Mobile Home Loan Calculator

Amortization schedule (year by year)

Run a calculation above and this table shows how much of your payments go to interest versus principal each year, what you paid in lot rent, and what you still owe at the end of each year. If extra payments pay the loan off early, the schedule simply ends there.

Note: the lot rent column stops when the loan is paid off, but in real life lot rent continues for as long as you live on rented land. The lot rent totals above the schedule cover the full original term.

How this calculator works

The tool uses the standard fixed-rate amortization formula that banks and mortgage lenders use:

M = P × [ r(1 + r)ⁿ ] ÷ [ (1 + r)ⁿ − 1 ]

M is your monthly principal-and-interest payment, P is the amount you borrow (home price minus down payment), r is your monthly interest rate (annual rate divided by 12), and n is the number of monthly payments (years × 12). Taxes, insurance, and lot rent are then added to give you a realistic total monthly housing cost. The formula was cross-checked against published references from Chase and TransUnion; links are in the Sources section below.

If you enter an annual lot rent increase, the tool compounds it once per year, so year two costs your starting rent times one plus the increase, year three compounds again, and so on for the full term.

Extra payments are handled by running the schedule month by month twice, once without your extras and once with them, then comparing the two. Any extra amount is applied to principal after that month's interest is taken, which is how lenders typically credit it. The biweekly option is modeled as the standard 13-payments-a-year equivalence rather than a true two-week accrual, so treat it as a close estimate rather than an exact match to a lender's biweekly program.

Why rising lot rent belongs in the math

Most mobile home calculators ask for lot rent once and then treat that number as if it will hold steady for the next twenty years. It won't. Census data reported by NPR shows median lot rents climbed 45% over the last decade, which is roughly 3.8% a year compounding. In some metro areas lot rents have been rising faster than rents for single-family homes.

That gap matters more than most people expect. A $500 lot rent growing at that pace is well past $700 within ten years and still climbing. Over a twenty-year loan, the total you hand over in lot rent can rival what you paid for the home itself, and unlike your loan payment, none of it builds equity or gets you closer to owning anything.

This is also the strongest argument for running the comparison mode above. If you can get the home onto land you own and titled as real property, you trade a rising rent you don't control for a fixed payment you do. Whether that trade works depends on your rate, your term, and what the land costs, which is exactly what the side-by-side is there to show you.

Chattel loan or mortgage? It changes your numbers

Mobile and manufactured home financing splits into two very different worlds, and knowing which one you're in matters more than any other input in this calculator.

A chattel loan is secured by the home itself, not the land under it. It's the usual route when your home sits on rented land, like a manufactured home community. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that about 42% of manufactured home purchase loans are chattel loans, and that they generally come with higher interest rates, shorter terms, and fewer consumer protections than mortgages.

A mortgage becomes possible when the home is permanently affixed to land you own and titled as real property. Rates are usually lower and terms longer, which can cut your monthly payment substantially on the same home price.

Turn on comparison mode at the top of the calculator to run both at once. The chattel column carries lot rent, the mortgage column doesn't, and the bottom row shows what each path actually costs you across the full term. The gap in total interest is usually eye-opening, and the lot rent line often decides it.