Frequently Asked Questions ----
1. Q: The Buyer is planning on securing an FHA-backed mortgage loan to purchase a manufactured home. Will the usual FHA inspection, performed by the fee inspector, suffice?
A. No. The rules call for a licensed professional engineer to certify that the foundation of the home meets the HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) requirements are met.
2. Q. What are those requirements?
A. There are actually quite a few. They are focused on ensuring that the home is built on a permanent foundation and is safe to occupy. The foundation system is designed to withstand 90 mph winds, for example, as well as certain seismic events. The soil supporting the home must be firmly compacted and well-drained. The site is checked to ensure that it is not in the floodplain. There are other design parameters, too, all of which are centered around the tenet that a manufactured home should be as safe and sound as a site-built home.
3. Q. What about an existing home, does it have to be inspected, too?
A. Yes, all manufactured homes that are to have FHA (or VA) backed mortgages must meet the same criteria for their foundations. Unfortunately, it is all too frequent that a home was originally set up without FHA criteria ever being considered. Then, at a later date, the home is sold to a Buyer who wishes to use FHA financing. It is at this point that retro-fitting and remedial work is needed to bring the home into FHA (actually HUD) compliance. Of course, this work is often more difficult and costly to do than if it had been done properly at initial set-up.
4. Q. Are there ANY exceptions?
A. Yes. If a home has an existing FHA loan, the loan can be re-financed without a foundation inspection.
5. Q. Are there any homes that will not qualify?
A. Yes. For starters, homes must meet the basic FHA requirements: they must be greater that 400 square feet in size, newer than 1976, never having been moved to another location, etc.
6. Q. And other specific requirements?
A. If the home doesnt have any of the issues in 5 above, it still must meet these other requirements:
a. The home-site cannot be in a Special Flood Hazard Area (also known as a floodplain).
b. Any fill under the home must be properly compacted and tested by an independent construction testing laboratory, or if a relatively shallow fill is built, the footing excavations can extend through the fill to sound, virgin soil.
c. Exterior grading must direct the surface runoff around the home and not allow it to flow beneath the home.
d. The foundation must be designed by a licensed professional engineer to take into account the seismic acceleration of the location, the wind loading, the soil type and bearing capacity, topography, weight of the home, floor plan, and height of the home.
e. The foundation wall (also known as the perimeter wall, skirting wall, or end wall) must be constructed of one or more of the following: masonry (either concrete block or brick), steel (like steel roof decking), or pressure-treated wood. Vinyl is not an acceptable alternative, since it blows out easily, allows wind uplift pressure to affect the home, and easily develops holes, thereby allowing runoff and vermin to enter the crawlspace.
f. Foundation vents must be installed at the rate of one per every 150 square feet of floor area.
g. Vapor barrier must be installed between the ground and the wood portions of the home (usually this material is already attached to the underside of the home and this is not an issue. However, sometimes the barrier is damaged or partially missing and must be fixed.)
h. The installation contractor is to use the design furnished by the engineer to actually go out into the field and construct the foundation for the home.
i. The FHA fee inspector is to inspect the construction of the homes foundation per the same design as listed in d. above.
j. If the home is existing, then the Engineer must inspect the home and try to determine if it meets the HUD Guide to Permanent Foundations for Manufactured Housing, plus all the other parameters as listed in this section.
k. As of this date, the tubular steel anchor systems are not allowed as the primary anchorage for these homes.
l. Longitudinal anchorage as well as transverse anchorage is required for each home.
m. The concrete block piers are to be mortared. An alternative that is commonly used is the full encapsulation of the piers with a 1/4" thick masonry coating that contains polypropylene fibers. One way to do this is to take roughly equal parts of masonry mix and portland cement (both readily available from local lumber yards), add about 25% by volume of poly fibers and enough water to make the mixture gooey and sticky and apply completely around the block piers from top to bottom.
n. In this area of West Tennessee, steel anchor straps are used. These straps are to be anchored in concrete "dead-man" anchors, but typically they are anchored to the foundation wall footings, if properly constructed.
o. Although not weight-bearing, the foundation wall footing should be to a certain dimension and depth in the ground. It should also be designed to be reinforced such that it may double as anchorage for the steel straps.
p. No external dead loads can be attached to the home. Most often, this means wooden porches. The porches themselves are OK to have, but they must be self-supporting. The only part that can be attached to the home is the shingle roofing or vinyl trim, but no weight.
