insurance & refinancing

[Bill Kizziah]

Hello,
I know you probably get this question alot but I really need a straight answer. When is a mobile home not considered a mobile home? The reason I'm asking is that I recently started shopping around for new/better insurance for my home. I have a 56' x 28' home with 2 porches and a carport. I had the home set on footings and bricked in underneath. I plan on building a sunroom on to one end of the home in the near future, but I would like to maybe refinance it and definitely update the insurance to include all the additions that I have made. I own my land and do not owe anything on it. Can I refinance using only the home?
Thanks for your help,
Bill

[Kenneth J. Quist]

A mobilehome is always considered a mobilehome once it is titled. If you plan to refinance, you may want to consider doing a land-home loan which would be like a regular mortgage and it would become a deeded piece of property. I have looked at the information you sent to us, and it would not be difficult to justify the amount of insurance coverage you are requesting on the home. If you are interested in refinancing just the house and improvements, you may want to contact someone like Chase Bank in Cleveland, OH. They do a lot of refinancing.
We will be in touch with you, in fact, I believe Kathy has already emailed you a quote. Also, Donna will be attempting to reach you by phone. Call us @800-798-2288 if we help further.

[Schaun Drab]

What is the best financial institute (i.e.bank,loan institute, credit union, etc.) to go through to refinance a manufactured home with the property included? Does having your land and home as one loan have any bearing on your insurance? Thanks.

[Kenneth J. Quist]

There is no best company, however, if you are locally connected with your bank or credit union it may help. National lenders such as Chase, Conseco, Greenpoint and CIT probably have refinance abilities. If you refinance and include your land, then you will have a mortgage loan and closing costs etc will be similar to a site built home. You should be cognizant of the interest rate as it should not be much higher than a regular sitebuilt 30 year mortgage rate Also, if you plan to stay there it may be worthwhile to ask about a buydown on your interest rate. As for the insurance, some direct writers may have a true HO policy, but most of the policies will remain a mobilehomeowners policy, and then you have to be careful about having to insure the dirt.