Without a doubt, a site-built home will appreciate more and hold its value better in Texas. Now, if your're talking Arizona, manufactured homes command more respect and they are often on acreage with great views and very popular with snow birds as second homes. The nice ones can easily be 200K or more.
These are a good investment there, but Texas is a long way from that environment. Here these are still referred to as trailers and no one wants to finance them. Faye Taylor probably gave the best answer to your question. If you think you want to sell down the road and at least get your money returned, buy site-built.

Great question Amanda... There are always more than enough personal opinions when it comes to questions about manufactured homes appreciating, but very little actual proof provided. Below is a link to data I pulled out in reference to manufactured homes in park locations in california. Info covers a 10 year period and shows that manufactured homes in the specific areas I looked at did appreciate and sometimes more than homes! Every area may be different, but I encourage anyone to post actual specifics before they post misinformation. Check it out...
http://activerain.com/blogsview/757289/Do-mobile-and-manufac…

In terms of a better investment that may depend on what a person can afford too. A million dollar investment that returns 10% = $100,000 a $500,000 investment that returns 10% is $50,000. which is the better investment? $100k return or $50k return?? They both earned 10% so if an investor could only afford $500k to invest his return was just as good, but not as large. The better investment may not be the total dollar return but what you can get out of the property in terms of your enjoyment and what you can afford.

Let me point out another example. Which is the better investment using the same prices as above. 1. a million dollar property with a site built home that appreciates 10% or two $500k properties with manufactured homes that return 12%? Now you are talking about $100k versus $120k There are plenty of reasons why the lower priced properties could appreciate more but I'll focus on 1... rent! most likely you can't use two properties at the same time so one could be rented out.

Change these numbers around to better reflect prices in your area and think outside of the box. In most case the true value of any property is in the land. Compare the cost of the home to your enjoyment factor and what you could get in rent returns in the case of owning multiple properties.

One more item for thought... I'm kind of comparing new manufactured homes to new site built homes. compare a new 3 bed 2 bath manufactured home to a 1950s or 1960s site built rancher and give all the real estate pros the choice of choosing which one they have to live in for the next 20 years. If they did a true walk through of the homes I have a feeling their opinions would change.

Many times a manufactured home will give you much more space for the dollar but it will not hold its value as well as a well built site built. There are various factors to review in your decision to buy. The same thing is true of a site built home. You need to pick what will meet your needs. But the main factor for you at this time is resale.
At the time of resale, FHA and VA require an approved foundation to loan any money for a manufactured home. If you are looking at a manufactured home for sale that does not have the approved foundation the retrofit costs about $3000 in this area.
If you purchase a used mobile home and move it to land, the home is unsaleable due to the lenders standards. A lender will only loan on a manufactured home that is at the original site (in other words never been moved). How do they know? There is a serial number on each home manufactured that tracks its location. This is done through the Tx Dept of Housing Manufactured Housing division and that is part of the title commitment filing.

In our area, the price per sq ft for the mobiles is about 50% of the site built house. To see that comparison research Realtor.com for comparsion prices in the different areas.

Manufactured homes rarely hold value. Sometimes they are very very tough to sell. If you buy a parcel of land in the country, perhaps the land value goes up, but typically not the home value.

Stick built in most places would be significantly better.

Without getting into the issue of appreciation, it is harder to get financing for manufactured. Down the road, if you sell, this will be a factor.

I think manufactured homes day is coming, but we aren't there yet.

GREAT QUESTION: Need to compare what is made available in a given area, manufactured homes are great appearance of a stick, however if more homes are manufactured than stick built could be best option financing can be difficult to obtain.

Stick home IF in a wrong location can be overvalued for location.

Is the home your primary home or 2nd residence that also factors into your overall plans for purchasing.

How general rule of thumb in most areas stick homes are preferred. If your budget does not allow that next option is manufactured residence.

Amanda,

Great question......The majority of buyers will place greater faith in stick built home over a manufactured home. Additionally, manufactured homes do depreciate over time and can be difficult to insure.

Everything equal....go with the constructed home.

be careful.. site built homes, although more expensive tend to appreciate better than manufactured homes

site built home continue to be the best investment