Mobile home
The older term for a factory-built home, generally one built before the federal HUD Code took effect on June 15, 1976.
Published May 31, 2026
Mobile home is the older, everyday term for a factory-built home. As a matter of federal terminology, it generally refers to a home built before the HUD Code took effect on June 15, 1976. Homes built to that federal standard on or after that date are properly called manufactured homes.
In casual speech people still use "mobile home" for any factory-built home in a community, and many laws and communities use the phrase that way too. The distinction that actually matters legally is the construction standard a home was built to, not the label — that standard drives how a home is titled, financed, insured, and taxed.
A mobile home is different from a modular home, which is factory-built but constructed to state or local building codes rather than the HUD Code.
This is general information, not legal advice.