Are you considering purchasing a manufactured home in Minnesota? These tips will help you answer some questions about purchasing a manufactured home in Minnesota.

Manufactured homes are very popular in Minnesota. Some are put on lake lots, others on acreage properties, many are found in mobile home parks, etc. Manufactured homes are a great alternative to traditional stick-built homes because they are cost effective, can quickly be constructed on a property and they offer one level living! However, manufactured homes can also offer some challenges when you are trying to purchase them. EXIT Realty Homefront REALTORS® have sold many manufactured home properties in Sherburne County, Mille Lacs County and Wright County to name a few, and below are some things to consider when you are contemplating purchasing a manufactured home.

Purchasing a Manufactured Home in a Mobile Home Park

If you are purchasing a manufactured home in a mobile home park, you will either need to pay cash, finance through a manufactured home dealer or try to find a bank that will finance your manufactured home purchase through means other than a traditional mortgage. Manufactured homes in Mobile Home Parks aren’t considered traditional real estate because you do not own the land the manufactured home sits on, you rent it from the owner of the mobile home park.

Purchasing Land and Putting a Manufactured Home on It

If you are planning to purchase land and put a manufactured home on it, you will want to start the process with the manufactured home dealer because you will not be able to do this through a traditional home mortgage. The dealer can help you figure out how to purchase the land you will put the manufactured home on and can point out additional costs of putting a manufactured home on raw land. Some of these costs include having sewer and water run to the home, bringing electric to the home, clearing the land for a driveway and home and preparing the land where the manufactured home will be placed. There is also a cost for hauling the manufactured home to the site and properly setting the home on blocks, foundation or slab.

Purchasing a Manufactured Home on Land

If you are purchasing a manufactured home that is already set up on land, you can contact a REALTOR® to help you with this process, because a manufactured home that is affixed to the land is considered real estate. However, there are still some additional challenges to overcome if you want to purchase it using a mortgage. Some lenders won’t finance a manufactured home, and ones that will often charge a little bit higher interest rate and require certain requirements be met. Some of the requirements are listed below:

• The manufactured home must be a double- or triple-wide. It is extremely difficult to get financing to purchase a single-wide manufactured home. That’s why you will see single-wide manufactured homes sit on the market for so long. Most will need to be purchased with cash or through financing other than a traditional mortgage.

• The manufactured home must have the tongue and hitch removed in addition to one of the following:

1. Be placed up on blocks with skirting around the entire base of the manufactured home.

2. Be placed on a block foundation with access points to get under the manufactured home.

3. Be placed on a concrete foundation and affixed with straps and tie downs.

• The manufactured home must have Identification Labels often called HUD tags present on it. If not, new tags must be ordered through a specific company that maintains a database of HUD labels dating back to the 70’s.

• If your lender requires it and/or if you are financing with an FHA or VA loan, you will need to have an engineer sign off on the structural and foundation stability. This is called an Engineer’s Certification. You can try to negotiate for the seller to pay for this, but if not, it will be your responsibility to pay for this.

If you are interested in purchasing a manufactured home already on land, the REALTORS® at EXIT Realty Homefront can help! We can also point you in the direction of fantastic lenders we work with that are very experienced and knowledgeable in helping people through the purchase process. Give EXIT Realty Homefront a call at 763-856-0195 if you have more questions or are interested in purchasing a manufactured home on land.