The Loan Follows the Title, Not the Siding
A manufactured home in Texas starts out as personal property. TDHCA titles it the way the state titles a vehicle, and most buyers get financed the same way, with a chattel loan secured by the home alone. That is a different product with different pricing and different protections than a mortgage.
Once the home is permanently attached to land the same owner owns, and the owner files the real property election with TDHCA, the home becomes real property for all purposes. From that point it is financed like any other house in Houston. Conventional, FHA, VA and USDA all come into play, on the same rate sheets and the same terms as a site built home.
That single filing is the whole game. Most of the work on a manufactured home file happens before the loan application, in the title, and that is where we start.
What we finance: a manufactured home plus the land, owned by the same borrower, on a permanent foundation, titled as real property. What we do not: homes on a rented lot in a park, or homes still titled as personal property. If your home is in the second group and you own or are buying the land under it, there is a path. Call and we will walk it.
Programs on the Shelf
These are published agency programs, not a private product. Any lender approved for them uses the same requirements. What differs is whether the person handling your file has actually closed one.
| Program |
Down Payment |
Notes |
| Fannie Mae Standard MH | 5% | Single and multi-width, primary or second home |
| Fannie Mae MH Advantage | 3% | Homes built to the MH Advantage spec, up to 97% LTV |
| Freddie Mac CHOICEHome | 5% | One unit primary residence, 95% LTV, 97% with an eligible affordable second |
| FHA Title II | 3.5% | Home and land as real property, standard FHA credit terms |
| VA | 0% | Eligible veterans, manufactured home on owned land |
| USDA Guaranteed | 0% | Rural eligible areas, unit age and eligibility rules apply |
| Rate and term refinance | N/A | Available across the agency programs |
| Cash-out refinance | N/A | Fannie Mae limits cash-out to multi-width homes with ownership seasoning |
Program terms summarized from published Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA and USDA guidelines and subject to change. Eligibility, pricing and structure depend on the property, the title status, credit and the specific investor. Not a commitment to lend.
The Part Most Files Die On
Texas Occupations Code section 1201.2055 is the election that converts a manufactured home to real property. The Legislature wrote a cure provision into subsection (i) of that same section, which tells you how often the filing gets missed at closing.
Here is how it shows up. A buyer goes under contract on five acres with a manufactured home on it. Everybody assumes it is real property because it is on a slab, has a septic system and shows up on the tax roll. Two weeks before closing, underwriting pulls the Statement of Ownership and the home is still titled personal property, or the prior election was never perfected. The agency loan is dead on the spot, and the buyer either finds a chattel lender at different terms or walks.
Checking that record takes minutes. We do it at the front of every file, and if the election needs to be made or cured, we identify it while there is still time to fix it before closing rather than after the option period has run.
Requirements at a Glance
| Requirement |
What It Means |
| Build date | On or after June 15, 1976 |
| HUD tags | Certification Label and Data Plate present and legible |
| Foundation | Permanent, engineer certification often required |
| Size | At least 400 square feet and 12 feet wide |
| Title status | Real property, home and land in the same ownership |
| Running gear | Hitch, wheels and axles removed |
| Occupancy | Primary residence for most programs, second home on some |
| Underwriting | Automated underwriting, standard income and credit documentation |
Who This Is For
- Buyers on acreage. Montgomery, Liberty, Waller, Brazoria, Chambers, Austin County. Land with a home already on it, where the financing question is really a title question.
- Land and home packages. You bought or are buying a lot and want to set a new home on it. We line up the land, the set, the foundation and the permanent financing so the pieces close in the right order.
- Owners refinancing. If you are sitting in a chattel loan on a home you own with land you own, converting to real property and refinancing into an agency mortgage is worth pricing out.
- Listing agents with a home that will not finance. If your listing keeps losing buyers at underwriting, the title status is usually why. Send it over and we will tell you what it needs.
- Investors. Manufactured homes are eligible property under our investor fix and flip financing, and rental files can go through DSCR loans.
- Rural buyers. Many of these properties sit inside USDA eligible areas. See USDA loans in Houston for the zero down option.
Houston Is the Biggest Manufactured Housing Market in Texas
Harris County holds more manufactured home title records than any other county in the state, and Montgomery County is second. Four counties in the Houston area rank in the Texas top ten. Despite that, the local MLS barely reflects the segment, because most of these homes trade off market or as acreage listings.
| County |
TDHCA Title Records |
Texas Rank |
| Harris | 58,135 | 1 |
| Montgomery | 36,241 | 2 |
| Brazoria | 18,897 | 9 |
| Liberty | 18,068 | 10 |
| Fort Bend | 8,978 | |
| Galveston | 8,300 | |
| Waller | 4,947 | |
| Austin | 3,564 | |
| Chambers | 3,491 | |
| Houston area total | 160,621 | 14.8% of Texas |
Source: TDHCA title by county records, pulled July 2026. Statewide total 1,083,001. These are cumulative title records rather than standing occupied homes, so treat them as an upper bound on stock.
Agent and Lender in One Place
Ben is a licensed Texas real estate broker and a licensed mortgage loan originator. On a manufactured home deal that matters more than it does on a normal house, because the contract, the title conversion and the loan all have to line up. When the agent and the lender are the same person, nothing gets lost between them.
If you are buying, we represent you on the purchase and write the financing. If you already have an agent, we are happy to just handle the loan. Either way the title review happens first. See the InSync Bundle for how the combined side works.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you get a regular mortgage on a manufactured home in Texas?
Yes, when the home and the land are owned by the same borrower, the home is permanently attached, and the title has been converted to real property. At that point the agency programs treat it like any other house. A home on a rented lot in a park stays personal property and does not qualify.
What is the difference between a chattel loan and a mortgage?
A chattel loan is secured by the home only, the way a vehicle loan works, and in Texas it falls under Finance Code Chapter 347 and the OCCC. A mortgage is secured by the home and land together as real property. Different pricing, different terms, different protections. Converting the title is what moves you from one to the other.
Does the home have to be on land I own?
For the programs on this page, yes. The land and the home have to be in the same ownership and financed together. If you are looking at a home on leased land in a park, that is a personal property transaction and we are not the right shop for it today.
How old can the home be?
It has to be built on or after June 15, 1976, which is when the federal HUD construction standard took effect. Anything older is not eligible for agency financing regardless of condition. Some programs and some lenders add their own age limits on top of that.
Can I do a cash-out refinance on a manufactured home?
Sometimes. Fannie Mae restricts cash-out on manufactured homes to multi-width homes and requires an ownership seasoning period, so most single-wide owners are walled out of it. Rate and term refinances have more room. If your home is your homestead, Texas home equity rules under section 50(a)(6) apply the same as they would on a site built house.
What about a brand new home I want to set on my land?
That works. The sequence matters, because the home has to be set, permanently attached and converted to real property before the permanent financing can close against it. Bring us in before you order the home so the timeline gets built right.
Do you sell manufactured homes too?
We represent buyers and sellers on manufactured homes that are real property with land, which is a standard real estate transaction under a TREC license. Sales of homes as personal property, the park and dealer lot market, are regulated separately by TDHCA and are not what we do.
Have a property in mind? Send the address and we will pull the title record and tell you what it will finance as, usually the same day. Call 713-548-7350 or email ben@insync.homes.
Ben Helstein, TX Real Estate Broker TREC #727703-B. NMLS #1577314. InSync Loans NMLS #1829321. Equal Housing Opportunity. All loans subject to credit approval, underwriting guidelines and property approval. This page is general information about published loan programs, not a commitment to lend or an offer of credit, and program terms are subject to change.