Affordable Manufactured Home Cities in Riverside County: How the Areas Compare
Local financing details: Mobile & Manufactured Home Loans in Riverside, California
No single city in Riverside County is the affordable one, because the asking price is only part of what a manufactured home costs. In a community, space rent is paid on top of the loan payment and continues after the loan is paid off. On owned land there is no space rent, but the land is part of the price and brings property tax and upkeep with it. Two homes at the same price in two towns can cost very different amounts to live in each month.
What the county does offer is range. It runs from the Orange County line to the Colorado River, and manufactured homes are sold in five quite different areas along the way. Below is what sets each area apart, and a way to compare homes across them. You will not find price or rent figures here: they change, and the only ones that matter are the ones you get in writing for a specific home.
Five areas at a glance
Where manufactured homes are sold in Riverside County
| Area | What sets it apart | Local detail |
|---|---|---|
| Western county: Riverside, Corona, Norco, Jurupa Valley, Moreno Valley, Perris | Long-established communities in the cities; larger lots on the semi-rural edges | Riverside and Corona |
| San Jacinto Valley: Hemet, San Jacinto | Many communities, a good share of them for residents 55 and over | Hemet |
| Southwest: Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore | Communities in the towns; rural acreage toward wine country | Temecula and wine country guide |
| San Gorgonio Pass: Calimesa, Beaumont, Banning | Communities along Interstate 10, between the Inland Empire and the desert | Calimesa and Beaumont |
| Coachella Valley: Palm Springs to Indio | Rented spaces, owned lots and leased land; part-year owners; summer heat | Palm Springs and Coachella Valley guide |
What differs from one area to the next
Santiago Financial, Inc. finances manufactured homes in all five areas, and the loan process is the same in each. What changes is the kind of home you are likely to find, who sets the local rules, and what the climate and the commute add to the monthly cost.
Riverside, Corona and the western county
This is the most built-up part of the county and the closest to the Orange County and Los Angeles County job markets. Many of its communities have been in place for decades, so expect older homes among the listings. Ask the year built early: a factory-built home from before June 15, 1976 predates the federal HUD Code and is treated differently in financing.
The City of Riverside runs a Mobile Home Parks Rent Stabilization Program for parks inside the city limits. On the semi-rural edges, around Norco and Perris and in unincorporated communities such as Mead Valley and Nuevo, you are more likely to find a home sold together with its land.
Hemet and San Jacinto
Hemet and San Jacinto have a large number of manufactured home communities, and many of them are age-qualified, generally for residents 55 and over. That shapes a purchase twice: the age rule decides who may live in the home, and it decides who you can sell to later.
The City of Hemet has a Mobile Home Rent Review Commission. East of the city, Valle Vista and East Hemet are unincorporated and come under the county’s rules instead.
Temecula, Murrieta and the southwest county
The southwest corner of the county has the widest spread of setups: spaces in communities in the towns, homes on their own lots, and rural acreage east of Temecula. On acreage, a private well, a septic system and county zoning become part of the purchase.
Calimesa, Beaumont and Banning
The Pass sits on Interstate 10 between the Inland Empire and the desert, within reach of both. Its communities include age-qualified and all-ages ones, so check the policy for each. Cherry Valley and Cabazon are unincorporated and come under the county’s rules.
Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley
The desert raises two questions the rest of the county rarely does. The first is land: besides rented spaces and owned lots, some homes sit on long-term leased land, including Indian lease land, where the lease’s end date matters to financing and to resale. The second is heat. Summers are long and severe, and cooling is a real line in the budget.
Who sets the rent rules depends on the address
Riverside and Hemet are not the only places with a rent program. Palm Springs has a rent control ordinance that covers mobilehome parks. For parks outside any city, Riverside County has a mobile home park rent stabilization ordinance that applies to certain parks in unincorporated areas. Other cities set their own policies.
A rent program does not tell you what a space costs, and its rules can change. Ask the city or county which rules, if any, cover the community, and ask the community for the current rent and its recent increases in writing.
Compare homes on the full monthly cost
Add up the same lines for every home you are considering: the loan payment, the space rent or the property tax and any association dues, insurance, utilities, and the cost of your commute. How space rent affects what you can afford goes through the comparison step by step.
A lender looks at the same total. Your monthly housing cost, including space rent, is compared with your gross monthly income, so the rent affects how much you can borrow as well as what you pay.
On owned land, the price includes the ground
A home sold with its land costs more than a similar home on a rented space, because you are buying the lot as well. When the home is permanently attached to the land and recorded as real property, the two can often be financed together, and the appraisal covers both.
There is no space rent. In its place you pay property tax on the land and keep up the lot yourself, along with any well, septic system or private road that serves it.
Check recent sales before you settle on a price
Asking prices are set by sellers. For a home in a California community, comparable sales reports show what similar homes in the same community have sold for. They are not appraisals, but they tell you whether an asking price is in line before you make an offer.
It matters to the financing as well. A loan is measured against the home’s supported value, not the asking price, so a gap between the two has to be covered with more cash or a lower price.
Questions to ask in every area
This article is general information, not legal advice. Local rent rules change, so confirm them with the city or county concerned.
