When you think about a mobile or manufactured home, you probably think about a trailer or a trailer park. You imagine a man named “Bubba” in his white tank top with his large belly hanging out, yelling at his wife and her 4 children with 5 different fathers.

The fact of the matter is, however, that mobile and manufactured homes have come a long way in the past few decades. Today, you can purchase a manufactured home that really doesn’t look that different from a regular, so-called “stick built” home. These homes are prefabricated at a factory, loaded on a truck, and delivered. They can be placed on a permanent foundation, or even a basement.

Even in the area of home loans, there is starting to be some parity between manufactured homes and traditionally built homes. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, often known as “HUD,” also offers FHA loans to those who wish to purchase mobile homes.

Under a program known as “Title I,” the FHA approves lenders that can then make loans of their own money to eligible borrowers to purchase or refinance a manufactured home and/or a lot for that home. The FHA doesn’t make the loan themselves, of course. Like with other types of FHA loans, a Title I manufactured home loan is guaranteed by the government, and the FHA insures the lender against a loss if the borrower defaults on the home loan.

There are limits on how much you can borrow for this type of loan. For the home itself, the maximum amount that can be borrowed is $69,678. An additional $23,226 can be borrowed to purchase a lot for the manufactured home. Together, you can borrow up to $92,904 to purchase both the home and the lot. In areas that are considered to be “high cost” areas, these maximums can be increased as much as 85 percent.

A Title I loan has a maximum of 20 years if it is a manufactured home, or a single-wide manufactured home on a lot. The maximum is 25 years if it is a multi-section manufactured home on a lot, and 15 years for just a lot.

Photo via scaredy_kat