Homes for 15 years.
J and M sells exclusively Fleetwood manufactured homes that are made in Woodburn.
When Wilson talks about the “whole service package,” he means that he works with Colonial Home Loans to help the buyer get a loan, and his company, CTW Construction, can do all the “construction that goes around the home” as well.
“We have a turnkey policy,” he noted, which means if the customer wants to buy a manufactured home and then take the key and walk into a finished house, he can make it happen.
“I’m familiar with the pain for builders and real estate agents [right now], but we are not slow like everybody else,” Wilson said.
Once buyers purchase a custom manufactured home, it takes just 60 days for it to be built, as opposed to nearly a year for a traditional home, he noted.
Buyers pick out all the colors for carpets, countertops, tile work and more and then pick up their key and walk into a completed home, Wilson said.
“[The homes] are manufactured in a factory inside, so we don’t have [a problem with] the weather. All our lumber is kiln dried,” he added.
And, he said, if buyers take good care of their manufactured homes, they will “last forever,” unlike the “metal boxes” that people associate with previously built manufactured homes.
Two main models
Many buyers who purchase manufactured homes today live on private sites, as opposed to home parks, he explained.
Wilson said, “What’s happening is that people are living in an older home on a nice piece of property. We can demolish that home or [the owners] can trade it in and we can put a new home on that site.”
Currently available at J and M are double-wide models and park models, both constructed on the outside with Hardie Plank, which is a concrete wood fiber plank, Wilson said.
The 1,800 square foot double-wides feature kitchens, living rooms, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, utility rooms and “lots of storage,” while the park models are smaller, at 400 square feet, and resemble cabins, complete with lofts.
“Think of them as fancy fifth wheels. They are like an RV, but they don’t require permits and they are taxed differently,” Wilson said.
Wilson said his company is selling about 30 homes per month, and he would like to keep the company going and “increase in size with new locations in the Northwest.”
J and M Homes, LLC, is located at 15815 Pope Lane in Oregon City, and can be reached at 503-722-4500. Visit the Web site at: www.jandmhomes.com.
