So you’re saying there’s a chance…
In numerous interviews I’ve discussed my investment in domain names related to prefab housing. I’m not talking about cheap prefab; instead I’ve gone long on modern prefab housing.
But the housing boom hurt the modern prefab industry pretty hard. Financing a prefab home can prove challenging and alternative financing got hit hard in the mortgage crises.
Another drawback is that prefab housing still generally costs a lot more than site built homes. I’m currently working on building a modern home here in Austin. The challenges of the lot would make it basically impossible to go prefab. But even if I wanted to, it seems most prefab ends up costing $200-$300 a foot. That’s a lot more than a comparable site built house. (The argument for prefab is that it’s higher quality since it’s built in a controlled environment.)
So I’ve questioned if I should keep renewing these domains.
But last week came news that Portland, Oregon based IdeaBox was creating an Ikea home. It turns out initial news reports that Ikea was creating/selling the home were inaccurate. IdeaBox just worked with Ikea to design the inside to work seamlessly with Ikea products.
It’s not exactly high end pre-fab, either.
Still, I’m hopeful that eventually prefab will take off in the U.S. and I’ll get a return on my investment. I’m just not going to count my chickens before they hatch.
Incidentally, one of the domains I own is PortlandPrefab.com.
Image: Ideabox.us
RaTHeaD says
not gonna happen… just my opinion… other opinions may differ.
Ron says
Not sure how your domain would have any substantial value…PortlandPrefab.com, most likely branded in company name…
Garry Epperson says
What’s your best one if you don’t mind sharing?
Andrew Allemann says
@ Garry – I don’t have any category killers on Prefab. Tried to buy Prefab.com but couldn’t work it out. I bought Prefab.us from Ron Jackson. I have some general ones like PrefabOnline.com, PrefabDirect.com, etc. Most of my prefab domains are cityprefab.com. I also have some modern domains including ModernBlueprints.com, ModernBeijing.com, ModernScottsdale.com.
Steve Jones says
I don’t remember the particular one we had, but we had a pretty decent high search generic .org prefab name and sold it.
Having been in the real estate appraisal industry and dealing with lenders leading up to the housing crisis, almost none of our lender clients lent on manufactured homes of any kind, so I can only imagine when the lending crisis hit it must have gotten that much harder to get loans on them. I never really understood why to be honest.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Steve Jones – I think there’s a stigma with prefab. If done appropriately and at scale it should be cheaper and produce better housing.
domain guy says
I used to own the domain modularcommunities.com
8+ yrs ago…I just couldn’t see it happening…the stigmas attached to modular homes so I let her go….
John says
Article in the sunday tribune (early edition) about prefab home’s new eco promise. Should be online tomorrow.