7. Q. Can an addition, such as a carport or an extra room be added?
A. Yes. The rule is that any addition must be built according to the same foundation guide as used to build the original home, or better. An addition cannot, for instance, be built on just 4 x 4 wood posts set into the ground. Also, the room addition must support its own weight.
8. Q. What is the procedure for getting all of this done?
A. For new installations (that is, the home is sitting on the sales lot, and the Dealer has just made the sale to the Buyer)-
Step one - the Dealer should gather together the following pieces of information: the floor plan of the home, the manufacturers recommended foundation layout for that specific home, a survey or plat of the lot onto which the home is to be set up, a property locator with the customers name and the street address of the lot, if known.
Step two - the Dealer should send that information to the Engineer.
Step three - someone should go to the lot that is to receive the home and stake out the approximate location of the home.
Step four - the Engineer visits the site, does a topo of the area, checks the soil, investigates the location for floodplain issues, and then designs the foundation specifically for this project. The design is sent to the Dealer, who in turn gives it to the installation contractor to use to construct the foundation. The FHA fee inspector also uses the design to verify compliance.
Step five - Upon completion of the installation of the home, the Dealer (or lender, or real estate professional) notifies the Engineer, who makes a final site visit to also verify compliance with the design.
Step six - the Engineer sends a letter of certification to the Dealer or Lender as appropriate. The letter is part of the closing package that the underwriters use for the FHA loan process.
Step seven - the loan closes.
For existing installations ( the home already is set up, maybe for several years) -
Step one - As soon as it becomes likely that the sale of the home will close, contact the Engineer and send the following information ( or as much of it as can be obtained): the floor plan of the home, the manufacturers recommended foundation layout for that specific home, and a property locator with the customers name and the street address of the lot, if known.
Step two - the Engineer makes a site inspection to determine the compliance with the FHA/HUD requirements and reports back to the Dealer or Lender.
Step three - if any deficiencies are noted in the Engineers report, they are to be corrected by someone familiar with this type of construction. Please note that some contractors who have worked on this type of construction have been listed on the "Contractors" tab elsewhere in this website - their listing in this website does not imply a recommendation by Matt Thomson, P.E.
Step four - notify the Engineer, who then makes a return visit to verify completion of the repairs.
Step five - the Engineer sends a letter of certification to the Dealer or Lender as appropriate. The letter is part of the closing package that the underwriters use for the FHA loan process.
Step seven - the loan closes.
9. Q. For existing homes, what are the biggest issues typically encountered?
A. Probably the lack of a fiber-mortar coating is the biggest deficiency noted. Also, the existence of front or back porches whose weight is partially borne by the original home is quite common. The porches themselves are allowed, but they must support their own weight. Often times, some type of extra bracing of the porch roof and the disconnection of the fasteners must be done to bring the home into compliance. Lastly, the use of "soil type" anchors is also a common issue. This is generally addressed by bolting anchor heads to the perimeter footing and re-strapping the home, or digging and pouring concrete dead-man anchors around each anchor strap, plus adding some longitudinal anchor straps.
10. Q. Isn't all of this impossible to get done?
A. Not at all. Although it might seem to be a lot, actually, most existing homes are quite easily brought into compliance. There is, to be sure, the occasional disaster home with no concrete footings, poor anchorage, terrible drainage, or some combination of everything that is simply too problematic to fix. However, those situations are rare. Also, there is a trend among dealers to install all homes to FHA standards such that they are not faced with these issues in the future as they take in older homes on trade, or repossession.
11. Q. What about more information?
A. Keep a check on this website, as we will try to keep the issues and information current. Meanwhile, you may contact us (see the Contact Us tab) and we will be happy to answer any questions that we can.
Thanks!
Matt Thomson