I bought a mobile home in 2001 and went to file a insurance claim on it. The insurance co refused to pay because it was due to manufacturer defects ( no h clips, improper installation of roofing compounds ext. ) It was deemed a total lose. Since then the co. I bought it from and the manufacturer went out of business. So I went to court and they repoed the home. Now they sent a appraiser out to appraise the home for resale. How can they do this by law? I thought when a property was deemed unsafe and a total lose then it could not be resold. :confused:
Can someone help me to understand what is going on here? Not only that the home is on my mother-in-laws property and they told her she had to file a paper and then they had thirty days to move it after they received it. But they only gave us ten to get out of it. ( and I am disabled).

Yes, they can do this as the home was reposessed. They sent the appraiser out to see if it was worth anything. Just because it was declared a total loss does not preclude this from being sold "as is" and then fixed up by someone else. It is their property to do with as they wish.

You did not state what the original damages were for the home. Don't understand the H clips or the improper roof compounds. Did this home have a shingled roof on it? Did this home incur roof damage from a storm or something like a tree fall on it?

The home is on your mother-in-law's property. It must be removed from her property as you don't own it anymore, the finance company does and they must move their mobile home off your MIL's property or pay land rent for the home. If you defaulted on the loan, then you had to leave the home. It's unfortunate that you are disabled, but financial institutions that lend money on mobile homes or stick built homes don't really care about people, they just want their money. Sorry.

Yes, it is a shingled roof. The roof started to sag in spots and the lender carried the insurance policy for us. We have invested $28,000 in the home thus far. Not that it made a difference. We contacted the insurance co. and the lender as soon as we noticed it. In our contract it stated that the home had to be properly insured to protct the lenders interest and since they carried the policy we thought it had been ( saying it was there insurance co. ). Come to find out on the new policy they had sent to us they did not cover manufactuer defect. Since the manufacturer and the co. we purchaced the home from both filed bankruptcy at the same time we could not fall back on either of them to fix the home.
Thank you for your help and I have learned a lot.

I work for a dealer who sells manufactured housing. In all instances whenever we get insurance quotes before the home goes to closing and the lender insists on one year paid proof of insurance the quote for insurance from the lender vs insurance the homeowner obtained is usually much higher and the coverage is remarkably less in the lender provided insurance as well. Now I can see why from your story that they would push their own insurance. Am just curious. What was the company brand of home that you bought. Was it brand new when you purchased it in 2001?

Also if you had put some $28,000 into the home you could almost have purchased a new single wide with that amount of cash outlay. You could have had the entire roof replaced for much less than $28,000.

Brilliant, And yes the home was new. We had the home fiananced through a lender. The loan was for 30 years and we had paid on the principal balance to pay it off faster. The roof had no hurricain clips installed, the boads was run the wrong way, the shingles were not placed peoperly and the wronge type of studding was used for the rafters as well as being placed to far apart. It was a multitued of issues with the home. The walls was the only thing holding the roof up and was beginning to separate from the ceiling. It was just not built to any states code. The problem we have is everyone involved filed bankruptcy. This is why I have such an issue on the home being resold to some other person. The home is unsafe and deemed a total lose. I can't seem to get anyone ( not even my attorney) to do anything about this. We have been dealing with this since March 2008 to find out that I have had my babies in an unsafe environment and that is unexceptable. They kept telling me it was safe to stay there when it was indeed not. Thank God nothing bad happened and the roof did not calaspe while we were in it and my kids are safe but now I am concerned for whom ever they resell it to.

Sounds like the mortgage company and the insurance company were one and the same. Usually mobile homes are manufactured to the locality where the home is to be placed.

For instance here in Ohio the home would not be rated for hurricaine type winds, but would have a roof load due to the snow accumulation.

I just checked a sticker that is displayed in every manufactured home. The Wind Zone for Ohio is the same Wind Zone for Tennessee, Wind Zone I. If you had lived at the Atlantic coast then it would be Wind Zone II. If it was Florida it would be Wind Zone III. Something is wrong with your picture about the H clips. This would not be required by law in Tennessee as you don't get hurricaine type winds. You can get ferocious winds and storms, but not Hurricaine strength winds that would require the home to be built to Wind Zone II or III standards.

Manufactured Housing Institute - MHI, Modular homes, Mobile home Communities Housing Industry Information, News, Surveys, Data Trade Association

Look on the map yourself and you will see Tennessee is Zone I.


You should have had the roof rebuilt like I said and the home would have been fine.

What caused this in the first place for you to notice this? You didn't state how this started.

I don't think your attorney has a clue what to do as your home did not need the H clips by law. The insurance claim denial is phoney. The roof may have been misbuilt, but I sincerely doubt that it was as there are inspectors in the plants and to have a home so severely screwed up at the factory is almost impossible that a supervisor or final inspector didn't catch the roof mistakes before the shingles were put on. And shingles are not just magically put on wrong either.

Also what is the pitch of your roof? 3/12 or 5/12 (steeper) and do you have cathedral ceilings throughout or flat ceilings throughout?

Also, how far apart were the rafters placed? Can't understand how the house got out of the factory like that.

Also, mobile homes are not built to state code. They are built to HUD Code or Federal Code. Huge difference. Was this a modular home? This would have been set on a basement and would be built to State Code Standards. The main diffrence in a HUD Code home is that the home is built on a steel frame that stays with the home. The State Code Modular is built on a different floor system and is delivered on a steel frame which goes back to the factory. It basically has the same floor structure as a stick built home if you are looking under the floor from the basement you will see the exposed floor beams.

What brand of home was it?