My wife and I are currently in escrow on a parcel of land in San Diego county that contains a stick-built main home, and a manufactured guest home built in 2004. The main home has about 3 times the square footage of the guest home.
In order to make the manufactured guest home match the main home a red tile roof and full stucco coats were applied to the manufactured home. Additionally, the manufactured home is bolted to a concrete stem-wall foundation.
Here’s the rub: In spite of the fact that we have great credit, and are placing a large amount of cash as down payment, it has been very difficult to obtain a conventional loan on this property. Why? We have been told that the main reason is the presence of the manufactured home. The appraisal is fine, no problem there. The guest house is in very good condition, and the only problem appears to be in the “manufactured” name only.
Apparently, the pendulum has swung at the banks. When given a property that does not fit into their pigeon holes, the bankers don’t know what to do.
The lack of available financing has been very frustrating, and something to watch out for. After much lost time, we have finally been able to obtain financing with terms that are OK, but not the best and plan to close the deal.
