Fannie Mae Selling Guide Update Expanded to Include Single-Wide Manufactured Homes

GSE Fannie Mae recently issued the following Selling Guide Announcement (SEL-2020-07), which highlights updates to the Selling Guide including the following, among others:

The expansion of property eligibility criteria to allow for the sale of loans secured by single-width manufactured homes that meet specified eligibility requirements and for the eligibility of such properties for principal residence purchase and limited cash-out refinance transactions (effective February 1, 2021).

With this update, Fannie Mae is expanding property eligibility criteria to allow for the sale of loans secured by single-section manufactured home loans that meet all the following property eligibility requirements. Allowing the sale of single-width manufactured homes aligns with our affordable housing and Duty to Serve objectives.

A single-width manufactured home must…..

• be legally classified as real property and cannot include an accessory dwelling unit (ADU).
• be located on an individual lot or in a Fannie Mae-approved project.
• have a manufacture date of 10 years or less measured from the effective date of the appraisal.
•  be at least 12 feet wide and have a minimum of 400 sq. ft. of gross living area.

Single-width homes are eligible for principal residence purchase and limited cash-out refinance transactions but are not eligible for cash-out refinance transactions or as a second home for investment properties, the Eligibility Matrix has been updated to reflect this change.

Single-width appraisal requirements and standards:

Along with the above policies, we have updated the manufactured housing appraisal requirements and standards. The appraiser must always use a minimum of two comparable sales of similar manufactured homes, but we have specifically added a requirement that for a single-width manufactured home, one of the comparable properties must be a closed sale of another single-width manufactured home. If the appraiser is unable to find a comparable closed sale of another single-width property, an additional “under contract” sale or active listing may be used. Second, in addition to providing the numbers from the HUD Data Plate and Certification Label(s) affixed to the manufactured home, the appraiser must also provide photos of this information.