In Indiana a manufactured home starts life titled like a vehicle, through the BMV. When it is set on a permanent foundation on land you own, that title can be retired and the home becomes part of the real estate.
The form is the Affidavit of Transfer to Real Estate, Indiana State Form 51408. Applications are processed by the BMV Central Office and the fee is $15. The completed affidavit gets filed in the county recorder’s office along with the retired certificate of title, and that filing is what converts the home to an improvement on the real estate.
Worth knowing: Indiana does not require you to file an ATRE for a permanently affixed home to be treated as an improvement. But the paperwork is what a title company and a lender will look for, which is why it matters at the closing table and not before.
What goes wrong
The home was set decades ago and nobody filed anything. The title is lost. The title is in a deceased parent’s name. There is an old lien on it from a lender that no longer exists.
None of that stops me from buying. It changes the timeline and sometimes the number, but it is solvable, and I have been through it. What you should not do is assume the deal is dead because someone told you the title is a problem. I am not an attorney and I do not pretend to be one — if you are in an estate situation, talk to yours.
Selling it as-is
If you own the land and the home is on it, I can make you an offer whatever the title looks like today. Tell me what you know and what you do not, and I will tell you plainly what it changes.
More on this: how I buy mobile and manufactured homes, and what to do when a bank will not finance one.