Two homes can look the same from the street and have very different futures with a lender. Much of what decides it is written on two small plates attached to the home, and on how the home sits on its land. Both can be checked on a viewing, before you make an offer.
Mobile home or manufactured home?
In everyday speech both are "mobile homes". The difference that matters is a date. The federal manufactured home program covers homes that entered the first stage of production on or after June 15, 1976 (24 CFR 3282.8). Homes built under it are built to the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (24 CFR Part 3280), and they carry a certification label to show it.
So the first question about any mobile home for sale is when it was built, and the plates below answer it.
The two plates to find on a viewing
The certification label
The federal standards require a permanent label on each transportable section of the home, so a double-wide has two. It is a small aluminum plate, about 2 by 4 inches, attached with rivets or screws so it is hard to remove without damage, and it carries a label number (24 CFR 3280.11). Ask the seller or your inspector to show you every one. A missing label is the thing to find out about now, not after you have applied for a loan.
A missing label or data plate can often be replaced on paper. Fannie Mae's rules for lenders (Selling Guide B2-3-02) accept a label verification letter, or a duplicate data plate, from the Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS); a duplicate data plate may also come from the manufacturer or from the inspection agency that checked the home at the plant. If neither the originals nor these documents can be produced, Fannie Mae will not buy the loan. If you find a label or plate missing, ask the seller to order the replacement document before closing.
The data plate
The data plate is separate from the label. The standards place it near the main electrical panel or another accessible, visible spot (24 CFR 3280.5), and it is the closest thing a manufactured home has to a birth certificate. It records:
- the plant that built it, the serial number and model, and the date it was manufactured
- the numbers of the certification labels on each section
- the roof load zone and wind zone it was designed for, with the maps
- whether it was equipped with storm shutters or other window and door coverings
- whether it is or is not designed for the extra loads of an attached accessory structure, such as a carport or sunroom
Two of those lines deserve a second look. In wind zones II and III, the data plate carries a printed warning that the home is not designed for the higher wind pressures near the ocean and should not be located within 1,500 feet of the coastline, unless the home and its anchoring were designed for that exposure. And if the home has an attached carport or sunroom, check that the data plate says it was designed for one, and that the addition had a permit: how to look up a property's permit history covers that part.
Take a photo of the data plate. You will want those details again when you apply for a loan or ask for a quote.
What FHA requires, with the land and without it
FHA insures manufactured home loans under two separate programs, and which one fits depends on the land.
The home and its land together
The federal rule for an FHA mortgage on a manufactured home and its land (24 CFR 203.43f) is a useful checklist even if your loan is a different kind. It requires:
- A certification label. The home must have been built to the federal standards, as shown by the label, and have at least 400 square feet of floor space.
- The land, too. The mortgage must cover the home and its site together, on a property classified and taxed as real estate.
- A permanent foundation, if the home has not been on its site for more than a year. That means a site-built foundation meeting HUD's minimum property standards, with the home anchored to it, the towing hitch and running gear removed, the ground under the home at or above the 100-year flood elevation, and the space underneath enclosed by continuous foundation-type construction.
Read that list against the home you are looking at. A home placed on its site within the last year has to meet the foundation conditions first, and that is better to know before you are under contract.
A home on a rented lot in a park
A home on rented land cannot go through that program, because the land has to be part of the mortgage. FHA's Title I program is the separate route: its rules (24 CFR 201.21) allow a loan on the home by itself, placed on a leased site in a manufactured home park. The home still needs its certification label and has to be your principal residence, and the lender must get a certification that the park meets minimum standards for vehicle access, water, sewage and utility connections. That comes from state or local officials, or from a registered civil engineer where no such local standards exist.
A conventional loan, and a home that has been moved
Fannie Mae's rules for a conventional mortgage on a manufactured home (Selling Guide B2-3-02) add a condition that catches buyers who never thought to ask: the home must not have been installed or occupied at any other site, except when it came new from the manufacturer or the dealer's lot. A home that was lived in on one property and then moved to another does not qualify, however good its condition. The same rules require the towing hitch, wheels and axles to be removed, and the home and land to be legally classified as real property.
So ask the seller whether the home has ever been moved, and when it was placed on this site. Other loan programs set their own rules, so ask your lender which program they are offering and what it requires of this home.
Underneath the home, and where the sections meet
The federal Model Installation Standards (24 CFR Part 3285) describe what a correctly installed home looks like, and three of them are things you or your inspector can check on a viewing:
- Level. The standards count a home as adequately leveled when there is no more than 1/4 inch difference between neighboring piers and the exterior doors and windows do not bind (24 CFR 3285.6). Doors that stick or windows that won't open are worth pointing out to your inspector.
- The bottom board. This is the covering under the floor. It is meant to be checked for loose or torn areas, with splits resealed and missing insulation replaced, and the plumbing traps insulated and covered (24 CFR 3285.804). Torn or sagging covering seen from the crawlspace is worth a closer look.
- The mate-line. On a double-wide or larger, the line where the sections join needs a gasket or other method that keeps out air, water, insects and rodents wherever that line is exposed to the outside (24 CFR 3285.801). Ask your inspector to look along it, including on the roof.
States that run their own installation programs must set standards at least as protective as these.
Before you ask for an insurance quote
Gather what the plates and the paperwork already tell you: the date of manufacture and serial number, the label numbers, the wind zone, whether the home has shutters, how it is anchored and on what foundation, and how far it is from the coast. With those in hand you can ask your own insurer for a written answer about this specific home, rather than a guess about mobile homes in general.
If the inspection report mentions aluminum branch wiring, our guide to insuring a home with aluminum wiring covers what to ask. If it flags missing GFCI protection, that guide explains what the finding means, and if it finds polybutylene supply pipe, see whether a house with polybutylene pipes can be insured.
What to ask the seller, in writing
- A clear photo of the data plate, and where every certification label is. If either is missing, whether they will order the replacement document.
- Whether the land is included in the sale, and whether the property is taxed as real estate.
- What the home sits on, how it is anchored, when it was placed on the site, and whether the towing hitch and running gear have been removed.
- Whether the home has ever been moved from the site where it was first installed.
- Permits for any carport, porch, sunroom or other addition.
Each answer either keeps a loan and a policy on the table or tells you early that they may not be.