Caterina Platt
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2002
- Professional Status
- Certified Residential Appraiser
- State
- New Mexico
Ok, first off, let's define mobile home. Otis mentioned this in his post already.
Constructed prior to June 15, 1976 IS indeed a mobile home. HUD did not have their minimum standards and guidelines in place until June 15, 1976, and the construction quality and 'code' if you will, basically did not exist. 99% of lenders on the planet will not touch these. Your only sources of potential financing are private investors and perhaps your local bank (at terms far less lengthy than a standard mortgage).
Any manufactured home built after June 15, 1976 was affixed with red and silver certification labels on the tail light end of the unit; each half if it is a doublewide. (proper terminology is now 'multisectional') This certification label is about the size of a business card and will be found approximately 1 foot from the lower left corner of each section of the home. It certifies the unit was built to minimum HUD standards and bears a number which is stamped into the plate and follows the format of zzz-000000. The first 3 letters denote which agency completed the inspection, the last 6 numbers are basically sequential order of that agency's files. Provided other requirements are met, such as adequate attachment to the land, being assessed as real property by the local taxing authority, these units are often eligible for mortgage financing.
I do realize the lending portion of this post does not apply to your current assignment, however since this is your first manufactured or mobile home report, you need to know a few things. Since you have not completed an appraisal on a manufactured or mobile prior to this, do you have someone you can partner with who is knowledgable? I'd highly recommend this, as these can be complex assignments. You have much to learn Grasshopper. If you can't find someone to work with on this one, you'll likely need to decline it. We aren't really able to walk you through it from here, since there are just soooo many variables.
And lastly, to answer your original question: I understand the clients' wishes to keep the cost and complexity low since this is basically to assign a tax value to the dwelling upon transfer, but they also need to allow you proper specific data about the home. You need to be allowed a full inspection if they can't supply you with adequate data other than 'Mom says it's a 28 X 56 and it's about 20 years old'. First and foremost, is it considered real estate (in aggregate by your taxing authority, the home and land) or are you dealing with land and personal property? Should it be land and personal property, you have another wierd twist. You, as a real estate appraiser, would need to value the land alone as Ross stated. A person trained in manufactured housing valuation as personal property will need to give an opinion of value for the unit itself.
Constructed prior to June 15, 1976 IS indeed a mobile home. HUD did not have their minimum standards and guidelines in place until June 15, 1976, and the construction quality and 'code' if you will, basically did not exist. 99% of lenders on the planet will not touch these. Your only sources of potential financing are private investors and perhaps your local bank (at terms far less lengthy than a standard mortgage).
Any manufactured home built after June 15, 1976 was affixed with red and silver certification labels on the tail light end of the unit; each half if it is a doublewide. (proper terminology is now 'multisectional') This certification label is about the size of a business card and will be found approximately 1 foot from the lower left corner of each section of the home. It certifies the unit was built to minimum HUD standards and bears a number which is stamped into the plate and follows the format of zzz-000000. The first 3 letters denote which agency completed the inspection, the last 6 numbers are basically sequential order of that agency's files. Provided other requirements are met, such as adequate attachment to the land, being assessed as real property by the local taxing authority, these units are often eligible for mortgage financing.
I do realize the lending portion of this post does not apply to your current assignment, however since this is your first manufactured or mobile home report, you need to know a few things. Since you have not completed an appraisal on a manufactured or mobile prior to this, do you have someone you can partner with who is knowledgable? I'd highly recommend this, as these can be complex assignments. You have much to learn Grasshopper. If you can't find someone to work with on this one, you'll likely need to decline it. We aren't really able to walk you through it from here, since there are just soooo many variables.
And lastly, to answer your original question: I understand the clients' wishes to keep the cost and complexity low since this is basically to assign a tax value to the dwelling upon transfer, but they also need to allow you proper specific data about the home. You need to be allowed a full inspection if they can't supply you with adequate data other than 'Mom says it's a 28 X 56 and it's about 20 years old'. First and foremost, is it considered real estate (in aggregate by your taxing authority, the home and land) or are you dealing with land and personal property? Should it be land and personal property, you have another wierd twist. You, as a real estate appraiser, would need to value the land alone as Ross stated. A person trained in manufactured housing valuation as personal property will need to give an opinion of value for the unit itself.
