Loans are simply harder to get these days if you live in a manufactured home and harder still if that home is a singlewide. In many ways the manufactured home owner is treated as a second class citizen by the lending industry, probably because some of the misconceptions about the quality of construction and the negative perceptions created in the aftermath of major disasters (like a tornado or earthquake). And then there is the fact that many investors still consider manufactured homes “trailers”, viewing the residences as temporary structures which can be hauled off in the middle of the night, thus making the borrower and the home a flight risk. The singlewide home obviously provides the best comparison to the trailers of yesteryear so is often the greatest target of derision by lenders. Adding to the confusion is the fact that manufactured homes can either be titled as personal property or as real property. If it is titled as personal property, it is in essence in the same classification as a recreational vehicle and most lenders don’t feel they have an adequate security interest.

However, not to despair. There is some hope on the horizon if your manufactured home (singlewide, doublewide, triplewide and bigger) meets the following criteria:

• The home must be built on June 15, 1976 or newer.
• The home must be greater than 400 square feet.
• The home must be titled as real property which means the home and land must be owned by the same person. If you own the land and the home is still considered personal property, the title must be converted.
• The home cannot be in a 100 year frequency flood area
• The home must be on a permanent foundation that meets the HUD Permanent Foundaiton Guide to Manufactured Homes and a professional engineer must testify to this fact with an engineer’s certification letter. If the foundation does not meet the requirements, then a foundation repair must be done prior to the loan.
• The home must be in its original location and cannot have been moved from any other location other than the factory or the dealer’s lot.

If all the other criteria is met, then contact www.mh-lending.com
If you have questions about whether the foundation will certify, contact www.onthelevelcontractors.com

Just like all real estate, there is no doubt that the economic decline has impacted values in manufactured home communities.   However, condo parks have been harder hit than the broader community because financing for manufactured homes in condominium-classified parks completely disappeared for the last couple of years.   Except for hard money loans, private financing or VA loans, money simply dried up.   Investors shied away from any loan that was not FHA-insured which also included Reverse Mortgage or Home Equity Conversion Loans.   And it’s a vicious cycle.  Without loans, the sales market becomes stagnant and without sales, appraisers can’t find comparative values to provide a reasonable worth for your home

Fortunately, back in July Congress passed sweeping legislation that removed the condo exclusion, but it wasn’t until May that the Mortgagee Letters were released paving the way for financing opportunities.   However, the hard work has just begun.   Before a single loan can be originated, the park itself must receive approval from Housing and Urban Development.   This is no small feat and even once all the documentation is presented to the local overseeing HUD agency, the wait time for approval is 6-8 weeks.

There are many anxious lenders and homeowners that are excited about the new lending possibilities and the fact this will ultimately add more vibrance to the park community as well as increase the value potential of your home.   Yet, this is still a time to proceed with caution and not make any decisions until your management or HOA has expressly declared that the park has received approval.   The reason this is so critical is that over-anxious lenders are often encouraging a quickstart of the loan process by getting an appraisal.   This can have serious repercussions in a volatile market when the shelf-life of an appraisal is approximately two months.   Since most lenders don’t have an in-house underwriting department and the waiting line for an file evaluation is sometimes 3-6 weeks, your appraisal could be old before you start.

In addition, even once the park receives approval, there is another rigorous checklist for manufactured homes themselves.   First and more importantly your home must be newer than June 15, 1976.   No matter how beautifully renovated your home is or how updated its appearance, there are no exceptions.   The home must also be in its original location—so if the home was moved from another park, FHA will not insure the loan. The home must also be titled as real property and cannot be located in a flood plain.     Additionally, the home must be on a permanent foundation which must not only meet the local jurisdictional guideline but the HUD Permanent Foundation Guide For Manufactured Homes and an engineer must testify to this fact.   However, please don’t run out an install a foundation system prematurely.   This can generally be incorporated within the scope of the loan and should be the very last step of any loan process.   There is no sense spending several thousands of dollars on a foundation only to find out there are other issues that will complicate the loan.

