The park sales glossary.
33 terms you'll hear selling homes in a land-lease community, defined in plain English — from lot rent and chattel loans to speed to lead.
The homes
Mobile home
Strictly, a factory-built home constructed before the federal HUD Code took effect in 1976. In everyday use, "mobile home" is still the common name for any manufactured home — buyers search with it far more often than the technical term.
Manufactured home
A home built entirely in a factory to the federal HUD Code (1976 onward) on a permanent steel chassis, then transported to its site. The correct modern term for most homes sold in land-lease communities.
Modular home
A factory-built home constructed to the same state and local building codes as a site-built house, delivered in sections. Not the same as a manufactured home — different code, usually a permanent foundation, financed like site-built.
HUD Code
The federal construction and safety standard for manufactured homes, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development since 1976. Whether a home predates or postdates the HUD Code affects financing, insurance, and where it can be placed.
Single-wide
A manufactured home built and transported as one section. Narrower footprint, lower price point, and the easiest home to move and infill on a vacant lot.
Double-wide
A manufactured home built as two sections that are joined at the site, with a visible centerline seam. More square footage and a more house-like floor plan than a single-wide.
Skirting
The panels that enclose the open space between the bottom of the home and the ground. Required by most communities for appearance and to protect plumbing from freezing.
Tie-downs (anchoring)
The straps and ground anchors that secure a manufactured home against wind. Installed at setup and checked when a home is sold or moved.
Piers (pier-and-beam)
The block or steel supports the home rests on. Along with tie-downs and skirting, part of a proper "set" when a home is installed on a lot.
The community
Mobile home park (MHP)
A community where residents own or rent the home but rent the land it sits on from the park owner. Also called a manufactured housing community or land-lease community. The "P" in MHPSales.ai.
Land-lease community
The industry term for a mobile home park: the resident leases the lot (the land) while owning the home. The economics of the whole business — lot rent, park applications, home sales — flow from this split.
Lot rent (space rent)
The monthly rent a homeowner pays for their homesite in the community. Usually the first question a buyer asks after price, because it sets the real monthly cost of the home.
Lot (pad, homesite, space)
The individual site a home occupies, including its utility connections. A park's revenue is its occupied lots — which is why vacant lots and unsold homes get so much operator attention.
Park-owned home (POH)
A home the community itself owns and rents out or sells. POH sales are usually the operator's job — which means the operator, not an agent, is the one who has to answer every buyer call.
Tenant-owned home (TOH)
A home owned by the resident who rents only the lot. When a TOH sells, the buyer still needs the park's approval to stay in the community.
Infill
Bringing homes onto vacant lots to raise occupancy — buying new or used homes, setting them, and selling or renting them. Every infill home is a sales pipeline of its own.
Community manager
The on-site person who runs the park day to day — and, in most parks, the same person expected to answer sales calls between everything else.
Community rules (park rules)
The community's standards — pets, parking, home condition, age restrictions where lawful. Buyers agree to them in the park application, so the agent needs to answer questions about them accurately.
Money & financing
Chattel loan (home-only loan)
Financing for the home alone as personal property, without the land — the most common way buyers finance a home in a land-lease community. Shorter terms and higher rates than a mortgage, but faster to close.
Land-home loan
A conventional mortgage covering both the home and land it sits on. Applies when the buyer owns the land — not the typical case inside a park.
Title
Manufactured homes are typically titled like vehicles rather than deeded like houses. A clean title is what makes a home sellable; a missing one is the classic deal-killer to resolve before listing.
Days on market
How long a listing takes to sell. In park sales it's driven less by the home itself and more by how fast and consistently inquiries get worked — which is the entire premise of a follow-up cadence.
Selling & leads
Lead
Any inquiry about a home — a Facebook Marketplace message, an MHVillage email, a Zillow contact, a Craigslist reply, or an inbound call. A lead is only worth what your response to it is.
Lead source
Where the inquiry came from. For park homes the big four are Facebook Marketplace, MHVillage, Zillow, and Craigslist, plus the phone. Each has its own buyer behavior, but all reward the same thing: a fast first response.
Speed to lead
The time between a buyer's inquiry and your first real contact. The single most controllable factor in whether an inquiry becomes a showing — see our full guide on speed to lead.
Follow-up cadence
A planned sequence of contact attempts across calls, texts, and emails — for example, 7 touches over 3 days — that runs the same way for every lead and stops when they respond or opt out.
Showing
The scheduled walkthrough where a buyer sees the home. The practical goal of all lead follow-up: get a qualified buyer to a booked showing on the calendar.
Park application
The community's approval process for a prospective resident — separate from buying the home itself. With MHPSales.ai, the agent sends the application and it's processed and screened through Lotly.
Application screening
The background, credit, and rental-history checks a community runs on an applicant before approving them to live in the park.
AI voice agent
Software that holds real phone conversations — answering questions, qualifying, booking — rather than just playing a recording or taking a message. MHPSales.ai is an AI voice agent built specifically for park home sales.
Compliance
AI disclosure
Telling the caller they're speaking with an AI. MHPSales.ai discloses on every call — transparency that protects the operator and doesn't hurt conversions with buyers who just want their question answered.
DNC (Do-Not-Call)
The federal Do-Not-Call registry. Outbound calling should be scrubbed against it; MHPSales.ai does this automatically.
Opt-out
A person's request to stop being contacted — replying STOP to a text or saying so on a call. Opt-outs must stop contact immediately, and with MHPSales.ai they do.