Escondido and San Marcos are inland North County cities where a manufactured home buyer deals with a city rent review body as well as the park office: Escondido’s voters passed a mobilehome rent control ordinance in 1988, and San Marcos has a Mobilehome Rent Review Commission.
Both cities sit inland along Highway 78, so summer heat and the foothill fire zones, remapped by CAL FIRE in 2025, are the other questions to settle before you make an offer.
Santiago Financial, Inc. finances homes in both cities, in land-lease communities and on owned land. A community home is financed by itself with a home-only or chattel loan, with space rent paid to the park on top; a home on land you own may fit a land-and-home loan.
HCD title and the 433A record are covered on the California manufactured home loans page. All financing is subject to credit approval.
Two cities, two rent review bodies
Who reviews mobilehome space rent in Escondido and San Marcos
| City | Local rule | Who hears rent matters | Official page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Escondido | A mobilehome rent control ordinance passed by voters in 1988, known as Proposition K | The City Council, sitting as the Mobilehome Park Rental Review Board | Mobilehome Rent Control Administration |
| San Marcos | A mobilehome rent review ordinance in Title 16 of the municipal code | The San Marcos Mobilehome Rent Review Commission, staffed by Housing and Neighborhood Services | Mobile Home Parks |
Neither ordinance is summarised here, because the terms change and because not every space in a city is necessarily covered. Read the city’s page, ask its housing office about the specific space, and get from the park, in writing, the rent you would pay as the new owner and its increase history. A lender counts that rent in your monthly housing cost; how space rent affects what you can afford shows the arithmetic.
Every park in the state also comes under California’s Mobilehome Residency Law, and HCD’s Mobilehome Residency Law Protection Program can help with certain disputes. This is general information, not legal advice.
Inland heat and the foothill fire zones
Inland heat comes first. The National Weather Service’s Climate of San Diego memorandum notes that the daily temperature range roughly doubles a few miles inland from the city, so along Highway 78 the summer electric bill on an older home is worth seeing before you commit: ask the seller for last summer’s bills and read the thermal zone on the data plate.
Wildfire is the other inland question, and it is recent here. The Cocos Fire started at Village Drive and Twin Oaks Road in San Marcos on May 14, 2014 and burned 1,995 acres and 40 structures before it was contained (CAL FIRE).
Escondido’s fire department explains that CAL FIRE released the updated fire hazard severity zone map for Southern California on March 24, 2025, in moderate, high and very high classes; that new construction in the high and very high zones must meet ignition-resistant building standards; and that a seller in those zones must disclose the designation and have a fire department inspection (City of Escondido, fire severity zone).
Look up any address on the State Fire Marshal’s zone maps. If it is in a zone, ask for a manufactured home insurance quote on that address before you make an offer, because the premium is part of the monthly cost a lender reviews.
Title, taxes and county records
Both cities are in San Diego County, so a purchase runs through the same offices. Title and registration go through HCD, not the DMV.
HCD requires a county tax clearance certificate when a home is sold or the way its title is held changes, and the San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector issues it on request with a copy of the current registration or title report. Homes bought after July 1, 1980 are on local property tax, the county notes, and older ones may still pay the annual vehicle license fee (Treasurer-Tax Collector).
For a home on its own lot, in Valley Center for example, the 433A foundation record and the deed are recorded with the county recorder. Our San Diego page has the full table of which office holds which record.
The park’s resident approval and the loan approval are separate reviews, and both must be complete before closing; how the loan process works sets out the order.
Nearby pages in San Diego County
Down Highway 78 at the coast, Oceanside has its own fair practices ordinance and the San Luis Rey River flood maps. The San Diego page, linked above, has the county records table; El Cajon covers East County and Chula Vista the South Bay. Homes in Vista, Valley Center or Fallbrook are financed the same way; what changes is the local rule and the hazard map.