433A HCD Foundation – Conversion to Real Estate in California

California is one of the states where the conversion from personal property to real estate goes hand-in-hand with the type of foundation that supports the manufactured home.   A recorded HCD Form 433A is generally required either by the lender or the title officer (or both) for real property conversion or for title endorsements (the ALTA 7).   In California, the process of conversion is overseen by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and the titling documentation is called a Form 433A aka INSTALLATION OF A MANUFACTURED HOME ON A FOUNDATION SYSTEM and complies with California Code of Regulations, Title 25, Division 1, Chapter 2, Section 18551. The 433A should not be confused with the 433C which is NOT evidence of a state certified foundation system.  the 433C puts the home on the tax rolls as real property by an escrow company but has not been permitted by a building department nor is evidence of a permanent foundation system.  The 433A provides security to the lender, Title Company and the homeowner in two ways:

1. It conjoins the manufactured home (personal property or chattel) with the land, thus establishing the home and land as a unitized piece of real property.
2. Provides recorded proof that a State approved and engineered foundation has been installed on the home.

While an engineer’s certification may only have a shelf life of six months to a couple of years in the mind of the lender or underwriter, a 433A is a permanent recorded document. Additionally, since the engineering of retrofit systems need to be re-certified every two years by HCD, in order to pull a permit with the building department, the engineering designs on state-certified retrofit systems are constantly being tested and re-evaluated for safety, offering additional benefits to the lender, investor and homeowner.

Unlike the 433C, the 433A is more than just a paper document. The process requires pulling a permit with the jurisdictional building department, installing a proprietary or approved engineered system, subsequent inspection by the building authority and then recording that document. OnTheLevel can help streamline this process from original evaluation to permit to installation to recordation. The 433A is also generally required for ALTA 7 Title endorsements.

for a more detailed description regarding the process we take to obtain a 433A for a manufactured home.