High Cost Lending

Skyrocketing lot rents focus of Keep Mobile Homes Affordable Act

On August 12, the Keep Mobile Homes Affordable Act (H.R. 4969) was introduced by U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (D-New Mexico) to address the affordability of manufactured home living by investigating and reporting on lot rents in manufactured home communities. NMHOA has endorsed the proposal. Here’s a breakdown of the main components of the bill

Investigation of Pricing Practices – Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is tasked with investigating if lot rents are being manipulated. The investigation will focus on two main issues: checking if there are any forms of market manipulation occurring; and determining if prices are being artificially increased through practices deemed as price gouging.
Reporting Requirements – Within 270 days after the bill becomes law, HUD must submit a report to Congress and publish it on the HUD website. This report will include: a long-term strategy for addressing price manipulation, which will consider data on race, gender, and socioeconomic factors; and an analysis of how institutional investors in manufactured home communities affect seniors and underserved communities.
Monitoring Purchases – The bill requires HUD to monitor the purchases of manufactured homes and the associated lot rents across various housing market areas. If it's found that a single buyer, including institutional investors, has purchased more than 2,500 manufactured homes or pad sites since January 1, 2015, further investigations will be triggered to explore: instances of price gouging; significant rental increases compared to the area's median rent; and failure to provide utilities to residents.

Manufactured Home Buyers – To fix high-cost lending, we NEED your stories

Manufactured housing is a significant source of both affordable housing and home ownership. There are 22 million people living in 7 million manufactured homes, because it is such an affordable option. In 2020, the median household income of manufactured home owners was $38,087. Unfortunately, families are not given good options when it comes to how to finance the purchase of their home

Because manufactured homes are classified as “personal property” rather than “real property,” most buyers are only able to receive high-cost, poor-quality chattel loans.
However, 54% of potential buyers who apply for these loans are denied.
As a result, one in five buyers turn to some kind of risky lease-to-own agreements.
Two-thirds of approved loans are classified as “high cost” with high 9-10% interest rates and short 7-18 year loan terms.
With all of these challenges, manufactured home buyers are far more likely than single-family home owners to buy their homes for cash; 33% compared to 12%.

There are proposals for changing how families can buy manufactured homes, but nothing will change unless manufactured home owners tell their stories! Please take a couple minutes to fill out our questionnaire and sign up to tell your story.

Posted: to General News on Tue, Sep 9, 2025
Updated: Tue, Sep 9, 2025