Approximately 2-3 million households in the United States live in manufactured housing communities, according to the 2013 American Housing Survey. As the standards of manufactured housing have increased, so have the number of Americans considering manufactured housing as a high-quality, affordable option.

The question is, who lives in the modern manufactured home community these days, and what benefits do they enjoy from their living situation?

Who Lives In Manufactured Home Communities?

An extensive report by Foremost compiled a profile of people living in manufactured homes based on more than 26,000 interviews. Here are their findings.

Manufactured Housing Residents Are Younger Than You Think

Despite the pervasiveness of 55+ communities in the manufactured housing space, the largest age group reported in their surveys was actually aged 18-29, coming in at 23% of residents. This shows that many first-time homebuyers turn to manufactured homes when they’re finally ready to break free from the cycle of renting.

Most Manufactured Housing Residents Own Their Home

68% of survey respondents reported that they own the home they live in, as opposed to 24% who were renting and the remainder who reported living with relatives.

What’s more, almost half of the residents who reported owning their home said they were there to stay. 40% didn’t anticipate ever selling it.

The Number of Manufactured Home Residents Living in Communities is Rising.

In 2012, 39% of respondents living in manufactured homes reported living in a community, compared to 35% in 2002.

What Do They Get From Manufactured Home Communities?

By choosing to live in a manufactured home community, residents receive benefits that they otherwise wouldn’t by living on private land or in other multi-family housing, like apartments or condominiums.

Because the land is leased to the resident but owned by the community, first and foremost this means that a resident can enjoy the perks of homeownership – like living in privacy without wall-sharing neighbors, or being able to paint and remodel at your leisure – without having to maintain the land and utilities.

Many UMH manufactured home communities have perks that go above and beyond, including community pools, playgrounds, fitness centers, on-site maintenance, clubhouses and regular events for residents to mix and mingle with their neighbors.

Take a look at our community finder to find a UMH manufactured home community in your area.

Is Manufactured Housing Right For Me?

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Manufactured homes built in 2018 are sturdy, dependable, often energy-efficient and offer a wonderful opportunity for potential homebuyers looking for quality, affordable homes. They allow you to build equity through homeownership, without a lot of the stress, risks and hassle that comes with buying older, stick-built houses.

UMH is proud to have 20,000 homesites that 60,000 residents call home. If you want to learn more and find out why so many of our residents love living in our communities, check out https://www.umhsalescenter.com and get started today!

Affordable Modular Living in Cranberry Township 

Explore manufactured homes in Cranberry Township from a trusted industry leader.

UMH Properties, Inc. offers efficient, affordable homes built in climate-controlled environments—perfect for those seeking rural serenity or urban convenience. We provide flexible financing options for qualified buyers.

Find the perfect home in a welcoming community—whether you want privacy or proximity to city life.

Schedule your tour today.

Manufactured Homes for Modern Living in Cranberry Township

UMH Properties, Inc. offers high-quality, factory-built manufactured homes in Cranberry Township, PA—designed for affordability, comfort, and convenience. Our homes are built in climate-controlled environments and feature energy-efficient appliances, open floor plans, and customizable finishes. We provide flexible options to fit your lifestyle and budget.

Our communities offer peaceful country settings and easy access to urban conveniences. Located near employers like PNC Financial and Bayer Pharmaceuticals and close to schools such as Butler County Community College, our homes provide an ideal mix of location and value. Enjoy local amenities like Cranberry Highlands Golf Course and the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex while living in a well-maintained, pet-friendly neighborhood. UMH has a community for everyone.

Discover Comfortable, Affordable Living with UMH

Experience the freedom and flexibility of manufactured home living in Cranberry Township. At UMH Properties, Inc., we combine modern design, convenient locations, and decades of trusted service to help you find more than just a house—you’ll find a place to call home. 

Whether you’re starting a new chapter or looking for a place to settle down, Forest Park Village offers a welcoming community designed to meet your needs. Residents enjoy the peace of mind that comes with 24-hour maintenance and attentive on-site management. The community also features a playground, convenient storage options, and reliable garbage removal—all included to make everyday living easier and more enjoyable.