When choosing a lender, carefully evaluate your options.   Ask specifically for referrals from other manufactured home owners.    You want a lender who understands that manufactured homes have specialty requirements and knows those requirements backwards and forwards.  And when choosing a foundation specialist or engineer for the certification, make sure you are working with one who will not charge you for a “failed” report and will your interests by not obligating you to a foundation retrofit or repair until the loan has the approval greenlight.

www.themanufacturedhomelendingsource.com and www.onthelevelcontractors.com

Park communities represent the most popular setting for manufactured homes. For loan purposes, lenders generally require that the owner of the home also own the land upon which the home sits. Until recently the park also had to be classified as a owner-owned Subdivision or a Planned Unit Development in order for manufactured homes to qualify for FHA-insured loans.

Many mobilehome parks and manufactured home communities began as land lease developments but as residents desired a greater control over their living situation and costs associated with their residences, many parks converted to resident ownership. Most of these used the process of the condominium conversion. Unfortunately, because of the classification, this property type was ineligible for FHA-insured loans including Reverse Mortgages or HECM. Fortunately, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) granted authority to add individual manufactured housing units located in condominium projects to HUD for FHA insurance but the process from Congressional authority to actual loan processing is still unraveling.

Recently with the issuance of Mortgagee Letter 2009-16 Manufactured Housing Policy Guidance http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/letters/mortgagee/, condo parks have now been eventually neglared eligible for FHA-insured financing. Or at least according to HUD they are now eligible! But one shouldn’t jump to fast! First, lenders have not yet announced they are ready to accept the product and thusfar there are no announced guidelines or underwriting procedures for handling these loans. Remember, even though FHA is accepting the product for insurance, FHA is not the actual funding source, only the insurance entity. Until there is clarity from the individual lenders how they will process the loans, everything remains at a standstill. Lenders may impose additional guidelines above and beyond what is required by HUD.

HUD’s announcement states that until they can send out updated condominium project approval guidelines for manufactured condominium projects, that the project approval is subject to the requirements found in HUD Manual 4150.1, Chapter 11. The Mortgagee Letter goes on to specify that their “Spot Loan Approval” process is not available (as outlined in Mortgagee Letter 1996-41) and that all manufactured housing condominium projects must obtain full approval by the applicable Home Ownership Center (HOC) for HUD that has authority over the geographical area where the project is located. Since none of the condo projects are on a HUD approved list, the approval process may take months.

Chapter 11 of the 4150.1 manual is approximately 32 pages long and encompasses everything from owner occupancy requirements, to common facility completion requirements; legal review of the condominium documents to phasing eligibility; review of the insurance of the project to management agreements and operating budgets and much more. Different things are required depending on the age of the project. In addition to the 4150.1 for condominium projects, the property also has to meet HUD’s guidelines for manufactured housing which, per HUD guidelines, includes:

• Must have a floor area of not less than 400 square feet.
• Must be classified and subject to taxation as real estate.
• Must be built on and remains on a permanent chassis.
• Must be above the 100 year return frequency flood elevation.
• Must be built after June 15, 1976
• The foundation system must meet the guidelines published in the Permanent Foundations Guide for Manufactured Housing, dated September 1996. A certification attesting to compliance must be obtained from a licensed professional engineer.
• The manufactured home must not have been installed or occupied previously at any other site or location.
• Additions or structural modifications must not put the home at risk.

This is a time for borrowers to carefully explore their options and to find companies that specialize in the manufactured home loan process and will not move forward with appraisals, engineer’s certifications or other steps until all the stars align in favor of the homeowner and borrower. The Manufactured Home Lending Source website: www.themanufacturedhomelendingsource.com will be an ongoing resource for update information for homeowners and realtors.

What’s the Difference Between a Personal Loan and a Mortgage Loan?
Manufactured homes are an interesting animal to be sure.   It is the only form of housing that can either be classified as Personal Property or Chattel (like a car) or Real Property (like a regular site-built home) and how the distinction is determined can be confusing.   To be considered real property, the owner of the manufactured home must also own the land upon which the home sits.   Even when the homeowner owns the land, he/she may choose to title each separately—the home as personal property and the land as realty.   However, if one wants to secure an FHA-insured mortgage loan, the home and land must be conjoined as a single entity as REAL PROPERTY.  There is the old joke with lenders that you’ll pull your “trailer” out in the middle of the night and haul it down the street and the will be left holding the bag. The truth is that until the home is titled as real property, your manufactured home will be treated just like a car in the eyes of a lender.
What makes it all the more confusing when seeking a loan is that the titling process varies from state to state.   In some cases, the conversion to real property is a simple paper transaction removing the title off the Department of Motor Vehicles (ie Arizona and Oregon).   In other states, the building jurisdictions are involved and require installation of a permanent foundation to detitle the home as personal property and convert it to real property (ie California, Nevada  and New Mexico).   The Fannie-Mae website details the state by state titling procedures and is a valuable resource for both the loan processor and the borrower before they set the stage for a loan.    https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/guides/ssg/relatedsellinginfo/manufachousing/titlingmanufhsing.
FHA-Insured Manufactured Home Mortgage Loans on Real Property also need to meet other requirements.    It is critical that the home meets all the criteria or the loan will fail to be processed:

