$8,900,000 Multifamily Mobile Homes, Columbus, OH

Overview

Commercial Lending Solutions recently closed an $8,900,000 permanent loan on a manufactured housing community (MHC) in Columbus, Ohio. The asset sits in one of the Midwest's more durable affordable housing markets, and the deal required a level of diligence that goes well beyond what a standard multifamily underwrite demands. Getting this one across the finish line meant solving for collateral structure, private utility infrastructure, and a lender education process that most brokers skip entirely.

The Deal

The sponsor owned a stabilized manufactured housing community in the Columbus metro and was refinancing into long-term permanent debt. The objective was straightforward: lock in a fixed rate, extend the term, and clean up the capital stack. The community carried strong occupancy, a mix of tenant-owned homes and park-owned units, and a track record that reflected the asset class's core thesis: residents who own their homes do not move them over a rent dispute. That occupancy stability is real, and it is measurable, but you have to know how to present it.

The financing target was $8,900,000 at a leverage level consistent with agency or life company execution, generally in the 65 to 70 percent LTV range for this asset type. The sponsor wanted a 10-year fixed rate with 30-year amortization, which is the structure both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will support under their dedicated MHC programs when the fundamentals are there.

The Challenge

Manufactured housing communities split the collateral in a way that conventional multifamily never does. The land and pads are real property. A meaningful share of the homes sitting on those pads are owned by the residents themselves. That tenant-owned percentage is not a footnote. It is the variable lenders actually price on, because it drives the turnover profile and, by extension, the income stability argument. Getting a credit committee comfortable with that dynamic requires more than handing them a rent roll. It requires walking them through the structural logic and showing the occupancy history that supports it.

The harder diligence item was the private utility infrastructure. Most communities of this scale operate their own water, sewer, and road systems rather than connecting to municipal service. That is not automatically a problem, but it is a problem if no one has looked at it seriously. Pipe age, septic capacity, road condition, and deferred maintenance are all variables that a standard T12 and rent roll never surface. The engineering and environmental review required here was materially more involved than a typical Phase I on an apartment deal. The sponsor had generally maintained the systems, but documentation was inconsistent and there were capital items that needed to be scoped and quantified before any lender was going to get comfortable with the collateral.

Columbus itself is not a hard story to tell. The metro has seen steady in-migration driven by manufacturing and technology sector expansion, and that workforce demand has kept naturally occurring affordable housing tight even as single-family entry prices have climbed. But lenders who are not active in the MHC space often conflate the asset class with risk profiles that do not actually apply to a well-operated, stabilized community. Part of the work on this deal was lender selection, meaning identifying capital sources that have the program infrastructure and the institutional knowledge to underwrite MHC without treating it as a modified apartment deal.

The Solution

The execution path ran through the agency programs. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac operate dedicated manufactured housing community programs that treat this asset class on its own terms. They account for the tenant-owned home dynamic, they understand the private utility question, and they recognize that new MHC supply is functionally impossible to permit in most markets, which makes existing communities as close to a protected asset class as commercial real estate produces.

Before going to market, the team worked with the sponsor to get the utility documentation organized and to commission the engineering review proactively. Bringing a complete package to the lender rather than letting diligence surface surprises is not a subtle distinction. It changes the tone of the credit conversation entirely. Capital items were scoped, a reserve structure was agreed upon, and the environmental report came back clean.

The loan was structured at a fixed rate with a 10-year term and 30-year amortization, consistent with agency execution on stabilized MHC assets at this loan size and market.

The Outcome

The sponsor closed at $8,900,000 on a long-term fixed rate structure that matched their hold thesis. The private utility question was resolved through documentation and reserve structuring rather than becoming a pricing or sizing problem. The borrower came out with permanent debt on an asset that generates stable income, sits in a supply-constrained affordable housing niche, and is now properly capitalized for the hold period ahead.