Usually yes, if the zoning, the covenants, and the soil allow it. In Alabama a manufactured home starts out with a certificate of title, much like a truck. It joins the real estate when it's installed to state rules on land the same person owns. Then it's recorded at probate as real property and its title is cancelled. That paperwork changes how the home is taxed and how you can borrow against it.
A dealer can tell you how the home goes together. We wanted to know what the public record says once it's set. So we read the title chapter of the Code of Alabama, the Department of Revenue's rule on cancelling a title, and Shelby County's own instructions. It's public. It's just not in one place.
Check the Tract Before You Price the Home
Three checks come before the floor plan.
- Zoning and covenants can disagree. A district may allow a manufactured home while recorded restrictions on the lot forbid one. Read both, as covered in Can I Build What I Want on This Alabama Tract?
- With no sewer, the county health department issues a septic permit only after a soil evaluation on the lot. If the soil fails, there's nowhere to set the home. See what "the ground won't perk" means.
- Shelby County requires a building permit for new construction where it is the permitting office, and its permit page names manufactured homes. A parcel inside a city may go to that city instead. Our note on building permits and licensed builders covers what the county asks for.
LandScout tracks 18,187 undeveloped parcels in Shelby County (the Shelby County numbers, export of November 1, 2026). Any one of them could carry a recorded covenant against manufactured homes. The tax roll won't show it. That lives at probate.
The State Licenses the People Who Build, Sell, and Set the Home
The Alabama Manufactured Housing Commission is the state agency for these homes. Its FAQ page says its main job is to act as the State Administrative Agency for HUD, and that it handles consumer complaints. It licenses manufacturers, retailers, installers, and salespersons.
The installer matters most once you own the land. Under Section 24-5-32, "all installers of manufactured homes and manufactured buildings must be certified by the commission." The home has to be tied down to ground anchors that resist the wind loads in the commission's rules. Mobile and Baldwin counties are named as hurricane wind zones.
The commission's installer page fills in the rest. Installers post a $20,000 bond, carry $100,000 in general liability insurance, and pass the commission's course and test. The page says "it is a violation of the law to contract with an uncertified installer." Each certified installer puts a commission decal on the home at the site. You can check an installer with the license search linked there, or call the commission at 334-242-4036.
The commission's rules also cover the pad: "The site must have a grade that will provide water drainage away from the home site."
The home builder licensing law steps aside. Section 34-14A-6 exempts mobile homes and "any structure that is installed, inspected, or regulated by the Alabama Manufactured Housing Commission." The exemption covers repairs and improvements to those homes as well.
A Manufactured Home Starts Out Titled Like a Truck
Alabama titles manufactured homes under their own chapter of the Code, Title 32, Chapter 20. The Department of Revenue's overview of the act says every manufactured home of the 2000 model year or newer must be titled in Alabama. Each section of the home gets its own title, so a double-wide has two.
The paperwork runs through a designated agent. Section 32-20-2 defines that as the probate judge, license commissioner, or other county official who issues car tags, plus licensed dealers the department appoints. A new home comes with the manufacturer's certificate of origin. Shelby's manufactured homes page says titles "should be processed in the county where the home will be located."
The loan rides on the title too. Under Section 32-20-41, a lender secures its loan by sending the department a title application that names the lienholder and carries the fee. If a title already exists, it goes along too. Done within 30 days, that dates back to when the loan was made.
Cancelling the Title Ties the Home to the Land
While the title stands, the home is tracked like a vehicle, apart from your deed. Section 32-20-20 sets the test for cancelling it. The home must be "permanently affixed to a parcel of real property." And "the ownership of the manufactured home and real property" must be "identical." The Department of Revenue's rule applies the cancellation process to homes of the 2000 model year and newer. For an older home, ask the probate office and your lender how it is handled.
The Department of Revenue's Rule 810-5-75-.66 says permanently affixed means "the tongue, axles, and wheels have been removed" and the home was installed under the commission's rules. Identical ownership means the same people own the home and the land. A home on a parent's land, or on a leased lot, doesn't qualify.
Shelby's page and the rule lay out the steps:
- Take the title or certificate of origin to a county license office. It prepares the Notice of Cancellation, Form MVT 5-39E.
- Everyone who owns both the home and the land signs it.
- The probate judge in the county where the home sits signs that it "has been recorded as being permanently affixed and recorded as real property in that county."
- Return it to the license office within 90 days. The office files the application, Form MVT 5-1E, with the state.
- If approved, the state issues a certificate of cancellation for a home classified as real property.
Ask the probate office what it needs to record the home before the judge will sign. Shelby lists the fee to process or cancel a title at $23. The rule says a lost certificate of cancellation can't be replaced, though the department keeps records, so file it with your deed. Missing papers on a used home can be covered by a surety bond. If the home is ever detached, the statute says the owners must reapply for a title and post a bond.
Owning the Land Changes How the Home Is Taxed
Alabama taxes a manufactured home one of two ways, and land ownership picks which. The Department of Revenue's manufactured homes page says a home on land owned by someone else pays an annual registration fee and shows a decal. Taxed as part of the real estate (the legal term is ad valorem), a home on land the homeowner owns "shall be subject to assessment for ad valorem tax purposes." It adds that "the manufactured home shall be considered as improvements to the land." A home on owner-owned land that is rented or leased for business purposes pays registration instead.
Registration is set by Section 40-12-255. It runs $24 a year for an owner-occupied single-wide and $48 for a double-wide, with lower rates for older homes. It's due October 1 and delinquent after November 30. The same section says a home assessed for ad valorem tax "shall not be subject to registration." You pay one or the other.
Ad valorem means the home goes on the tax bill with the land. Section 40-8-1 puts residential property, "real property, used by the owner thereof exclusively as the owner's single-family dwelling," in Class III, assessed at 10 percent of appraised value. Property not otherwise classified sits in Class II at 20 percent. A home you live in, on land you own, usually fits Class III. The county record shows the class the parcel carries, so check it after you move in. The homestead exemption is a separate application at the county office. Our note on property tax on vacant land covers both.
The Loan Follows the Paperwork
How the home is classed shapes how you can borrow. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a 2021 report on manufactured housing finance. It frames the financing question around "whether the manufactured home is titled as personal (chattel) property or real property." A chattel loan is secured by the home alone, as personal property. A mortgage is secured by the real estate.
The report found that chattel borrowers face higher denial rates, and when they get a loan, they pay higher interest rates than borrowers with manufactured home mortgages. An earlier CFPB release from 2014 set out the condition for real property titling. It said "the home generally must be set on a permanent foundation on land that is owned by the home's owner."
So the order matters. Before you buy the land, ask a lender whether it makes mortgages on manufactured homes. Ask what foundation it wants, and whether the title must be cancelled before closing. Ask your closing attorney to confirm the probate recording and the cancellation are on the checklist. Our note on paying for vacant land covers land loans and construction loans.
A LandScout parcel file shows the zoning code on file, flood zone, and soil screen for a tract, and the pricing page lists what each plan includes.