Moon Insurance Managers, Inc. · TDI license #5595
Mobile & Manufactured Home Insurance in Houston, TX
A factory-built home needs its own kind of policy and, more to the point, its own kind of carrier. Most standard home insurers simply do not write them, which is why so many owners collect a run of declines before anyone explains the actual question: which market writes your home's age and type. That one we can answer.
What dates and titles the home
- HUD standards
- Effective June 15, 1976
- Dated by
- The plate, not the sale
- Texas title
- TDHCA Statement of Ownership
- Real-property election
- Tex. Occ. Code ch. 1201
- Perfected by
- County filing, then notice
- 41years in Houston
- 20+markets compared
- Same dayDPS filing
- #5595TDI license
One date decides
Mobile home or manufactured home — which one you own
People use the three words interchangeably. The market does not, and the date on your data plate is what settles which market you are in. The federal construction standards took effect on 15 June 1976, and the regulation is precise about the test: a home counts as built on or after that date if it entered the first stage of production on or after it — not when it was delivered, and not when you bought it.
| Criterion | Manufactured home | Mobile home |
|---|---|---|
| Built | On or after 15 June 1976 | Before 15 June 1976 |
| Built to | The federal construction and safety standards | Whatever applied where and when it was made |
| Titled in Texas as | A manufactured home, on a Statement of Ownership | A manufactured home, on a Statement of Ownership |
| The markets | Specialty carriers write these every day | Fewer of them, and appetite differs carrier by carrier |
| Usual settlement basis | Replacement cost is commonly available | Generally actual cash value |
The practical consequence for a pre-1976 home is that there are fewer markets, and that coverage is generally offered on actual cash value terms rather than replacement cost. That is not a verdict on your home — it is how this market prices age.
Where those homes usually end up is the Texas FAIR Plan, the state's residual property market — the place designed for risks the ordinary market will not take. It is worth knowing how that works before you ring anyone: the FAIR Plan sets its own eligibility rules and they generally start from having been turned down elsewhere, so it is a destination rather than a first stop. If you have already collected declines, that is not a wasted month — it is the paperwork that gets you in the door. Bring them and we will work through it.
Sources: 24 CFR § 3282.1 — effective date of the standards; TDI — home insurance guide. Verified .
Four coverages
What a manufactured-home policy covers
- The home itself And what is attached
- The structure, plus the porch, the carport, the steps and the skirting — the parts that are attached to it and that a standard home policy would never have been written to think about.
- Your belongings Personal property
- Furniture, electronics, clothing, tools. High-value items can be scheduled separately when they are worth more than the policy’s per-item cap.
- Your liability On your lot
- Someone injured on your lot, or damage you are held responsible for causing to someone else. On a leased lot this is the coverage the community most often asks you to show proof of.
- Somewhere to stay Additional living expense
- If a covered loss makes the home unlivable, the policy pays toward the extra cost of living elsewhere while it is repaired or replaced.
On a leased lot in a community, the split is clean: the land, the roads and the community's own buildings are the park's to insure, and everything above is yours. On land you own, the policy and the deed both matter — which brings up titling, and titling in Texas is its own subject.
Statement of Ownership
Titling matters in Texas
Every manufactured home in Texas has a Statement of Ownership issued by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and it records something that insurers and lenders both care about: whether the home is held as personal property, or has been attached to land and elected as real property.
The election is not automatic. State law allows it only where the home is attached to real property the owner owns, or to land under a qualifying long-term lease, and it is perfected by filing a copy of the Statement of Ownership in the county real property records and notifying the department and the appraisal district. Until that is done the home is personal property, whatever the driveway looks like.
Which side of that line the home sits on changes how a lender treats it and can change what a carrier asks for. If you are mid-purchase, have the Statement of Ownership to hand when you call — it answers half our questions in one document.
Sources: TDHCA — recording ownership and titling; TDHCA — Statement of Ownership instructions; Tex. Occ. Code ch. 1201 — election by owner. Verified .
Why the directory matters
The markets we compare
Our carrier directory includes Foremost, American Modern, Aegis General and Assurant — markets known for writing factory-built homes — alongside the dwelling companies we place site-built houses with. We compare across them rather than representing any one company, which is the practical difference between an independent agency and a carrier's own agent on the day the first answer is no. Full list: the companies we represent.
A directory shows appointments, not outcomes. Nobody can promise a policy on a particular home before seeing it, and any page that does is selling you the phone call you were going to make anyway. What we can say is which markets we can take it to, and that they write this kind of home for a living.
Edges and hand-offs
Houston specifics, and where this page stops
Wind and hail
Wind and hail work the same way on a manufactured home as on any Houston home policy — including the corridor east of SH 146, where a separate windstorm policy applies — and our homeowners page and windstorm page explain both.
Flood
No manufactured-home policy covers flood — that is a separate policy, explained on our flood insurance page. Ask about it early rather than late: the elevation of the lot is a question worth answering before a storm rather than after one.
Renting it out
If a tenant lives in your manufactured home, this is still the right page. Factory- built homes are quoted through these same markets whoever occupies them — say so when you call and we will quote it that way. A site-built rental house is the other case, and that one lives on our rental property insurance page.
No obligation
Tell us the year, the make and where it sits
Year, make and model, whether the land is owned or leased, and who lives in the home. That is usually enough for us to say which of our markets to start with, often on the same call.
Older homes are welcome to ask. A decline somewhere else is information about that carrier's appetite, not a verdict on your home, and it is not the end of the list.
Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 5:00; Friday, 9:00 to 4:00. 360 FM 1959, Houston, TX 77034.
Manufactured-home questions we get every week
Can I insure a mobile home built before 1976?
Often, yes — but through fewer markets, and generally on actual cash value terms rather than replacement cost. Which carrier will consider it depends on the home’s age, condition and location, so the real answer is a phone call rather than a form.
I rent my manufactured home to a tenant — is this the right page?
Yes. Factory-built homes are quoted through the same specialty markets whether you live in the home or rent it out. Tell us who lives there when you call.
Does the policy cover my home on a rented lot?
Yes. Your policy covers your home, the structures attached to it, your belongings and your liability. The community insures its own land, roads and facilities.
Does it cover flood?
No manufactured-home policy covers flood. That is a separate policy, and we can quote both in the same call — our flood insurance page explains how it works.