Mobile Home Title Information Needed

[Brooklynn Bourdeau]

Hi all,

I work for a property management company located in Montana. We have a mobile home park and a few properties with mobile homes on them that we own. Recently a situation came up where we needed to find some information that should have been located on the titles. Unfortunately, even after tracking down the titles and calling around to various city offices, we couldn't find some of the information we were looking for. The majority of them were built in the 70s, so they've been through at least one owner prior to us. More specifically, we are missing the model information for 4 of them, the manufacturer for one, and missing the title number for three (though two are pre-1977, so they may not have title numbers at all. The other is a 2000, so it should have one). 

Tomorrow we will be entering the homes (after notifying the tenants today) and looking for any identifiers- stickers or plaques, for example- that may have this information on it. Barring that, I seem to have run into a dead end with figuring out how to find this information, and it is crucial that we find it. Does anyone have suggestions on where else I can look for this information online, or any specifics to look out for tomorrow when we visit the homes in person?

[Frank Rolfe]

You will probably never find the "model" unless you are lucky enough to find a label somewhere on the inside or outside of the home -- most manufacturers did not put the model on the home at all. Same goes for the manufacturer. Remember that prior to 1976 there were literally hundreds of manufacturers building mobile homes and nobody knows who they all were.

But on the serial number, that you should be able to find in one of these five locations:

IN THE FRAMING IN THE FRONT DOOR. I know it sounds weird but some manufacturers put it stamped on an aluminum plate in the door jam.

IN THE FURNACE AREA. Look with a flashlight throughout the furnace enclosure in the hallway.

UNDER THE SINK IN THE KITCHEN. This was another popular place to put the serial number prior to 1976. Look throughout the cabinet with flashlight.

IN THE HOT WATER TANK ENCLOSURE. Take your flashlight and look at every inch of the walls in the hot water tank enclosure.

ETCHED INTO THE FRAME UNDER THE HOUSE. This is the grossest option -- grab your flashlight and pull back a piece of skirting and climb under the house with spiders everywhere. They often etched the number into the frame. But unfortunately often the frame is so rusted that you can no longer read it even if you find it.

Most states have a methodology to get a new serial number by filing a form with the state -- but not all of them have this ability.