• The manufactured must be a HUD home, which means it must be manufactured after June 15, 1976. If there are metal plates at the rear of the home that begin with a three Alpha letters like CAL, ARZ, ORE, that’s usually a good sign. If the HUD label is missing, usually a label verification letter from the Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS) www.ibts.org giving the provenance of the home will suffice.
• The foundation system must meet the guidelines published in the Permanent Foundation Guide for Manufactured Housing, dated September 1996. A certification attesting to compliance must be obtained from a licensed professional engineer.
• The manufactured home must be classified and taxed as real estate. A long-term lease may also be acceptable in certain instances. States vary on how the real estate classification is accomplished so this is another important aspect to understand.
• The axles and tongues must be removed from the chassis.
• The manufactured home must have an adequate perimeter enclosure with appropriate ventilation.
• The manufactured home must not have been installed or occupied previously at any other site or location.
• Must have a floor area of not less than 400 square feet.
• Built and remains on a permanent chassis.
• The finished grade elevation beneath the manufactured home shall be at or above the 100-year return frequency flood elevation.

Since manufactured homes are such a special animal, borrowers should deal with specialty performers, lenders www.themanufacturedhomelendingsource.com that understand and focus on the intricacies of the manufactured home loan process and engineers and contractors www.onthelevelcontractors.com that are knowledgeable about the Permanent Foundation Guide for Manufactured Homes, dated September 1996.

Finding the right lender

Fair or unfair to manufactured home borrowers, most lenders view manufactured homes with derision. We’ve all heard the term —trailer trash—well that’s how most lenders continue to characterize the manufactured home loan. Without owning the land, the manufactured home is pigeon-holed into a high percentage rate personal property loan. Even when the home sits on real property, the stigma persists in the minds of lenders that a homeowner will pull up his 5th wheel, hitch up the home, pull up stakes, and disappear down the road in the middle of the night – leaving the investor, high and dry. Although the portrait being portrayed treads on the side of ridiculous, the real concern for the lender is not only dismissing the above stigma, but how a simple classification of titling can significantly alter an investor’s mentality from “trailer” to legitimate dwelling.

Fortunately, FHA-insured loans are improving their visibility with many mortgage brokers. In many respects, they seem to rank among the only safe-havens for the manufactured home purchaser or borrower. Furthermore, HUD has created a model that both the lender and transaction coordinator can follow. The need for this type of application stems from the confusion over the fact that manufactured homes are the only type of housing that can be classified either as personal property or real property; and worse, there has been no national consistency for neither titling nor set-up requirements. In some states, manufactured homes were overseen by a transportation agency. Yet in other states – such as California – there exists has always been an authoritative MH housing agency, where others maintain little to no oversight. While HUD has jumped into the picture and requires a national standard for new home installation since January 1, 2009, existing homes are currently in “no-man’s land.”

A primary priority to a lender is that the titling of the manufactured as real property (meaning that the home and land are conjoined as one). This provides the lender – or investor – with security interest on the home. In some states (like California), the classification for a manufactured home as real property requires that the home be installed on a permanent foundation. In other states (like Arizona), the change of titling procedure is a paper-only transaction so there is no requirement for a permanent foundation. Where this becomes a problem is when a borrower needs an FHA-insured loan because HUD requires that the home be set on a permanent foundation. Thus, a licensed engineer must certify the foundation is in compliance with FHA guidelines, or what is commonly referred to as the HUD Handbook. So this begs the question why? The borrower typically proclaims, “When I bought my home, it was approved by the building department and everything has been signed off. Of course, my home will pass otherwise the building department wouldn’t have approved it!” However, building regulations vary from city-to-city and county-to-county, so underwriters, investors and government agencies need a national standard. The approval of a licensed engineer that the home meets the standards detailed in the PERMANENT FOUNDATION GUIDE TO MANUFACTURED HOMES seems to fit the bill.

