New Financing Options Make Manufactured Homes More Affordable
Sometimes families decide to buy a manufactured home because they are more affordable than traditional site-built homes. However, that affordability is based upon the original sales price and not necessarily found in the financing of the manufactured home.
Now a partnership between RBC Mortgage and Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest source for home mortgages, is designed to make the financing and purchase of manufactured homes safer and more affordable for low-to moderate income families. Through the partnership, 30 year mortgage financing with down payments as low as 5 percent will be available for the purchase of manufactured homes.
RBC Mortgage is one of several lenders offering this new mortgage option across the nation. This network of lenders experienced in manufactured housing financing have been charged with developing best practices in the manufactured housing industry, such as measures that help ensure that consumers purchasing a manufactured home does not pay more than the house is worth. The goals are to limit the amount of repossessions and foreclosures and to protect consumers from predatory lending practices and problems such as faulty installations.
The new financing options were announced April 8 by U.S. Representative Rick Renzi at a training session for about 75 members of the White Mountain Association of Realtors and members of the Manufactured Housing Industry of Arizona. He applauded Fannie Mae and RBC Mortgage leadership in addressing the “unique challenges” in the manufactured housing industry.
As part of Fannie Mae’s “Expanding the American Dream Commitment” to transform the manufactured housing industry, Fannie Mae will work with RBC Mortgage and eight other lenders including SgFirst Farm Credit Bank, Flagstar Bank, GMAC Manufactured Housing, Huntington Mortgage Group, Origen Financial, 21st Mortgage, Vanderbilt Mortgage and Washington Mutual to originate 30 year, 95 percent loan-to-value manufactured housing mortgages. Fannie Mae will purchase all eligible loans.
Ultimately these best practices will be incorporated into Fannie Mae’s guidelines for all lenders. For example. In Arizona, regulations sponsored by the Manufactured Housing Industry of Arizona and the Arizona Association of Manufactured Homeowners have already resulted in a 50 percent reduction in complaints from purchasers of new manufactured homes.
“Fannie Mae’s efforts will help create sustainable homeownership that protects the borrowers’s investment and helps lenders and investors more effectively manage their risks,” said Elisa de la Vara, director of Fannie Mae’s Arizona Partnership Office. We will continue to work with lenders and manufactured industry partners to find ways to address these and other issues to ensure the continued availability of affordable manufactured housing financing.”
For more information on available mortgage financing options for manufactured homes, contact RBC Mortgage at (520) 790-6000.
