Manufactured Housing finance presents a unique opportunity to obtain financing not available with any other type of housing. Manufactured housing finance breaks down into basically 2 different categories, Conforming and Non-conforming.
Conforming
Approved and Preferred Lenders
Conforming financing is the same as you would obtain for a traditional site-built house, and includes FHA, VA, Conforming Conventional, and USDA. What they all have in common is that in one form or another, they are all guaranteed by the US Government, and all eventually end up at one of the Government Service Agencies, FNMA or FHLMC or GNMA.
The advantage to a conforming loan is that since they are all government guaranteed, they will generally have lower down payment requirements, easier qualifying, longer terms, and typically lower interest rates. The disadvantage is that they will have much more documentation involved and generally take longer to complete.
It can be a little bit trickier to finance a manufactured home this way. You have to know what you are doing. WE DO! And, that’s why we have identified and enlisted our “preferred” lenders below as they have done many, many of these type loans and know exactly how to get it done with a minimum of buyer anguish.
Non-conforming
Approved and Preferred Lenders
Non-conforming lending is unique in housing to manufactured homes. Manufactured Home lenders using a “non-conforming” type of loan generally hold and service the loan “in-house”. You can finance your home using a “non-conforming” loan, one of 3 ways;
- As PERSONAL PROPERTY that does not involve land. Commonly referred to as a “chattel” loan, this type of loan is used for manufactured homes that go into rental parks, on rented land, or a relative’s land, or the home may be going on to property that the buyer simply chooses not to use as part of the purchase.
- As Personal Property that does involve the land. Many companies (all of which we have relationships with) will finance your manufactured home using your land as either part or all of your down payment, commonly referred to as “land-in-lieu”, and frequently will finance improvements to that land, but will keep the manufactured home as personal property while retaining a first lien position on the land.
- As Real Property that involves the land. In this scenario the lender declares the manufactured home as Real Property (same as the land). The home therefore is figuratively, and typically is also literally, permanently affixed to the land. Generally speaking, the lender will then have a better comfort level with his position in the loan, and will generally offer a lower rate and longer terms on this type of loan.
The advantage to a non-conforming loan is that it generally is faster than a conforming loan, with much less documentation involved. There are also more flexible terms and unique programs available with this type of financing.
Our expert non-conforming lenders are listed below.