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Article published Aug 2, 2003
New law should be boost to mobile home
owners
Associated Press
GREENVILLE
-- A new law signed by Gov. Mark Sanford allows mobile home owners to convert
their homes from personal to real property, and clears the way for them to take
out mortgages.
Before the law went into effect, mobile homes and the land
they sit on were considered separate pieces of property. Owners received
separate tax bills for the land and the home.
Under the new law, a buyer may
combine the home and the land, converting the home to real property.
The new
law applies only to mobile home buyers who also purchase land. Those who rent
sites won't be eligible. To qualify, homes must be 8 feet by 40 feet in
traveling mode or at least 320 square feet when set up. In South Carolina, one
in five homes is a mobile home, making it the nation's highest rate, the U.S.
Census Bureau showed.
"It's important to make that form of housing as
accessible as possible," said Sanford spokesman Will Folks. "It encourages
investment in our economy."
Industry experts say buyers will save under the
new law. Although taxes will be higher, interest rates will be lower, said Burch
Antley, spokesman for the Manufactured Housing Institute of South
Carolina.
Dealers and banks offered financing packages that combine land and
mobile homes before the new law was signed. The rates, however, are higher than
for a mortgage, said Al Randall, an account executive with First Federal of
Charleston.
Mobile home buyers usually finance through dealerships, though
some use banks, said Skip Ferguson, owner of Newberry mobile home dealer K.O.
Housing.
The interest rate recently has ranged from 6½ percent to 9 percent
for buyers who roll land and homes together, he said. It's two points higher to
finance a home only, Ferguson said.
Randall said the bank rate typically has
ranged between 5æ percent and 8 percent for land-home packages, and two points
higher for homes only.