A mobile home is usually more affordable than a traditional home, but you still might need financing. Learn more about how mobile home financing works and how to get a loan that suits your needs.
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U.S. News selects the Best Loan Companies by evaluating affordability, borrower eligibility criteria and customer service. Those with the highest overall scores are considered the best lenders.
To calculate each score, we use data about the lender and its loan offerings, giving greater weight to factors that matter most to borrowers. For mortgage lenders, we take into account each company’s customer service ratings, interest rates, loan product availability, minimum down payment, minimum FICO score and online features.
The weight each scoring factor receives is based on a nationwide survey on what borrowers look for in a lender.
To receive a rating, lenders must offer qualifying loans nationwide and have a good reputation within the industry. Read more about our methodology.
Homefinity launched in 2018 as the online lending division of Fairway Independent Mortgage. It offers a variety of mortgage products, including conventional mortgages, Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs mortgages, and mortgage refinancing.
Caliber Home Loans of Coppell, Texas, offers mortgage products nationwide. Options include conventional, adjustable-rate, jumbo, refinancing, Federal Housing Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Veterans Affairs loans. Caliber has been in business since 2008, and is solely focused on home lending products.
Carrington Mortgage Services, founded in 2007, offers an array of mortgage and refinancing options to borrowers seeking conventional or government-backed loans. Its California-based parent company, Carrington Holding Co., was established in 2003 and provides a range of real estate services. Carrington Mortgage Services is based in California and also has offices in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana and Maryland.
Pentagon Federal Credit Union, widely known as PenFed, offers borrowers access to many types of mortgages: conventional, adjustable rate, jumbo and Department of Veterans Affairs, plus refinancing loans and home equity lines of credit. The financial institution, which serves 2.5 million members, was established in 1935 and is based in McLean, Virginia.
North American Savings Bank, or NASB, is a Missouri-based bank and lender founded in 1927 that offers home mortgages nationally. NASB provides a variety of mortgage options, including conventional, Federal Housing Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs loans, and products for borrowers who might otherwise have trouble getting a mortgage.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truist Bank was formed in 2019 after SunTrust and BB&T banks merged. Truist Bank offers a variety of mortgage products, including refinancing and home equity lines of credit.
Chase, one of the world’s largest banks, was founded in 1799 in New York and offers mortgage and refinance loans.
AmeriSave Mortgage Corp. is an online lender that has been in business since 2002. It was one of the first to offer an offsite, digital mortgage experience for customers. The company says it has financed more than 664,000 borrowers since it began operating. With headquarters in Atlanta, AmeriSave services loans in 49 states and Washington, D.C.
Simmons Bank was founded in Arkansas in 1903 and can now be found across six states. It offers mortgage products such as conventional and jumbo loans, federal-government-backed loans and state-approved down payment assistance programs.
Mobile homes aren’t the same as traditional “stick-built” or “site-built” homes, which are built directly on top of the site where they’ll stand. Instead, mobile homes, also known as manufactured homes, are prefabricated and then moved to the location where the owner wants to live.
Getting a mobile home loan may be different from taking out a traditional mortgage. It will depend on the specific characteristics of your home. For instance, if you pay fees to the state department of motor vehicles or the mobile home still has wheels, it’s considered a vehicle or personal property. If that’s the case, you’ll need to rely on a chattel loan or personal loan to finance the mobile home purchase.
If your mobile home meets certain requirements, it may be considered real property and can qualify for mobile home financing.
- The home needs to be at least 400 square feet.
- It should have its wheels removed and be permanently affixed to a foundation.
- You need to own the land under it.
- The home must meet strict guidelines regarding its age and condition.
Whether you’re looking to get a mobile home loan, chattel loan or personal loan, lenders will expect you to meet certain qualifications. You’ll need to show that you’re a trustworthy borrower in order to qualify for a loan and the best terms possible.
“There is usually a slightly higher loan cost with manufactured homes on a permanent foundation, and the financing rules are slightly stricter,” says Khari Washington, a mortgage broker and owner of 1st United Realty & Mortgage of Riverside, California. “To get approved for a mobile home loan, a person needs the same things they need for any other home.” These are the major requirements:
- Down payment. If your mobile home meets the standards for being considered “real property,” you can get a loan with as little as 3% to 5% down, depending on the type of loan and individual lender requirements. However, if you pursue a conventional mortgage to finance your mobile home purchase, some types of property may be ineligible, such as single-wide homes or investment properties.
- Credit score. Generally, you’ll need a credit score in the mid-600s to qualify for a conventional mobile home loan. However, the best interest rates and loan terms are reserved for borrowers with scores of more than 650. If you finance using a Federal Housing Administration loan, you may qualify with a score as low as 500, provided you pay a 10% down payment.
- DTI. Your debt-to-income ratio measures how much of your monthly gross income goes toward paying off debt. When financing a home in general, most lenders prefer that your back-end DTI, which includes your potential home loan payment along with all other debt obligations, be no more than 43%. Some allow up to 50%. However, when financing a mobile home, some lenders may require a lower DTI.
