RCA covenants three decades old
By SHARON KERR

From the moment you walk up to the front door, to every room in the home, you realize "this isn't your grandma's trailer house," as Randy Milford recently told the Rayburn Country Association (RCA) board.

Milford is owner and manager of Twin Lakes Housing on South Wheeler in Jasper and a Rayburn resident. He is trying to work with the RCA to update covenants written three decades ago, when a mobile home was a far different thing than the modular homes on the market now.

"Trailer houses in the '60's and 70's were throw-away housing, disposables that did not last or hold their value," according to Milford. The industry was unregulated and trailers earned a reputation for blowing away in a high wind or burning up at the drop of a match.

By 1984, however, the federal government through the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department was setting standards for manufactured homes, and the industry has grown in many directions since then.

"Mod homes today are constructed as good or better than site-built houses and tied down to the soil or attached to a foundation. They become part of the property and do hold their value like any home," Milford said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently reported that in weather events (hurricanes and tornadoes), the newer modular homes have held up to wind better than site-built homes, according to Milford.

"You can't see this once the homes are put together, but everywhere wood 2X4's meet, they are glued, nailed, strapped and screwed," Milford said. "Then we put them on a foundation specified by an engineer for each site."

The codes governing modular and manufactured housing are complex.

According to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations (TDLR), modular housing is built to blue label codes and they insure compliance by inspecting twice during manufacture and requiring follow up inspections after homes are installed.

Milford is licensed by the state as an industrialized builder, and he also has to be bonded and insured.

Mod homes legally meet building codes everywhere in the state. TDLR states, "A municipality may not differentiate between modular homes built under the Texas IHB program and site built homes."

Yet Milford still encounters resistance from neighborhood associations who assume anything delivered on wheels from a factory must be a trailer house.

"We put a mod in a historic neighborhood in Orange. At first they objected, but then I RCA attorney Robert showed them how our homes are built and that the exterior can be esthetically pleasing and blend in with any neighborhood. I finally won them over," Milford said.

The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing ran an article entitled, "Not in my luxury market." It says, "The modular home industry has been quietly evolving over recent years. Recent advances in technology, customization and construction quality have led to modular homes becoming more commonly accepted in upscale communities." Jackson said it is up to the environmental committee, who must approve all building plans, to determine whether modular homes fit the restrictions of the existing building covenants.

"It will be decided on a case by case basis," Jackson said. He pointed out that there are more than 30 sections, each with different specifications.

"I imagine they will be very precise in looking at particular plans for each unit, and you might get two different answers depending on which section," according to Jackson.

Some areas of RCA were designated for mobile homes from the beginning, but 30 years ago, the authors of the covenants never envisioned quality homes rolling off an assembly line like cars.

Milford foresees the day not long in the future when retiring boomers discover Texas Forest County and begin looking for homes that are energy efficient, cost effective and easy to maintain.

The old Kevin Costner movie "Field of Dreams" promises, "If you build it, they will come." Milford is ready and waiting.