The Manufactured Housing Forums

Does anybody know if I am required by law to disclose to mortgage lenders or buyers that my home is a manufactured home? It is on a permanent concrete foundation and looks stickbuilt. I am in California if it matters. Thanks.
Mindy

Hello Mindy,

It depends if the title to the manufactured homes has been eliminate. If so the home is consider real property just like a site built home. If the title has not been eliminated then the mortgage broker will find this out when they do a title search on the home and property.

Randy Eaton

How does one go about getting the title eliminated?

Hello Mindy,

The lender will do this for a small fee. But the home does need to meet certain requirements.

Randy Eaton

What are the requirements?

If you are anything less than totally honest when when selling your home you are simply dishonest and open to the legal and nasty consequences set by state laws for fraud.

In most states the title to a manufactured home is NEVER "eliminated". What is eliminated are the annual renewal fees collected by the Dept of Motor Vehicles and the need for an annual DMV sticker. When you declare your home to no longer be a "vehicle" and now be part of the real estate the DMV fees are replaced with a higher tax on the real estate.

The fact that the state collects taxes on your MH, as a fixture of the real estate, in no way licenses you to be less that honorable..

Less than honorable? The state is forcibly taking money from you - the amount being determined by the appraised value of your possession, whether it's a car, boat, home, property, etc. - with the threat of confiscating your property if you don't pay up - the property that you bought with your hard-earned money! Normal people call that "extortion"! Get a grip, son!

It is not my intention to be dishonorable or fraudulent. I was trying to find out if a mfd home is on a permanent foundation if it is still considered a mfd home. Somebody had told me that it was not.

you might want to ck with state law requireing disclosure.

my father just bought property and older 'mh' - it has a roof over, addition, permanent foundation, stucco, and the mh was pulled out. it is still disclosed as a mobile. always will be. even if it wasn't, there are some serious reprecussions if something was known and not disclosed at the time of the sale. i'd put down the most minor of things on the disclosure forum from what i've read. i'm not a lawyer though.

There are lots of wives tales out there...Most states allow you to include your home in your real estate for taxation purposes...Often this might mean less taxes...but not always...

In the states I am familier with...this is not much more than declaring it so with the proper legal documents available at the local court house...It does not matter how the home is set up...

As far as resale is concerned...If your home is a HUD home...it will always be a manufactured home...Some lenders will treat it the same as stick built if it is "permanently" set and taxed as real estate...This term is locally defined by the local building code..This is where the misunderstanding comes in...We finance homes with vinal skirting all the time...yet they are considered permanently set..even by the FHA.....The word permanent conjures up all kinds of wives tales in the general publics mind..Good Luck