Tempe has a small supply of manufactured homes for a city its size. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 estimates count about 2,000 mobile homes among roughly 86,000 housing units, about one in forty, compared with one in eight in Mesa. (The survey counts manufactured homes under “mobile home”.) A Tempe purchase usually means waiting for a home to come up for sale in one of the city’s existing communities and being ready when it does.
Financing in a Tempe community means a home-only (chattel) loan: the loan covers the home as personal property, you rent the space, and the community’s resident approval is a separate review from the loan. Many Tempe buyers come from apartments or from house-hunting, where the loan covers house and land together, so the difference is worth knowing before you compare prices. The Arizona hub page explains both structures and the MVD title; this page covers what is particular to Tempe.
With few homes, the preparation happens before the listing
When the pool is this small, each community’s rules, age policy and current space rent decide whether a home is a candidate at all, so learn the communities before a home comes up. A pre-qualification conversation then tells you what price range is realistic once space rent is counted, so you are not working out a budget while a seller waits. Pre-qualification is not final approval. Pre-approval and pre-qualification explains what each one settles and what still has to be reviewed.
Compare a community home with Tempe rent on the whole month, not the price
If you rent in Tempe now, the number to compare is the whole month: the estimated loan payment, the space rent, utilities and insurance, and a reserve for maintenance, because the home is yours to keep up. The payment calculator gives an educational estimate of the loan portion, not an offer; add the community’s space rent, in writing, to it. A lender looks at the same total when it reviews your application, and how space rent affects what you can afford shows the arithmetic.
Renters often ask whether space rent can be controlled the way some California cities do it. In Arizona it cannot: state law (A.R.S. 33-1416) says the power to control rents on mobile home spaces is preempted by the state, so Tempe has no mobile home rent ordinance.
Space rent is set by the lease within the Arizona Mobile Home Parks Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, which the Arizona Department of Housing publishes along with the Mobile Home Relocation Fund it administers. Ask each community for its rent history and read the lease before you sign a purchase agreement.
Heat, the Salt River and who answers floodplain questions in Tempe
The National Weather Service records Phoenix’s official climate at Sky Harbor, just across Tempe’s western boundary. The 1991 to 2020 normal July high there is 106.5°F in the office’s July climate summary, and its heat page calls heat the deadliest weather in Arizona.
Treat cooling as part of the monthly cost: ask for a year of electric bills, have the air conditioner, ducts and insulation inspected, and photograph the data plate, which shows the zones the home was built for. Monsoon winds, dust storms and flash floods are the other seasonal check for carports, awnings and tie-downs.
Tempe sits on the Salt River, and floodplain questions for addresses inside the city are answered by the City of Tempe rather than by the county district. The Flood Control District of Maricopa County’s floodplain information page lists Tempe among the cities that make their own determinations and gives the contact. Ask before you make an offer whether the address is in a mapped floodplain and whether flood insurance will be required. This page is general information, not legal, tax or insurance advice.
Questions to settle before you make an offer in Tempe
Nearby areas
Tempe is bordered by Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler, and each has a page: Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler. Most of the East Valley’s manufactured housing is in Mesa and Apache Junction, so widen the search there if nothing fits inside Tempe.
Every application is reviewed individually, and all financing is subject to credit approval. Community rules and agency procedures change, so confirm them before you rely on them.