What Is Modular Home Insurance?
Coverage built for factory-built homes permanently installed on land, insuring the structure, belongings and liability like a standard homeowners policy.
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If your home came from a factory, how it's titled matters
A modular home that's permanently attached to a foundation and titled as real property usually qualifies for a standard homeowners policy, since it's built to local building codes and installed like a site-built house. Manufactured and mobile homes, the kind built to the federal HUD code and often titled as a vehicle rather than real estate, typically need a specific mobile or manufactured home policy instead. That policy covers the same things, the structure, belongings and liability, but the insurer prices it differently because the home's construction and how it sits on the land change the risk. Your title and your foundation type decide which policy you're shopping for, and your county or state's housing office can confirm how your home is titled if you're not sure.
Rebuilding costs for factory-built homes have climbed with materials and transport prices, and an older policy may still carry limits set years ago. If a windstorm or fire takes the home, the gap between what the policy pays and what rebuilding actually costs falls on the owner. Checking what coverage runs now, against what the home would actually take to replace, is worth doing before a storm makes it urgent.
How tie-downs, skirting and the park's rules affect coverage
Insurers ask about tie-downs and anchoring because wind is the biggest risk to a factory-built home that isn't on a permanent foundation. A home anchored to the standard set by the manufacturer or by state code usually gets a better rate than one that isn't, and some insurers won't write a policy at all until anchoring is in place. If you're not sure whether your home meets the anchoring standard for your area, the manufacturer's installation manual or the dealer who set up the home should have that information.
Skirting, the material enclosing the space between the home's underside and the ground, matters too. It keeps pipes from freezing, keeps animals out, and on some policies is a condition of coverage rather than just a recommendation. If your home doesn't have skirting yet, ask the insurer directly whether it's required before the policy starts or just something they'd prefer to see.
If the home sits in a park, the park's own rules sit on top of whatever the insurer requires. Parks often set a minimum liability limit, require proof of coverage before move-in, and sometimes require the home to be insured even if there's no lender involved. Some parks also carry their own liability policy for shared spaces like the clubhouse or playground, which is separate from the policy covering your home and belongings. Ask the park manager for a copy of what they require in writing, since verbal answers vary by who you ask.
Wind and storm damage on mobile and manufactured homes sometimes comes with a separate, higher deductible than other claims, especially in states along the coast or through Tornado Alley. That deductible is often a percentage of the dwelling coverage rather than a flat dollar figure, so it's worth asking the insurer to show what it would come to in dollars for your coverage amount. The declarations page lists whether a separate wind or named storm deductible applies, and it's worth reading before a storm rather than after one.
Finding coverage for an older mobile or manufactured home
Age is the detail that trips up a lot of owners. Homes built before June 1976, when the HUD code took effect, are generally harder to insure because there's no federal construction standard to point to, and some insurers won't write a policy on them at all. If your home predates that date, it's worth asking upfront rather than after you've picked a policy, since not every insurer lists this restriction clearly before you apply.
For homes built after 1976, age still affects pricing, but the bigger factors are condition and updates. An older home with a newer roof, updated electrical, or added anchoring can price better than its age alone would suggest, because the insurer is weighing what's likely to fail, not just the year it was built. Keeping records of any upgrades, permits, or inspections helps here, since an insurer pricing the policy from a phone call has no way to know about work that isn't on file somewhere.
How the home is valued also shifts with age. Older mobile homes are sometimes insured for actual cash value, meaning the payout accounts for depreciation, rather than replacement cost, which pays to replace the home without subtracting for age or wear. The difference matters most after a total loss, when a depreciated payout might not cover a comparable replacement home. If your policy doesn't say which one applies, the declarations page or the insurer directly can confirm it, and it's a reasonable thing to ask about when comparing coverage rather than after filing a claim.
Owners of older homes sometimes find more options through insurers who specialize in manufactured and mobile home coverage rather than companies that write it as a side line to standard homeowners policies. Specialized insurers tend to have underwriting guidelines built around factory-built construction specifically, including older ones, so they're often a better first call when a home's age has made it hard to get a quote elsewhere.
Before you compare
Pull your declarations page and check two things. Does it pay replacement cost or actual cash value, and does a separate wind or named storm deductible apply. Both change what a payout actually covers.