These are the basics for your home to qualify:

• The manufactured must be a HUD home, which means it must be manufactured after June 15, 1976. If there are metal plates at the rear of the home that begin with a three Alpha letters like CAL, ARZ, ORE, that’s usually a good sign. If the HUD label is missing, usually a label verification letter from the Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS) www.ibts.org giving the provenance of the home will suffice.
• The foundation system must meet the guidelines published in the Permanent Foundations Guide for Manufactured Housing, dated September 1996. A certification attesting to compliance must be obtained from a licensed professional engineer.
• The manufactured home must be classified and taxed as real estate. A long-term lease may also be acceptable in certain instances. States vary on how the real estate classification is accomplished so this is another important aspect to understand.
• The axles and tongues must be removed from the chassis.
• The manufactured home must have an adequate perimeter enclosure with appropriate ventilation.
• The manufactured home must not have been installed or occupied previously at any other site or location.
• Must have a floor area of not less than 400 square feet.
• Built and remains on a permanent chassis.
• The finished grade elevation beneath the manufactured home shall be at or above the 100-year return frequency flood elevation.

If you are in the market for a manufactured home loan and you own your land, it is in your best interest to work with a loan officer that specializes only in the manufactured home loan product. And if you need a professional engineer to evaluate the foundation, you’ll need one that specializes in manufactured homes as well because the HUD Handbook consists of over 400 pages of inconsistency.

If you want a lender that specializes in manufactured homes. www.mh-lending.com

If you want a professional engineer that specializes in manufactured homes www.onthelevelcontractors.com

Proving your home is a HUD Home

Manufactured home loans are very unique in that in order to qualify for a loan, the lender has to qualify more than just your ability to repay the loan and the fact that your home is a good risk based on the value. Manufactured homes have their own checklist of requirements, one of which is proving the home is a HUD home. And the best proof is the THE HUD TAG or LABEL that is attached to the rear of each section of the home. Unlike the textile tag on pillows and mattresses that says DO NOT REMOVE and everyone does anyway. This is the one label you should not remove.

DO NOT REMOVE THE HUD TAG EVER!

When you go to find a piece of real estate, you can usually access it by address, assessor’s parcel number, legal description or all of the above. However, even if a manufactured home sits on a piece of realty and shares the features of the real property, it is still distinguished by its HUD label that is an affixed HUD seal (tag/label) located on the outside of the home.

Many people ask, if the home is on real property and is being assessed as real property, then why would a HUD tag be of continuing importance? Even when a manufactured home is converted to real property, it doesn’t remove the fact that the home is still a manufactured home. In other words, once a duck, always a duck even if it stops quacking. The provenance of any HUD home and its factory design and engineering requirements are traceable through the individual HUD number. For appraisal and lending purposes, code must follow code so appraisers and engineers certifying a home for a manufactured home loan need to specifically identify the HUD numbers in their reports and building departments utilize it as the format for the permit process because it allows the home to pre-empt the local building codes. If for any reason the labels are missing, appraisers will often reject the property and refuse to proceed until documentation is provided, building departments will refuse to issue certain and in some states a manufactured home may not be re-sold if missing a label. So let me repeat: DO NOT REMOVE THE HUD TAG EVER! However, if for unavoidable reasons the label must be removed from its permanent location, please safeguard it and keep it with your other important documents.

So what is the label?

The Certification Label (also know as a HUD tag) is a metal plate that is affixed to the outside of the manufactured home. The label number is stamped with a 3 letter designation which identifies the production inspection primary inspection agency followed by a 6-7 digit number which the label supplier shall furnish. If the home is a multi-wide unit, each unit must have a label. Although it is common for the numbers to be sequential, it is not necessarily so.

In the case of missing tags, HUD does not reissue new tags. However, the Department can issue a letter of label (tag) verification for units for which it can locate the necessary historical information. HUD will accept documentation from IBTS – Institute for Building Technology and Safety (Current HUD Contractor) verifying HUD labels were issued to the manufactured home if the tags are not affixed to the home at the time of appraisal. There is a fee for this and can be issued online as long as certain information can be verified.