Take the first step—your new home is waiting.

Contact us today to schedule a tour or speak with our team about available homes. You can reach us by phone at 1-800-504-0670 or by email at wecanhelp@umh.com. For more information, visit our website at www.umh.com.

Our Testimonials

“My parents and I could not have asked for a better experience. The Forest Park Village in Cranberry, PA, is truly commendable. I recommend it to anyone looking for a place to live in the area.

– Kim Wylie, Google Business Page (March 2024)

“Nice community. The owners take good care of the place—cheapest around Cranberry.”

– Joel Barnes, Google Business Page (April 2018)

“Awesome place to live!!!”

– Julia DiFiore, Google Business Page (April 2018)

Directions to Forest Park Village from Cranberry Township

Getting to Forest Park Village from Cranberry Township is quick and convenient. Start by heading south toward Unionville Road. After about 79 feet, turn right onto Unionville Rd and continue for 0.9 miles. Next, turn left onto Glen Eden Rd. After 0.4 miles, you’ll reach a traffic circle—take the 3rd exit onto Powell Rd. Continue on Powell Rd for approximately 1.5 miles, then turn right onto Holly Dr. Forest Park Village, which will be on your right.

This scenic route passes through quiet residential areas and local greenery, just a short drive from the amenities of central Cranberry Township.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I finance a manufactured home through UMH Properties?

Yes. We offer financing options to qualified buyers to help make homeownership accessible and affordable.

Are your communities pet-friendly?

Absolutely. Forest Park Village welcomes pets, though some breed or size restrictions may apply. Contact us for specific community guidelines.

What’s included in the lot rent at Forest Park Village?

Lot rent typically covers community maintenance, trash removal, and access to shared amenities. Exact details may vary—contact us for a full breakdown.

Do you offer both new and pre-owned homes?

Yes. We provide a selection of brand-new and well-maintained pre-owned manufactured homes to fit a range of budgets and preferences.

Can I customize the features in my home?

Many of our new homes offer flooring, finishes, and layout customization options. Speak with our sales team for available upgrades.

Your manufactured home is your castle, and you want it to stand out from all the others. But how? The options seem nearly endless. You might not have as much of a yard to work with as others do, but that does not mean you can't work to maximize your space and help it achieve its ideal beauty. Here are some ideas to make your porch pop:

1) Add a covering: It's amazing how much larger adding a roof over your porch can make your home appear overall. It has the additional benefit of giving you some protection from the elements so you can enjoy your porch at any time.

2) More protection from the elements: If you've got a roof to work with, consider installing screens or plexiglass between the roof and railing, particularly if the lower wall is solid.

3) Landscaping: Whether around just the porch or the entirety of your home, the right landscaping gives your home a distinctive edge. The more colorful, the better.

4) Add a wrap-around: Why have your porch just at the front of the home? If you have the resources, expand the porch to go all the way around your home.

5) Hanging baskets: If you don't want to landscape intensively, these floral arrangements provide a nice pop of color where you need it the most.

6) New furniture: Has it been a while since you changed the chairs on your porch? A simple end table or new rockers will breathe new life into an old structure.

7) Paint: A fresh coat of paint can make your porch seem brand new again. Go brighter, go darker, or do whatever your heart desires.

8) Warm it up: If you've got the space, heating lamps or a fire circle can make your space suitable for all seasons.

9) Expand it: Whether you want to go up or out, make your porch a little larger, if the space allows for it.

10) Change up the materials: Why not add logs or stone? These can be inexpensive and a great way to make the porch look brand new.

With these ideas, you can have the nicest manufactured home around. It's amazing how little changes can make a world of difference for your home. 

