Park-home glossary
Speak the language of park homes
The terms our buyers and sellers hear every week, defined in the same plain language we use in the field. Bookmark this page and build your confidence before you talk to a park, a lender or a title company.
Eligibility
HUD label
The small certification plate riveted to the exterior of each section of a manufactured home, with the data plate inside. It proves the home was built to federal HUD Code standards for its year; homes built on or after June 15, 1976 carry it.
Data plate
The foil label mounted inside the home near the electrical panel that records the manufacturer, plant, serial number and year of manufacture. The year here is the home's true age, and it drives financing and park eligibility.
Permanent foundation
The foundation or support system specified by the manufacturer and local standards so the home is attached to the ground. It is one requirement for real property financing and for deeded treatment of the home.
Financing
Chattel loan
A loan that finances the manufactured home as personal property, title style, rather than as real estate. It is the standard financing for homes on leased park land, where there is no owned land to secure a traditional mortgage.
Real property loan
A mortgage that finances a manufactured home as real estate, which generally requires owned land and a permanent foundation. It offers a more conventional mortgage structure but is usually unavailable for homes on leased park pads.
Living costs
Pad rent
The monthly fee a park charges for the ground under your home, also called space rent or lot rent. It sits on top of the home payment and is set under the terms of the lease and local rules.
Ownership
Community-owned
A park where the residents or a cooperative hold the land rather than a single outside investor. Ownership structure changes how leases, space rent and park decisions work, so it is worth understanding before you buy.
Deeded
Describes a home with real land and title, recorded like traditional real estate. A deeded manufactured home sits on owned land and can usually be financed and sold more like a site-built home, unlike a park home on a leased pad.
Land-lease community
Another name for a manufactured-home park or mobile-home park: residents own their homes and lease the ground beneath them from the park operator.
Park sale
When the land under a park itself changes hands. Existing leases continue under local rules, but new owners can change rents and rules within the lease and legal limits, which is why we watch park ownership closely for our clients.
Installation
PG junction
The junction point where a park's power supply connects to the home's main feeder, and where the grounding and disconnects for that connection live. It is one of the installation points inspectors examine, so if the home's paperwork mentions a PG junction, have a licensed inspector confirm it is present and properly grounded.
Process
Park approval
The process a park runs to screen a prospective buyer or tenant before a sale can close. Approval rules, paperwork and age or income standards are set by each park, so the screening varies community by community.
55+ community
A community designated for residents 55 and older, where at least one resident per home meets the age rule. Age designations affect who can buy and which state programs apply.
All-ages community
A park open to residents of any age, with no minimum-age designation. Most parks fall into one of these two buckets, and we always check which one applies to the home.
Title
The ownership document for the home when it is treated as personal property. A clean title, with no liens or gaps, is required to sell or finance a home on leased park land.
Homes basics
Single-wide / double-wide
A single-wide is a manufactured home built as one transportable section; a double-wide is built in two sections joined on site. Section count, age and condition influence price, financing and moving practicality.
Heard a term we missed?
Park lingo varies park by park. Write to us and we will translate whatever a park or lender sent you, honestly and in plain English.