Another factor the underwriter will review is whether the home qualifies as real property and not as personal property. Personal property is viewed more in line with a vehicle loan and lenders will not provide home mortgage loans on vehicles. A borrower may instead get a loan on the property that a mobile home may be located on (see the previous section on vacant lots). How the home is titled will often determine a mortgage loan on manufactured housing. Of course, the more substantial the home, the more likely to be considered for a mortgage. Finally, if the property is in a flood zone, it’s going to be much more difficult to get approved for a loan, if any lender will approve at all. That all being said, there are loan programs for mobile and manufactured home with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, and USDA. There are more requirements and steps to loan approval than there would be for a traditional home. In most cases when it comes to mobile home mortgages, the lender may require a shorter loan term. This is because mobile homes depreciate in value similarly as a car or recreational vehicle, whereas a single-family house will commonly go up in value. Since a mobile home can only go down in value, the lender will want the mortgage paid off sooner than a traditional home. Cooperatives (Co-ops): A co-op is similar to a condo in that there are multiple people living in one complex. However, with a condo you are buying your unit — you own the unit and can do with it as you wish, within the guidelines of the condo association. When you don’t want to live there anymore, you can sell the condo to someone else, because it’s your property. If your unit went up in value in the time that you lived there, you reap the benefits of selling the property for more than you originally paid.
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