• • Spacious Floor Plans. Homes have modern features, including kitchens with ample cabinet and countertop space, islands, and breakfast nooks. Master bedrooms, master bathrooms, and porches create bonus living space.
• • Community Amenities. These communities may have recreational amenities like outdoor pools, playgrounds, basketball courts, exercise rooms, and clubhouses that can be used by all residents of the community.
• • Desirable Locations. Manufactured home communities are often close to urban areas, making work commutes easy and ensuring that residents are near entertainment, dining, and shopping options. Some are in beautiful suburban areas near parks and recreational areas.  

Seeking Experienced Sales Representative

Saratoga, NY – Full Time

Belle Vernon, PA – Full Time

About UMH Properties, Inc. –

UMH Properties, Inc., (UMH) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and operates manufactured home communities in seven states throughout the northeast, including New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana and Michigan.

UMH has been in business since 1968, operating as a public company since 1985. We own a portfolio of 95 manufactured home communities, housing approximately 16,600 home sites. 

UMH has a subsidiary, UMH Sales and Finance, which sells manufactured homes into its communities as well as costumers own property.
 

We encourage you to visit our investors website ir.umh.com where you will find our most recent Annual Report, Letter to Shareholders, and SEC Filings. Our website also includes our Dividend Reinvestment Plan Description, Property Portfolio, and other key information that should be of interest to our shareholders and potential investors.

Position Available: Experienced Sales Representative

Job Description:

We have a 64 lot expansion at one of our beautiful communities. We are looking for a passionate knowledgeable sales person. Our ideal candidate is extremely organized, detail oriented and has 5 years of experience in the manufactured home industry.

–       Set up appointments to with leads to view homes 

–       Deal with getting costumers approved for financing

–       Land home deals

–       Stage sales homes

–       Make sure sales homes are always up to UMH standards

–       Order new homes to fill expansion

Location: Saratoga, NY & Belle Vernon, PA

Qualified applications, please email resume and cover letter to Kristi McGovern at kmcgovern@umh.com

Apply Now

The holidays are here and in full swing! One of the favorite pastimes during this time of year is decorating. If you live in a manufactured home, there are a few tips you can follow to make the most of your decorating efforts. These are some our favorites:

1. Don't go too big with your tree. It’s natural to go for the biggest tree you can find, but choosing a larger than life–or larger than you–spruce will not only take up lots of valuable space, but may also looked crammed in under a lower ceiling height. Stick with a tree that’s around 5 feet tall, and it will look perfectly proportioned to your manufactured home.

2. Try white lights instead of colored ones. Light colors are known to make a room appear larger and less crowded. Choose white string lights instead of brightly colored ones to give a clean and uncluttered look.

3. Frame a mirror in lights. Mirrors are excellent home accessories that can make any room seem bigger and more open. If you're looking for a place to string those new white lights, try framing a larger mirror with them to reflect the light and open up the space.

4. Replace things instead of adding them. As you pull out all your holiday-themed goodies, take the approach of replacing things in your manufactured home instead of adding to them. So, don’t just toss those few themed pillows on the couch. Instead, take off the year-round ones and put them in storage throughout the holidays. Same strategy applies for hand towels, rugs, coffee mugs, and other things you may decorate with this time of year. This simple trick will help you cut down on clutter.

Decorating for the holidays is a fun annual tradition that’s sure to get you in the holiday spirit. Try these tips out for yourself as you decorate this year and enjoy a bright and merry holiday season!

?Manufactured homes are the perfect solution to America’s affordable housing crisis. Here’s why.

For years, America has been in an affordable housing crisis. With home prices rising, more Americans are either moving in with family members or trapped in an expensive renting cycle. Those who can afford to own their own home often settle for smaller, more expensive homes that are sometimes farther away from work.

In 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the rate of U.S. home ownership declined by 62.9% – which is the sharpest reported decline since the figure first started tracking in 1965. And renters don’t fare any better. According to a report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies in 2013, nearly half of all renters can’t afford their rent.

The nuts and bolts of the affordable housing issue are complex, though many economists will say it comes down to high demand for homes with low supply. Construction rates cannot keep up with the need, and there are not enough laws that provide pricing protection for low- and middle-income Americans.

