What should you check before buying a moved manufactured home?
Confirm the home's history, ask your lender what it will require, and have an engineer look at the home as it stands. Doing these before you commit gives you facts to work with instead of surprises at the loan stage.
What should you ask the seller?
Ask for documents, and mark anything unavailable instead of guessing:
- Where the home sat before, and when it was moved, if documented.
- Transport, installation, permit, or setup records.
- Earlier engineering reports and any repair records.
- Photographs of the data plate and the exterior HUD labels.
- Any additions, enclosed porches, or decks, with dates if known.
Our guide on how to tell if a manufactured home was moved explains how to weigh what you are told.
What should you ask your lender?
- Which loan program is being reviewed?
- Does the lender treat the home as moved, and why?
- What engineering report does it want, in writing?
- Will it review an earlier report, or does it need new work?
Your lender decides, and a change of program can change the questions. For more on this, read can you finance a moved manufactured home.
Do you need an engineer before you buy?
It can help. A home inspector may review several building systems, while an engineer's assignment focuses on an identified structural question. Neither name tells you the whole scope, so confirm what each will cover.
An inspection before purchase documents the frame, the section connections, and the supports at the current site, so you know what you are buying.
How do you get ready for the visit?
- Give the property address and state, including the lot number if relevant.
- Name the person who can arrange access, and note any locked or hard-to-reach areas.
- Share the lender's wording and your target closing date.
- Say who should receive the finished report.
You do not need to go under the home, remove covers, or disturb anything. Describe what you see and let the engineer plan the visit.
What if the inspection finds a problem?
Ask the engineer to explain it and what is needed next, and get the fee and timing before you authorize more work. Findings are a reason to ask questions before closing, not after.
What should you send us?
Our moved home pre-purchase inspection fits this stage. We issue reports in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Indiana, signed by an engineer licensed in the state where the home sits.
Send the address and what the seller has told you. We reply within one business day.