Buying or refinancing a manufactured home in Bakersfield starts with where the address sits: inside the city, in an unincorporated pocket such as Oildale across the Kern River, or out in a county that runs from the valley floor up into the Tehachapi Mountains and out to the desert.
Bakersfield is the seat of Kern County. Manufactured homes here sit both in land-lease communities, where you own the home and rent the space, and on parcels sold with their land, which are more typical out in the unincorporated county.
Santiago Financial, Inc. finances both setups anywhere in California. The California hub page explains the general difference between a community home and a home on owned land and links HCD’s title pages. For a parcel with a well, a septic system and a private road, the Kern County buyer guide goes through the county offices one question at a time. This page covers the city and the valley floor.
The Kern River corridor and Lake Isabella have updated flood maps
The Kern River comes out of the Sierra just east of town and runs through the north side of the city. In 2020, FEMA, Kern County and the City of Bakersfield updated the flood maps along Lake Isabella and the Kern River around Bakersfield, and FEMA noted that the changes may affect building and insurance requirements. Kern County keeps its own flood information page as well.
Look any address up in FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center. If it is in a Special Flood Hazard Area, a lender generally requires flood insurance before closing; FEMA states that homes in high-risk flood areas with mortgages from government-backed lenders are required to have flood insurance. Standard homeowners insurance does not cover flooding, so get the quote before you make an offer; our manufactured home insurance team can quote coverage suited to a manufactured home.
City, county pocket or rural parcel: who holds the records
Oildale, Lamont and the Kern River valley communities around Lake Isabella are unincorporated and come under Kern County; inside Bakersfield, building and planning records belong to the city. We did not find a mobilehome space-rent ordinance published by the City of Bakersfield or by Kern County, so ask each community whether any local rule applies and get the current space rent in writing. Statewide, park tenancies come under California’s Mobilehome Residency Law, and HCD runs a Mobilehome Residency Law Protection Program for certain disputes between homeowners and park management.
The county office that enters nearly every resale is the Kern County Treasurer-Tax Collector. Homes sold new on or after July 1, 1980 are on local property tax, and HCD will not transfer the title of a used home on local tax without the county’s Mobile Home Tax Clearance Certificate; the request form and instructions are on the county’s mobile homes page.
Homes sold new before that date may instead pay an in-lieu fee to HCD. For a home sold with its land, the HCD Form 433A that records the home as part of the real property is filed with the county recorder. The printable forms page has a short tutorial on the two ways California taxes these homes.
What to check for a Bakersfield-area address
| Local factor | What to check | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Flood zone | Whether the address is in a Special Flood Hazard Area along the Kern River corridor | FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center; Kern County flood information |
| City or county | Which office holds the building records, and whether any local rules apply | City of Bakersfield; Kern County Planning |
| Tax status | Local property tax or HCD in-lieu fee, and the county tax clearance before an HCD transfer | Kern County Treasurer-Tax Collector |
| Foundation record | Whether a 433A is recorded for a home sold with land | Kern County Recorder |
| Mountain or desert parcel | Roof load, wind and thermal zones on the data plate; the fire hazard zone | The data plate; CAL FIRE’s map; an insurer |
Heat on the valley floor, four seasons in Tehachapi
Bakersfield summers are long and hot. In NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 climate normals, the average daily high at Meadows Field is 98°F in July and 97°F in August. Cooling belongs in the monthly cost beside the loan payment and space rent, so ask the seller for a year of electricity bills, test your budget against the summer months, and have the air conditioning, the roof, the insulation and the ducts under the home inspected.
Up in the Tehachapi Mountains the climate is different. The City of Tehachapi describes itself as a higher-elevation mountain town with four seasons, which can mean snow and roof load that the valley floor never sees.
A manufactured home’s data plate lists the roof load, wind and thermal zones it was built for; compare them with the site before you buy a home in the mountains, and look the address up on CAL FIRE’s Fire Hazard Severity Zone map, because a lender generally requires acceptable insurance before closing.
Before you make an offer, talk with a specialist about which loan path the home fits and what the file will need.
Nearby areas
Bakersfield is the southern end of the valley chain, and the roads out of it lead to cities with their own pages: Fresno up Highway 99, Santa Clarita over the Grapevine and Victorville across the desert. Delano, Wasco, Shafter, Taft and Tehachapi share Kern County’s records; the California service areas list covers the rest of the state.
Every application is reviewed individually, and all financing is subject to credit approval. Local rules change, so confirm them with the city or county; this page is general information, not legal or tax advice.