Alternatively verification of the HUD label numbers can often be found on the interior of the home on a data plate. The Data Plate is usually found in one of four locations: on or near the main electrical panel, in a kitchen cabinet, in a bedroom closet or in a laundry room closet. The data plate has a map of the United States to let the consumer know the Wind Zone and Snow Load for which their home was built. The Data Plate will contain the following information: (a) the name and address of the manufacturing plant in which the home was manufactured, (b) the serial numbers and model designation, and the date the unit was manufactured, (c) a statement which references that the home was built in accordance to the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards, (d) a list of the certification label number(s), (e) a list of factory-installed equipment, including the manufacturer’s name and the model designation of each appliance, (f) a reference to the Roof Load Zone and Wind Zone Load to which the home was designed, (h) and the name of the agency that approved the design. For a replacement copy of a missing data plate, one may be able to obtain it by contacting the In-Plant Primary Inspection Agency (IPIA) and the manufacturer. The IPIA is a third party inspection agency that works in conjunction with the Department to inspect manufactured homes during the manufacturing process to ensure that the manufacturer meets the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards. To obtain a list of inspection agencies, visit here:

With that it mind, DO NOT REMOVE the HUD TAG EVER!

And if you’re looking for a specialist for a manufactured home land-home package loan, contact www.mh-lending.com.

Most lenders view the manufactured home loan as a “nuisance” loan. No matter what kind of manufactured home you have (even if it has tile roof and drywall interior), you’re going to be lumped into the “trailer” category in the mind of the loan officer. This is just a “loser loan” for him. A lot of work, and not enough commission! Plus there are so many compliance hoops to jump through and the compliance checklist is often daunting to the novice. And for the typical lending office, very rarely do the support staff know what they are doing. The processors don’t even understand the vocabulary much less the fine details, appraisers sometimes submit their data on the wrong form and even underwriters often fail to manage the file properly.

Borrowers complain that a new hiccup appears almost daily—-and the loan seems to take forever. Then there are the fine points of the flood zones, if the home is serviced by wells and septic, finding comparative comps, missing HUD plates, IBTS letters, metes and bounds, missing a data compliance plate, dealer to site verification and the list seems endless. Oh and let’s not forget about the real doozy— the foundation certification.

FHA loans on manufactured homes, whether new construction or existing, new loan or refinance, require an engineer’s stamped certification that the foundation meets the requirements of The Permanent Foundation Guide to Manufactured Housing dated September 1996 (PFGMH) aka THE HUD HANDBOOK /BIBLE.

This is a nightmare for borrowers and lenders because the HUD Handbook is even misunderstood by most engineers. When confronted with a non-compliant foundation, most homeowners say, “But my home met all the local requirements of the building department when I bought it in 1983!” Unfortunately compliance with the local building jurisdiction is not evidence that the home meets the national standard. Because requirements vary from city to county to state, the certification letter establishes some semblance of continuity. Engineers even have conflicting opinions because the handbook is vague, contradictory and very unclear on exactly what is required and what is not permitted. Essentially it is opinion-based and two different engineers can look at the same foundation with different results.

Are your eyes glazed over yet? We won’t even start on the appraisal and all the details associated with that because that would lead to a whole new laundry list of issue. First things, first, if you need a manufactured home loan, make sure your home qualifies:

The basic checklist starts with the following:

• Must have a floor area of not less than 400 square feet. So if you are living in a “park model”, it’s not going to work.
• Must be classified and subject to taxation as real estate.
• Must be built on and remains on a permanent chassis. This means it came in on wheels, but the wheels and axles have to be removed.
• Must be above the 100 year return frequency flood elevation. So if you are living in a flood plain, the loan is probably a no go!
• Must be built after June 15, 1976. The best way to check if you don’t have the paperwork. If you can find 2×4” aluminum plates at the back of your home that start with three letters, followed by 6-7 numbers, this is a good sign!
• The foundation system must meet the guidelines published in the Permanent Foundations Guide for Manufactured Housing, dated September 1996. A certification attesting to compliance must be obtained from a licensed professional engineer. And if your foundation does not meet the requirement, there are ways to make repairs to bring your home in compliance.
• The manufactured home must not have been installed or occupied previously at any other site or location.
• Additions or structural modifications must not put the home at risk.

The next thing you need to do is to team up with a manufactured home loan specialist. The big recognizable name houses are often the very ones that consider your home a “trailer” and don’t have the support staff to take the loan from A to Z with ease. Get straight answers and professional expertise right from the beginning by using a company that has resources in all aspects of manufactured housing.

www.themanufacturedhomelendingsource.com