Manufactured Home Wind Zone Regulations (Texas)

If you are interested in buying a used manufactured home (aka: mobile home) in the Gulf areas in Texas, and other states along the coast for that matter, it’s very important that you understand Wind Zone regulations. The quickest way I can explain it is that you need to make sure that your home has the proper Wind Zone certification for the county that it is located in. While a majority of homes in Texas and throughout the country are Wind Zone 1 areas, please make note below of the counties below that require a home to have a Wind Zone II certification.

Another very important thing to note here, is that a Wind Zone 1 home can only be placed in a Wind Zone 1 area. However a Wind Zone II  home can be placed in either a

Wind Zone 1 or a Wind Zone II area.

This is important information to have to be equipped with whether you are looking to buy a new or used manufactured home, or sell a manufactured home. The reason being, let’s say for example that you have a Wind Zone 1 home but it is located in Wind Zone II area. By law, the new owner would need to move that home to a Wind Zone 1 area. So that is something that you would definitely want to know before looking to sell your home.

Sec. 121.256. Wind Zone Regulations

(a) Aransas, Brazoria, Calhoun, Camron, Chambers, Galveston, Jefferson, Kenedy, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces, Orange, Refugio, San Patricio, and Willacy counties are in Wind Zone II. All other counties are in Wind Zone 1.

(b) To be installed in a Wind Zone II county, a manufactured home constructed on or after September 1, 1997, must meet the Wind Zone II standards adopted by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

(c) A manufactured home constructed before September 1, 1997, may be installed in a Wind Zone I or II county without restriction.

(d) A retailer who sells a manufactured home constructed on or after September 1, 1997 to Wind Zone 1 standards must, before the execution of a mutually binding sales agreement or retail installment sales contract, give the consumer notice that

(1) the home was not designed or constructed to withstand a hurricane force wind occuring in a Wind Zone II or III area;

(2) installation of the home is not permitted in a Wind Zone II county in this state; and

(3) another state may prohibit installation of the home in a Wind Zone II or III area.