Whether you need to be a landowner or not depends on the type of loan you are going to get. Most mobile homes are on leased land, says Dawn Pfaff, president of My State MLS, a nationwide multiple listing service. In those instances, the home is considered chattel, or personal property, and you’d get a corresponding chattel or personal loan.
“When you buy a mobile home on land that you own, as long as that home is permanently affixed to the land, the terms are much different,” Pfaff says. In this case, you can borrow a mobile home loan that works essentially the same as a mortgage. However, not all mortgage lenders approve loans for mobile homes, so you’ll need to find one that offers this type of financing.
Because mobile home loans are not as common as traditional mortgage loans and the terms tend to be a bit stricter, it’s difficult to pinpoint the average mobile home rate. The interest rate you’re offered will depend on a number of factors, including your creditworthiness, the type of property, the size of the loan and more.
That said, for a mobile home on a permanent foundation, a good interest rate would be around 3%, according to Washington. That’s just slightly higher than the average mortgage rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan.
When shopping around for a mobile home loan, it’s important to compare offers from several lenders to ensure you’re getting the lowest rate possible.
The FHA offers two types of mobile home loans.
The FHA Title I program is designed for homes that are considered personal property and not real estate. To get a Title I loan, you don’t need to purchase or own the land the mobile home will be sitting on. Pfaff notes that the amount you can borrow under the Title I program is capped, depending on the use:
- Manufactured home: $69,678
- Manufactured home lot: $23,226
- Manufactured home and lot: $92,904
There are also maximum loan repayment terms, depending on the property type:
- Manufactured home or a single-unit home and lot: 20 years
- Manufactured home lot loan: 15 years
- Multiunit manufactured home and lot: 25 years
The FHA Title II program is for mobile homes that qualify as real property and are taxed as real estate. It works the same way for mobile homes as it does for traditional homes. You can put down as little as 3.5% if your credit score is at least 580, or 10% if your score is between 500 and 579. You will be required to pay a mortgage insurance premium, regardless of the down payment amount. The home must also be your primary residence, and the repayment term can last up to 30 years.
Though mobile homes can be more cost-effective than traditional stick-built homes, they are still pricey. The average sale price of a new manufactured home was $98,100 as of March 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Opting for a double-wide or a home with certain customizations can drive that price much higher. If you don’t have the cash saved up for the full purchase price of a mobile home, it may be worth taking out a loan to cover the cost.
Another factor to consider is whether you will also need to purchase the land that the home will sit on. If you don’t already own a plot of land, but you want a mobile home that qualifies as real property, you may need to finance the land purchase along with the mobile home purchase.
Veterans United Home Loans offers mortgages in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and specializes in Department of Veterans Affairs loans. Since 2016, Veterans United Home Loans has generated the largest number of VA purchase loans per year in the nation. The lender was founded in 2002 and is based in Columbia, Missouri.
PNC Bank is one of the largest banks in the United States, serving more than 9 million customers in all 50 states. A full-service mortgage lender, PNC offers most mortgage loan product types.
PrimeLending is a Dallas-based mortgage lender in operation since 1986. The company offers several mortgage loan options, including conventional loans, jumbo loans, government-backed loans and refinance loans. The lender is a subsidiary of PlainsCapital Bank.
Real Genius is a division of FirstBank, a publicly traded bank based in Nashville, Tennessee. Real Genius, formerly known as ConsumerDirect Mortgage, offers both home purchase and refinance loans.
New American Funding is a mortgage lender offering a variety of home loan options to homebuyers and homeowners nationwide except for Hawaii. The company, founded in 2003 and based in Tustin, California, has originated $61.9 billion in mortgages to date.
Guild Mortgage is a San Diego-based lender established in 1960 and focused on residential home loans. Guild Mortgage offers buyers in 43 states a full suite of mortgage products, including conventional loans, government-backed mortgages and jumbo loans.
SoFi is an online lender founded in 2011 and headquartered in San Francisco that offers fixed-rate mortgages. Refinance, jumbo and home equity loans are also available.
CMG Financial is a privately held mortgage banking firm operating nationwide with localized support, founded in 1993 and based in San Ramon, California. The lender offers a range of products, including conventional, government and specialty mortgages, like jumbo loans.
Founded in 1990, Freedom Mortgage is one of the country’s largest loan originators and services, operating in all but two states plus the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Based in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, Freedom Mortgage was named No. 1 Veterans Affairs lender and No. 1 Federal Housing Administration lender by the industry publication Inside Mortgage Finance. Freedom Mortgage offers a range of mortgage loans, including conventional, adjustable-rate, refinance, FHA, VA and U.S. Department of Agriculture. But what Freedom Mortgage is known for is its mission to help American military personnel purchase a home.
LoanDepot is a mortgage lender that operates nationally with more than 200 branches and delivers both a digital experience and face-to-face service. The lender offers fixed- and adjustable-rate conventional mortgages, Federal Housing Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs loans, as well as refinance and renovation loans. The company was founded in 2010 and is based in Foothill Ranch, California.
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