Matt, the quoted article does say the residents don’t typically own the lot beneath the home, which sounds more like 1 than 2 tome. I’m assuming Nebraska’s like South Dakota, where owning a pre-fab (“manufactured home”) and the land beneath it is surprisingly common. And the prices for pre-fab here are no lower, to buy or rent, than what I think of as “real” houses.

Modular I’ve only seen for apartments… unless the repurposed shipping container construction counts. I saw a Starbucks made of that once.

2 & 3 aren’t mobile before or after installation, but I think the problem is that the article quoted by Walter is confusing Pre-fab with mobile. Technically, a mobile home doesn’t even need a slab, you can just park it on dirt as long as you have access to the needed utility hookups.

There are two, well actually three different types of manufactured housing.

Mobile homes, which have an integral trailer and are on wheels.

Pre-fab homes which are manufactured in one or two pieces like a mobile home, but unlike a mobile home, prefabs don’t have their own built in trailer. They have to be installed on a concrete slab.

Modular homes. This started in Japan, but there are a couple of companies in the US doing this now. These are built and sold as individual rooms and then assembled on the buyer’s site on a slab or full foundation.