This is where manufactured homes come in as the most viable solution. Manufactured homes are constructed more efficiently, more affordably, and far more quickly than their stick-built counterparts. This alone should make manufactured housing an easy answer to the short supply of livable homes in America.

And yet, despite that fact that these affordable housing solutions are structurally safe, attractive and produced with all of the same materials as stick-built homes, manufactured housing still faces an unjustified stigma in America. The truth is, common myths about manufactured housing just don’t hold up against the elegance and integrity of their modern designs.

So, how exactly are these homes the answer to such a pervasive and long-held problem in America? Let’s explore.

Manufactured homes are constructed quickly.

Prefabricated homes differ from site-built homes due to the way they are constructed. Manufactured homes are constructed in off-site, climate-controlled factories, through processes that have been refined and streamlined.

Not only does this allow for construction to continue independently of unexpected weather events, it also requires less labor, less time, and less energy use.

All said and done, a prefabricated home can be built and ready to ship in just weeks, with simpler designs taking only days. By comparison, homes constructed on-site can take anywhere from three to nine months, and that’s without significant interruptions. Manufactured housing’s quick and efficient build process goes a long way in ensuring the supply is there to meet the demand for affordable homes.

Manufactured homes are constructed with less upfront cost.

It’s well understood that on-site construction activities can be costly, wasteful, and inefficient. Building homes in factories circumvents these problems by reducing wasted materials and making efficient use of machinery to use the minimal amount of energy and manpower.

Manufactured home factories purchase materials in bulk. The materials can then be stored indoors, protected from the elements until they are used. And since they order the exact sized materials every time, there’s almost never any waste. In the event that there are any excess materials, those too can be saved and repurposed for custom home builds.

Labor costs are also lower compared to site-built homes, due to the fact that manufactured homes take much less time to create.

All of these factors mean lower upfront building costs, which ultimately translate to large savings for the homebuyer. According to the Manufactured Housing Institute’s 2018 Industry Overview, manufactured homes cost $58/square foot less than the average site built home.

Manufactured homes are affordable and quickly available.

Due to the cost-saving and efficient building process, manufactured homes can be constructed with all of the same quality materials as site-built homes, and still be sold at a fraction of the cost.

According to the United States Census Bureau, manufactured homes account for 70% of new homes in the United States that cost less than $150,000. Clayton

This means that the large majority of homes in America that are affordable to low- and middle-income Americans are manufactured homes. Yet, while the volume of manufactured homes produced has increased year over year for the last decade, they still only house less than 10% of the United States population.

Fortunately, this can change quickly. Because of the ability for quick construction, custom-built manufactured homes can be available to the consumer in as little as six weeks. As long as there is available land, there can be available homes.

Let’s not forget also that the affordability of a home extends beyond its sticker price. Whether you are renting or buying, there are other factors that contribute to the overall cost of living. The hidden savings of manufactured homes lie in their efficiency. Many modern manufactured homes come Energy Star certified. This means they come with highly effective insulation, tightly constructed ducts and advanced window coatings to lower heating and cooling costs. The homes also come with Energy Star certified kitchen and bathroom appliances to lower electricity usage.

All in all, there is a tremendous solution to the affordable housing crisis in manufactured housing as more people embrace the safety, beauty and livability of these affordable homes.

Community living makes manufactured homes even more affordable.

Manufactured homes still need a place to live, and the cost of land in many metropolitan areas can be quite high. Land-lease communities exist as a solution to this problem. Within communities like UMH’s manufactured home communities, people can own their home as an asset while renting the land it lives on.

This makes homeownership even more accessible. Individuals purchasing homes in land-lease communities don’t have to pay for land, and they don’t have to pay to place the home. UMH’s team lends their expertise and can place the home more quickly and more efficiently.

And for those who do not have a down payment or who have no interest in purchasing a home, many UMH manufactured home communities offer affordable rental units.

To find out more about UMH’s manufactured home communities, or to find a community near you, check out our community finder tool and start planning your journey to homeownership, today.

