Creative Structuring for Land-Owned Infill Housing (Factory-Built Homes)

Creative Structuring for Land-Owned Infill Housing (Factory-Built Homes)

Denise WebsterBusiness Member
Financial Advisor · Albuquerque, NM · Member since 2014 · 82 posts · 30 votes

I’m working on a small infill housing scenario focused on delivering quickly for low–to–mid income buyers in the Albuquerque commuter market, and would appreciate input on creative structuring.

Two residential lots are already owned free and clear outside Albuquerque. The plan is to install factory-built homes on permanent foundations and sell them upon completion.

Deal snapshot:

• ARV: ~$265K per home

• Target loan: ~$170K per property (~65% ARV)

• Timeline: ~6 months

• Exit: retail sale (MLS)

• Structure: two separate first-lien positions

The homes will be permanently affixed and titled as real property.

The deal sits in a bit of a “gray area” in that it's:

--Not traditional construction (since it’s install vs build)

--Not typical manufactured housing (since it’s investor-owned, not owner-occupied)

--Rural location adds another layer of hesitation

--Even at reasonable leverage, a lot of lenders simply don’t engage.

Instead of continuing to push this through standard lending channels, I’m looking at more creative structures, such as:

--Splitting into two smaller loans vs one combined facility

--Interest reserve vs accrual structures

--Private lender / IRA capital

--Potential phased or repeatable model across multiple lots

For those who have navigated similar “in-between” deals:

A. What creative structures have you used to get deals like this funded?

B Have you found certain investor/lender types more receptive to factory-built or modular installs?

C. Would you approach this as debt only, or blend in equity/JV to improve execution?

D. Any strategies that helped overcome the “not quite construction, not quite MH” challenge?

I’m less interested in forcing this into a standard box and more focused on structuring it in a way that aligns with how capital actually flows for deals like this.

Appreciate any insight from those who’ve been through similar scenarios.

(Happy to share more details via DM if helpful.)

x

R.E.P. Financial LLC
1Reply
125 views

1 Reply

Jump to latestLatest
  • Don KonipolBusiness Member
    Investor · The Woodlands TX / Avon, CT · Member since 2009 · 6k+ posts · 10k+ votes
    6mo
    Quote from @Denise Webster:

    I’m working on a small infill housing scenario focused on delivering quickly for low–to–mid income buyers in the Albuquerque commuter market, and would appreciate input on creative structuring.

    Two residential lots are already owned free and clear outside Albuquerque. The plan is to install factory-built homes on permanent foundations and sell them upon completion.

    Deal snapshot:

    • ARV: ~$265K per home

    • Target loan: ~$170K per property (~65% ARV)

    • Timeline: ~6 months

    • Exit: retail sale (MLS)

    • Structure: two separate first-lien positions

    The homes will be permanently affixed and titled as real property.

    The deal sits in a bit of a “gray area” in that it's:

    --Not traditional construction (since it’s install vs build)

    --Not typical manufactured housing (since it’s investor-owned, not owner-occupied)

    --Rural location adds another layer of hesitation

    --Even at reasonable leverage, a lot of lenders simply don’t engage.

    Instead of continuing to push this through standard lending channels, I’m looking at more creative structures, such as:

    --Splitting into two smaller loans vs one combined facility

    --Interest reserve vs accrual structures

    --Private lender / IRA capital

    --Potential phased or repeatable model across multiple lots

    For those who have navigated similar “in-between” deals:

    A. What creative structures have you used to get deals like this funded?

    B Have you found certain investor/lender types more receptive to factory-built or modular installs?

    C. Would you approach this as debt only, or blend in equity/JV to improve execution?

    D. Any strategies that helped overcome the “not quite construction, not quite MH” challenge?

    I’m less interested in forcing this into a standard box and more focused on structuring it in a way that aligns with how capital actually flows for deals like this.

    Appreciate any insight from those who’ve been through similar scenarios.

    (Happy to share more details via DM if helpful.)

    x

    First, it sounds like you have done a good amount of research and now are probably more knowledgable in this area than 98% of real estate people.  

    One of the problems with “manufactured” housing, and also with “pre fabricated” housing is that it covers such a wide variety of product. 

    At the very low end you have what used to be called a mobile home that someone has affixed to a permanent foundation.   At the high end you have pre fabricated components of the highest quality that are assembled on site. 

    My experience is that MOST manufactured homes, no mater the quality, just don’t LOOK like “regular” traditional built homes.  They somehow just scream “ manufactured” home.  And so everyone except “square footage buyers’, or buyers wanting to built “off the grid” stay away from them. 

    Further, they’re pretty standard issue.  Once you get to the “custom” home arena manufacture/pre fabs price out HIGHER than all but the highest end/ priciest traditional built homes.  There is a time savings; perhaps better quality at the high end.  But only at the highest end. 

    A further limitation is that the only architectural style where manufactured /pre fab homes are able to (somewhat) successfully blend in with traditional built homes is mid century modern/modern.  

    The least expensive manufactured homes I saw that I would consider “acceptable” for myself came all in (land, labor, materials) at $700 per foot.  New construction was quoted at $350 - 400 all in - at acceptable (to me) quality.  I ended up purchasing an older home and doing about $175,000 rehab/improvements and came in at $875,000 for 4500 square feet- less than $200 per foot.  

    With these kind of numbers, I just don’t see how this works to scale.  I would be interested in hearing from investors that did make it work, what their numbers looked like, and how they did it.  I would love to learn I’m wrong. 

    Private Mortgage Financing Partners, LLC
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.