Modular or manufactured — which one am I buying, and does it change resale?

It changes the loan, the title, the taxes and the resale, and the home itself tells you which one it is. A modular home is built in a factory but to the state or locally adopted building code — in practice a state-adopted version of the IRC, the same code a site-built house meets. Modular homes are excluded from the federal manufactured home standards under 24 CFR 3282.12. They have no chassis and no HUD tag; they carry a state or third-party inspection agency insignia instead. In Minnesota, industrialized and modular buildings fall under Minnesota Rules chapter 1361, prefabricated buildings under chapter 1360, and manufactured homes under chapter 1350. A manufactured home is built to the federal standards at 24 CFR Part 3280, on a permanent chassis. That permanent chassis is the actual legal dividing line — the requirement to have a permanently attached chassis is what separates manufactured housing from other factory-built homes, including modular. It carries a red HUD certification label on the exterior of each section and a paper data plate inside. Why it matters to you: a modular home is generally appraised, financed, insured and titled as real property, essentially like a site-built house, and it resells into the same market on the same terms. A manufactured home may be titled as personal property on a vehicle title unless it has been converted to real property, which changes the loan product, the rate and the tax treatment entirely, and narrows the pool of buyers who can finance it when you sell. Requirements vary by lender and loan program, so confirm the specifics with your loan officer. A third category to rule out: a park model RV is built to the ANSI A119.5 recreational vehicle standard rather than to the HUD code or the IRC, is generally under 400 square feet, is titled as an RV, and is typically not eligible for conventional mortgage financing — and whether it may be occupied year-round is a local zoning question. Identifying which of the three you are standing in, from the labels on the home, is the first thing a manufactured and modular inspection settles.