Regardless of price point, factory-built homes are the cost effective way to create quality housing. Based on factory built housing's indisputable cost advantage, factory built homes should increase market share compared to other forms of housing.

The increase in manufactured home shipments occurred every decade but the last one. The billions lost in conventional home mortgages the last ten years was a direct result of government policies that encouraged the purchase of houses without regard to affordability. As rational standards are again applied to obtaining housing, manufactured home shipments will likely increase.

Manufactured home community owners who have embraced rentals are having no problem finding customers for those rental units. The lack of barriers to entry into rental homes encourage increased occupancy of rentals.

Rental units solve the down payment issue that so many working families otherwise cannot overcome. Imagine how difficult it is for a young family of four to save $6,000 on a family income of $50,000 to $70,000 per year. This challenge prevents countless young families from purchasing homes.

Down payment is just one hurdle to home ownership. The second hurdle is credit score. Many people have scarred credit as the result of making bad housing choices in the past.

But a person with bad credit who moves from a $300,000 house to an $80,000 house should have no problems making the payment if their monthly income is unchanged.

Current rules and regulations may prevent financing that buyer. Renting provides that person with a manufactured home they can easily afford while they repair their credit.

Our cost advantage as an industry over conventional housing is substantial. Apartment construction averages $200 per square foot, depending on the market. We can buy communities for $40,000 per site and add a $40,000 house creating almost 1,000 sq. ft. of brand new housing for $80 per sq. ft.

If an apartment owner needs rent of $14 per sq. ft. we can operate with rent of only $7 per sq. ft. That means where they charge $1,400 per month, while we can charge $700 per month. Clearly we benefit the customer and society. UMH's 92 percent – and steadily increasing – rental occupancy demonstrates that when the regulatory barriers and down payment barriers are removed the consumer accepts our product.

The customer appreciates and accepts our appealing home product based on their cost benefit analysis, the enhanced privacy and other factors.

The issue becomes what will bring more buyers back to factory built homes? One answer is a stronger economy. When wage earners feel more secure in their jobs, more will buy homes. When wage earners earn more money they will have the down payment for our homes. When demand increases prices for pre-owned manufactured homes, repossessed homes and new homes will all rise.

As occupancy in properties increases and waiting lists for residency return, don't be surprised when people who bought during the last ten years make money on their homes. That's the law of supply and demand. People talk, so word will get out that manufactured homes are a good investment. As prices of all housing rises, it will become more and more obvious how cost competitive factory built housing is. Sales will increase.

The Other Big MH Issue…

In order for UMH to minimize the time required to fill our 2,000 vacant sites, we would like to see an industry-wide marketing and public relations campaign. UMH believes all legislative problems affecting our industry are due in part to our industry not marketing the benefits of our industry.

How can anyone be against increasing the quality of housing for families with children, the elderly, those with mobility issues, and all people who need housing?

We as industry professionals know the benefits of our product, just as Steve Jobs knew the benefits of personal computing. We need to sell America on the benefits of factory built housing. Steve Jobs sold America on the benefits of Apple products by employing a major national advertising firm.

One of the people at that firm was Ken Segall. I am looking forward to introducing Ken Segall, author of Insanely Simple, and the person who put the “i” in iMac, at the MHI national convention.

Great products do sell themselves. I know that because of our success with rental homes.

But we still need to sell regulators, bankers, zoning officers, and people who otherwise will never see our product on the beauty and benefits of manufactured homes.

Yes it’s as simple as getting people to visit our product. But we need to know how to do that. Our mission is complicated by the fact that most of us have never seen a picture that really does the factory-built home justice. Our house is a home.

When the potential customer brings their family into our home, it becomes easier for them to visual as their home, and we end up with more leases and sales.

But we need to bring that customer from their current residence into our sales center for that to happen. I’m looking forward to the MHI Congress and Expo in Las Vegas in April, and hearing from Ken how we can simply create the best marketing.

by Sam Landy