The Manufactured Housing Forums

is it true you cannot go down to home depot to me repairs? that you have to go to a mh store?

Depends on what kind of MH you have,how old it is and what you need.You should be able to get what you need at a home improvement store and modify it if (or) as needed.As a general rule avoid getting things from a MH parts dealer if you can.The quality of most of those repacement parts is not as good as if you used standard building materials.

i do not own a mh yet but am wondering if this is the way to go for me and my husband. if we buy a new mh and want to remodel/upgrade it ourselves, will we have to modify standard parts or go to a special store for a mh? also, i am wondering what kind of loan it would be if we just bought the land now and got a mh later. land is very expensive here and we are worried about land values going up before we can afford the whole enchalada?

A newer MH could use standard building materials if you were to remodel it.
If you were to buy land now and later put a home on it you would then refinace the whole kit and kabuttle into one morgtage.Having the land first is a good idea as you can then later use the equity in it to get 100 financing on your home.(translaed >no down payment)

what kind of mortgage loan would it be and would a broker do that or would i have to go directly to the bank?

Raw land will carry a bit higher interest rate and/or require a bit more down. You could later refinance the home and land together in a conventional mortgage. There can be one extra expense, that of a construction loan to cover the period of site prep through placement. This costs fees and the interest rate is higher, but you will only keep it for a few months. Some banks/mortgage lenders do an all-in-one loan; you may need to look around for that and compare costs.

As noted above, almost everything is standard building material now. Bits that aren't: heating, fireplace/woodstoves. But we went to a stove shop and found almost all were approved for manufactured homes. There are Federal venting standards that must be complied with.

Congratulations on your new governor, I guess. Never did care for Gray Davis.

Mac from Spongeland

Hi Kari,

I'm in the same predicament. I live in CA too. Financing now is tough. Fannie Mae changed regs on 08/24 and now fixed loans are only 20 years. Most banks are shying away from the MH loans right now because the secondary market for purchasing the loans if really bad right now. You guys need to look around to get a home/land package and I'd do it sooner then later. I just know that my husband and I have been working at this whole thing since June....it's really tedious at best and not too much fun most of the time because it's not as easy as finding and purchasing a "stick built" home. Good luck!

Fannie Mae loans did change.....but 30 year finance is still available for those with 10% down...

Fannie Mae is only 1 wholesale source for manufactured homes...there still is FHA..with 3% down..30 year term loans...VA w/0% down...Freddie Mac loans..3% down 30 year term...and thousands of non conforming programs available for most buyers...

One of the largest lenders now is Well Fargo Mortgage...they are a very large lender in CA...call them..

There are many lenders for private property loans in CA depending on the borrower and situation. A lot of the smaller local banks will lend conventional construction loans (prime plus 1 1/2% or 2% rate) and then 30 year take out loans at current market rates. A dealer specializing in CA private property should be able to help steer you in the right direction.