Rep. Elijah Behnke is working to pass a bill he authored that would help the manufactured home industry when it comes to financing those homes.
Behnke said Paige Huntington-Dreier and her brothers, who own and operate North Country Homes in Bonduel, approached him earlier this year about reforming Wisconsin’s outdated regulations about manufactured homes.
“It’s kind of an unfair way,” Behnke said of the current system. “When you title a house, it’s very serious, and there’s insurance on it. Right now, under current state statute, the title (for manufactured homes) doesn’t even need to be tracked by the state after 20 years. Well, they’re built so much better nowadays, they can last 50 years. So we should start tracking them.”
Assembly Bill 549, if passed, would make the following changes to state manufactured home regulations:
• Updates the requirements for certificates of title to include the home’s address and year of manufacture.
• Removes the 20-year limit on Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services holding titles with a security interest, because many modern homes last for decades and some loan terms extend beyond 20 years.
• Allows dealers to acquire title to homes taken in for resale or inventory.
• Permits applications for title and fee payments through an online system.
• Updates DSPS licensing of manufactured home communities.
• Requires written purchase contracts for each sale, with copies provided to the buyer at signing and upon acceptance.
• Clarifies that marketing or listing of a manufactured home also requires a DSPS license.
• Provides flexibility to use updated forms rather than only DSPS-mandated forms.
• Requires DSPS to make title and community records public and index them by county.
Behnke has Sen. Eric Wimberger, whose Senate district includes parts of Shawano, Menominee and Oconto counties, signed on as a sponsor for the bill. He said he’s hoping to get it to Gov. Tony Evers’ desk before February, when the current legislative session is expected to end and the state election season begins.
“This bill reforms a lot of things,” Behnke said. “If you’re going to buy or sell them, you have to have a licensed Realtor. If you are going to finance one, it allows maybe longer financing if we get this law passed, because we’re going to track the title for more than 20 years. We’re going to track it 30 years.”
There are more than 53,800 manufactured home community sites across the state, with 1,000 homes constructed in 2024. This accounts for about 11% of all new single-family housing in Wisconsin. With traditional home prices inching farther out of reach for low- and middle-income families, manufactured homes are an essential part of creating affordable housing in Wisconsin, according to Behnke.
He noted that, under the current laws, manufactured home producers are having to eat the costs of any increase in materials — unlike with other homes, where tariffs or other cost hikes are passed on to the consumers.
“This bill would change it to where it’s basically modifying manufactured home laws to look more like home purchasing laws, whether it’s the titling, the length of loan, the licensing,” Behnke said. “With the price of homes going up and up and up, (the number of manufactured home buyers) is going to increase.”
AB 549 also sets it up so manufactured home owners can register online, something that has not been done previously. Behnke said that it’s important to do this so paperwork isn’t “lost in the shuffle” with DSPS.
The bill is expected to be referred to a committee sometime in December. Behnke said a lot of “common sense” bills like his have been getting passed this session, so he’s confident that the bill will be signed into law by the time the legislature adjourns.
“This has been one of the top things I’ve focused on this fall session,” Behnke said.
He added that this bill is necessary in terms of parents leaving paid-off homes for their children.
“This is really crucial, because if I don’t hand off my kids, who are 11 and 5, a paid-off house when we die, I don’t know if they’ll ever be able to afford a $500,000 house, because other things are expensive,” Behnke said. “I grew up in a little trailer house … a long time ago. It’s not glorious, and it’s probably a ’70s build with the pipes freezing in winter from when I was a ’90s kid. The kitchens in these new ones are fancier than in any home I’ve owned. I think there’s going to be more of a demand.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
