Mfg Homes - Need legal info source

[Rick Neighbors]

Anyone know of a site where I can get legal information on Texas laws about Mfg homes? I was told, by a previous employer, that mfg homes could not get a "Certificate of Attachment to Real Estate" without the tongue, wheels and axles being removed. While doing an appraisal Sunday, I was presented with a Certificate by the homeowner, and his home still had the tongue, wheels and axles on it. Anyone run into this before? Just curious.

 

[Nancy in Friday Harbor]

Good ole' google.com turned up the following:

http://www.masterappraisers.org/display.php3?nid=25

and

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/pptoc.html
On this one, look under Chapter 2, "Nature of Property"

I'm not in Texas, but in my book, if it can hitch up and drive away in the dark of the night, it's not real property!!


Good Luck!

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

They can have what ever certificate they want. No mortgage company will lend on a manufactured home until the axle, hitch and wheels are removed and it is place on a permanent foundation. That certificate does not change the fact that it is a manufactured home, either. I had a home owner wave a certificate at me last year saying that the state recogonized his home as a "permanent" regular home because they had a poured pier and beam foundation and brick skirting. It is still and manufactured home and the most similar sales are still manufactured homes. Give me a call, if you need advise about manufactured homes. I appraise at least two a month and I have for over seven years, so I have pretty much heard and seen it all.

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Also, go to the TALCB site and read up on their finding on manufactured home appraisal and fraud. It can be very enlightening and can keep you out of trouble. Manufactured home dealers and mortgage companies are constantly looking for "naive" appraisers that they can manipulate to make their deals work. Trust the MLS with regard to manufactured home values. Re-sales of existing manufactured homes are plentiful and demonstrate the true market.

 

[Charlotte Dixon]

My favorite is when the manufactured homeowner says it's not a 24' x 40' (brand x) doublewide manufactured home anymore. They installed a concrete block continuous perimeter permanent foundation, surrendered the title to the motor vehicle department, and the county planning and zoning issued a certificate saying it is now to be taxed as real estate. So, Ms. appraiser, you've got a nice little ranch now, so appraise it as such. Don't you dare compare it to a doublewide! :roll:

 

[Rick Neighbors]

Thanks for the responses!

Nancy, I appreciate the web sites. Just looking for some sites for information purposes. I'll check your's out. I have a pretty extensive internet research library built up.

Tim, I read your responses. Thanks for the invitation. Your office is not that far from mine, maybe I'll look you up one day.
This is an "inhouse" deal for a local bank. These are old mobile homes. One is a 1977 single wide and the other is a 1978 single wide.
I use my own database and the MLS for resales when I'm looking at these mfg's. As you know there is a lot of unscrupulous dealers in our area! All you need is $500 and a pulse, and they will put you in a mfg home.

When it quack like a duck................

 

[Caterina Platt]

Rick,

My experience in two counties with manufactured homes has been that the taxing authority is more than happy to put that baby on the real estate rolls and up the taxable value. Doesn't matter to them what kind of foundation or whether the running gear is gone or not. One county doesn't even send the assessor's appraiser out most times. They take the homeowner's request over the phone and fax the certificate over to the lender.

Those tax certificates don't mean a thing except that the bill is going up.
What is even funnier is the fact that these lenders are so strict about the running gear being off the home, like it keeps the house there or something :?: :roll: Do they think it's an insurance policy that the security of their note isn't going to disappear one day? Once a mobile, always a mobile. MH transport companies have oodles of axles and tongues that can be reinstalled in a NY second. One of my more interesting REO appraisals was where a trucker decided to make weekend use of his rig. "Ain't no bank gonna keep my house!" All that was left to appraise was the site with a big ugly hole and a broken cinder block FHA type foundation.

I do what is required. I fill out their checklists and am careful not to state things that are beyond my scope. I make the appraisal subject to 'dwelling being taxed as real property', I shoot pics of the crawl space and verify all running gear is gone. I note the HUD tags, I verify the existance of a permanent foundation and/or tie downs. I know the song and dance, but I can't help but wonder what thinking human being believes that once the axles are gone, it's permanent.

 

[Rich Heyn]

Rick:

Not to be picky or to rehash old stuff, but if those units were built in 1977 and 1978, they are "manufactured homes," not "mobile homes." Judging from your other posts, appears you know the difference but we don't want the inexperienced to become misinformed. As you know, there hasn't been a mobile home built in the United States since June 15, 1976.

Rich Heyn

 

[Jo Ann Meyer Stratton]

Rich: Thats my memorized speech I give several times a day!!

Jo Ann

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

We ain't trailer trash...cuz we live in a mobile home.

Now it's we ain't manufactured housing inhabitants, we live in a modular on a permanent foundation and the title has been purged and the county says it is a ranch style home.

It is what it is! Oh wait, it that HUD Manufactured? CABO manufactured? Or maybe it really is a modular home! Ain't it fun???