Manufactured Homes ; Mobile
Home Appraisals
A new and vital segment of the
appraisal profession has evolved with the
emergence of the major expansion of the
manufactured housing industry. FLORIDA CERTIFIED
APPRAISERS, INC. possesses the special training
and experience to appraise manufactured homes in
Duval, Nassau, St. Johns and Clay counties. Our
staff of trained manufactured housing appraisal
professionals utilizes the special techniques
needed for all types of manufactured housing
also known in some cases as Mobile Homes.
Many appraisers have indicated
they decline assignments to perform
manufactured home or mobile home appraisals because they lack the
knowledge and experience to perform the
assignment competently.
The term “Manufactured Home”
is not to be confused with other types of
factory built housing such as Modular Homes,
Panelized Homes, and Pre-Cut Homes. Today, all
manufactured homes are built entirely under the
federal building code administered by the U. S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD). Generally speaking, a manufactured home
is one that is structurally complete before
leaving the factory and is transported in one or
more sections on an attached undercarriage.
Manufactured homes are built on steel frames
(“I” beams) with a tongue and are mounted on
axles and wheels for transport.
On June15, 1976 the Federal
Mobile Home Safety and Construction Standards
Act was enacted by Congress to ensure that
minimum standards of construction established by
the federal government were applied across the
industry. All mobile or manufactured home units
constructed after June15, 1976 must have the red
metal HUD label certifying that it has been
inspected in accordance with the requirements of
HUD and constructed in conformance with the
Federal Mobile Home Safety and Construction
Standards Act. On October 8,1980 public law
96-399 was enacted by the U. S. Congress
officially changing the name from “mobile home”
to “manufactured home”.
When appraising a
mobile home or manufactured
home property, it is imperative that the
appraiser makes every effort to identify the
ultimate user of the appraisal because there are
a multitude of Supplemental Standards imposed by
conventional lenders, Fannie Mae, and HUD.
Appraisers must comply with these supplemental
standards in addition to the applicable
standards set out in Uniform Standards of
Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).
In a manufactured home
appraisal, the most critical factor to be
determined is whether the manufactured home is
to be appraised as personal property or real
property. Manufactured housing, which by nature
is personal property, must therefore be
permanently affixed to the land in order to be
appraised as real estate (or real property).
Manufactured homes not permanently affixed to
the land or when the land is not owned, must be
appraised as personal property.
If the appraiser determines
that the manufactured home is permanently
affixed to the land, the appraisal can be
developed and reported on the Form URAR 1004 in
compliance with Standards 1 and 2 of USPAP and
any Supplemental Standards that may be imposed
by the client. If the appraisal assignment
involves a manufactured home that has yet to be
sited but is to be permanently affixed as real
property, the appraisal should be developed in
conformance with USPAP for proposed
construction. The Cost Approach should be
developed using data from generally accepted
cost data sources such as Marshall & Swift or
NADA that provide cost data for the manufactured
housing unit.
When the manufactured home
being appraised is not (existing) or will not be
(proposed) permanently affixed to the site, the
manufactured home unit must be appraised as
personal property in accordance with USPAP and
any Supplemental Standards imposed by the
client. For personal property loans insured
through HUD, the appraiser must be a qualified
user of the National Appraisal System (NAS), and
the appraisal must be based on the current
edition of the National edition of the NADA.
Manufactured Housing Appraisal Guide.
The ultimate responsibility
rests with the appraiser to make sure that he or
she is competent to perform the appraisal when
accepting an appraisal assignment involving
manufactured housing. |
