Buying a home in a mobile home park, in order
Buying a home in a mobile home park is two purchases’ worth of questions in one: the home you buy, and the ground you rent under it. Here is how it works, step by step, with the Michigan details and the questions a summer community like Side O’ Lake on Bass Lake adds.
A note gets you directions and the current list of homes for sale. No application, no fee, no pressure.
Do you own the land?
No. You buy the home, not the ground under it. In a land-lease community the site stays with the community, and you pay a monthly lot rent for it, on top of whatever you pay for the home.
That’s why the home price can be so far below a house on its own lot: on Bass Lake, two real sales a year apart were $277,000 for a cottage with its own frontage and $46,900 for a home at Side O’ Lake. What each price buys, line by line.
Two approvals, from two places
Most of the confusion in buying a home in a park comes from mixing these up. You may need both, and neither one stands in for the other.
The community says yes to you
The community reviews the buyer before the sale closes. At Side O’ Lake every buyer applies, including cash buyers, through the community’s online application, which includes a background check. Apply once you and the seller have agreed on the home; after approval, you finish the sale.
A lender says yes to the loan
Only if you’re financing. A home on rented ground is usually financed with a home-only (personal-property) loan, not a house mortgage. The CFPB found these loans typically carry higher rates and shorter terms than mortgages, and are denied more often (May 2021). Lenders to ask, and what to ask them.
The steps, in the order they happen
Doing these out of order is how a sale stalls: a loan lined up for a home the community hasn’t approved you for, or a price agreed before you know the lot rent.
Title step: Michigan Department of State, Mobile homes (titles), accessed 2026-10-01: the seller assigns the title, the buyer takes it to a branch office, form S-110L, $90 fee.
Ask for the list
Find out which homes are for sale, their asking prices, and whether each one is on the water or a row or more back. Here, that starts with a note or an email.
See the homes
Walk the home and the site it sits on. Ask what stays with the home: furniture, deck, shed.
Agree on a price with the seller
In a resale, the seller is usually the person who owns the home now, not the community. Get the price and what’s included in writing.
Apply with the community
The community approves the buyer before the sale closes. At Side O’ Lake that’s every buyer, cash included, through an online application with a background check.
Line up cash or a loan
If you’re financing, this is the lender’s separate approval. Ask the lender up front whether it lends on a home on rented ground, and on a seasonal home.
Close and move the title
In Michigan the seller signs the title over to you, and you take it to a Secretary of State office to put it in your name.
What a summer community adds
A summer community runs on a season, so a few questions matter more than they would in a park people live in all year. Side O’ Lake is a summer community, open for the summer season. Ask for the specifics before you agree on a price:
- The season’s opening and closing dates this year, and when water goes on and off.
- How lot rent is billed: every month of the year, or by the season.
- What the off-season rules are for visiting or checking on the home.
- Whether your lender finances a seasonal home in a land-lease community. Some lenders only finance a home you live in full time.
When the season ends, the home has to be closed up for the winter. The guide to closing a cottage for the winter covers it step by step, with the questions to ask before the water goes off.
Have these in hand before you sign
Ask for each in writing. A free HUD-approved housing counselor can go over a loan offer with you: find one through the CFPB.
- The community rules you’d sign
- The current lot rent, and what it covers
- The community’s approval, in writing
- The title, and who is named on it
- A list of what stays with the home
- The loan terms, if you’re financing, with the APR
Where to go from here
See the homes for sale at Side O’ Lake and how buying there works, read what a summer on Bass Lake costs next to a cottage on the same lake, or go through lenders to ask and the calculator.
The manager answers the rest by email: hello@sideolakemhc.com.
Send a note back.
Leave a first name, an email and a phone number. The manager writes back with the homes for sale and how to find the place.
Rather use your own email?
A note gets you directions and the current list of homes for sale. No application, no fee, no pressure.