To make a long story short, in late 1996, we were in desperate need for housing. Our credit was not the best, we went to Oakwood after seeing "No money down, 0% down payment", having no previous knowledge of buying a home, mobile, modular or otherwise. We were "pre-approved" at $500 down, picked out a 14x80 mobile home on the lot, were told to return in a week to sign contract.
We were promised private land in our area, which ended up being a lot in a mobile home park, which our salesman said he had deposited a month's rent on (our landlord later told us this was not true), I don't remember all details, this was 8 years ago, but the contract documents had me listed as the primary purchaser/borrower, although we wanted my husband to be the primary, we were told they listed the names alphabetically.
The price of the home jumped from "upper 20s" to "mid 30s". The new purchase price on the contract was $32,000. We were also told that we did not qualify for only $500 down, but they had secured a personal loan for the down payment by an affiliate company, Beneficial, for $1,500.00 (with a very high interest rate, over 20%). We were so naive and I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown from all the run around, so unfortunately, we still signed the contract.
After that evening, our house was delivered a few weeks later, but not set up. After another few weeks, the plumbing, skirting and leveling was done, but no electrical set up. Our salesman repeatedly told us that he had attempted to contact the electrician, but was not receiving phone calls back from him, family emergency, excuse after excuse, I finally got the name of the electrician, looked up his phone number & called him myself, and he said Oakwood NEVER contacted him about setting up our electricity.
Between this time, Oakwood called and told us we needed to come in to sign an amended page of the contract, we were unable to set up a time suitable to them, (they're located 1 1/2 hours from our residence) and told them they would have to make arrangements to come to us to sign the paper. They threatened that if we didn't come in to sign, they would take the house back. My husband agreed to meet half-way, we signed the paper, which I later realized had changed the interest rate from 10.75% interest to an eventually increasing interest rate of 13.25% (the maximum). Apparently we initially signed this paper with nothing filled in for the interest rate. I wish we had realized this, we could have voided the entire contract.
There's more, but it stresses me just to think about it. We've learned our lesson, accepted our mistake, and have now lived in our home for almost 8 years. We tore down one interior wall to expand a closet and interestingly, the framing lumber used was unfinished strapping, not treated 2x4 lumber. Our house has never been level, we've had problems with the linoleum in the kitchen, leaking in the roof vent of one of the bathrooms, etc. Twelve more years and it will all be over!
We've been paying since November 1996, initially financing approx. $32,000.00, we still owe $26,000.00, paying for the 1st year $310/month, the next 2 years $320/month, and the last 5 years our payment has been $365.00/month. That means our total payments have been $33,300.00, but our balance has only moved approximately $6,000.00—Yippee!!!: (
Oh well, to all those desperately seeking a home, if possible, don't buy a singlewide mobile home, and DEFINITELY don't buy ANYTHING from OAKWOOD HOMES...
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