subject: How To Qualify For Mobile Home Loan Refinance [print this page] Do you own a mobile home and are considering home loan refinance? For mobile home loan refinance options, you need to first determine if it is currently financed as a real property or personal property. As mobile homes are first built in factories and then taken to the site where they may or may not have a permanent foundation therefore, this depends on their relationship to the land. Real property is immovable. If the mobile home is attached to the property and meets specifications set by the National Manufactured Housing and Safety Code, it may be financed as real property while anything that is not permanently attached to the land is personal property.
In most cases, if the land and mobile home are permanently attached and owned by the same person, it is considered as real property. If the mobile home is owned but the land is leased than it is considered as a personal property. Rules governing the ownership of mobile homes vary from state to state. There is no federal statute to determine whether a mobile home is to be considered real or personal property. You may notice that whether ownership of mobile home is considered as real or personal depends on how it is attached to the land and is therefore a matter of state law.
Let us now consider what is required to qualify for refinancing of your mobile homes. Its not just you as a borrower but also your mobile home which needs to qualify for refinance.
First, lets see the qualification criteria your mobile home has to meet. Before a lender offers you any homeloan refinance, he will see if the mobile home meets the age and size requirements. The mobile home cant be older than 1977 and your mobile home should have been built in 1990 or after, if you want a cash out refinance loan. Generally mobile homes need to be about 30 years old or newer before you can get a mobile home refinance loan. And for a cash-out loan, it probably needs to be 20 years old. Again the mobile home is to be inspected to make sure it meets HUD (Housing and Urban Development) standards and that it measures a certain square footage to qualify for refinance. Some lenders may have specific requirements other then size and age of the mobile home. If the value of the home is found to be too small, a mobile home refinance may not be possible. Other lenders might not want to refinance a mobile home thats in a mobile home park, but prefer that it sits on ground that is owned by you.
Now let us consider what criteria you need to meet as a borrower to qualify for mobile home refinanceloan. You are required to have an impressive credit history. Credit history reflects your consistency in paying your payments and being on-time. Any missed payments may affect your score and in turn your approval to refinance. If you have missed payments in the past it is advised that you give yourself at least 6 consecutive months to a year of on-time payments before you apply. You will need a minimum credit score of 620-630 to qualify. Just like any kind of home refinance, you are required to show a steady employment with flow of income. If you are selfemployed you are required to have two consecutive years of tax filings in order to qualify for mobile home refinance. Again, you must not have filed for bankruptcy for the past 5 years.
Once you meet the above criteria, you may like to evaluate if refinance is worth the cost and get involved with a reputable organization which will help you understand better what you are heading into.
