The Magic Date

June 15, 1976. In the manufactured home world, that's the magic date. You see, any home manufactured prior to that date is not eligible to have the home insured by HUD (and therefore not eligible for financing with FHA, VA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac).

I've had many people with homes manufactured prior that have asked if there are exceptions. I've had people that have gutted the home down to the frame and rebuilt their home. I've had customers with engineer's certificates claiming the home meets current HUD standards. I've had people re-wire the home. But it all boils down to the date on the data plate. The manufactured date. It has to be on or after June 15th, 1976. But why? Why that date?

That's the date that all manufactured home builders had to build up to HUD standards. The biggest standard was copper wiring. Prior to 6/15/76 aluminum wiring could be used. Now, not many dealers used aluminum wiring, especially as they knew it would be phased out and eventually eliminated, but they could. And after 6/15/76 they could not. And that's the reason, the homes built after that day, were 100% compliant with HUD's (new at the time) standards.

P.S. Just a little FYI...the tags on the outside of the home (one on each part of the home) were put on in 1976 to show which homes are compliant with HUD and have stayed on the homes ever since.