Young Homeowner Achieves His Dream with Welcome Home Loan
Imagine owning a home at 22 years old. Andrew Moore navigated through stigma, a heated housing market, and the confines of the conventional banking system to achieve his goal.
Now, he’s eager to spread the word about an overlooked, affordable option for young people to stay in New Hampshire and become homeowners: manufactured housing.
“I know there was a lot of stigma towards manufactured homes or ‘mobile homes,’” he said. “But you know what? Forget all those stereotypes because they're certainly not true. This is a great place to be and I’m living proof of it.”
He’s proud to be one of the youngest homeowners in Tamworth Pines Cooperative, a resident-owned community in Tamworth near the Chocorua River.
“The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund understood my dreams and my goals,” Andrew said. “And as you see, they let me accomplish it.”
Andrew’s Journey into Adulthood
Originally from Massachusetts, Andrew secured a job in Concord, N.H. after he graduated from college in 2020. First, he rented an apartment in Manchester — sight unseen — with his girlfriend at the time. But a year later, he was ready for a change.
“Renting is just simply not worth it,” he remembers thinking. “I just want to own something.”
But the 2021 housing market was challenging amid the early pandemic — low inventory combined with low mortgage rates led to record-high prices.
“I just kept getting outbid, outbid, outbid,” he said.
Then, he noticed a listing for an open house at a cooperative in Tamworth (pictured from above at right) and drove north on a rainy spring day to look at the manufactured home.
It needed work, but Andrew finally felt optimistic.
Planning an Affordable Future with a Welcome Home Loan
There was another obstacle ahead: many traditional banks don’t provide financing for manufactured homes because of an outdated stigma about risk. New Hampshire Loan Fund’s over 20+ years of experience lending for manufactured homes paved the way for an opportunity with Andrew.
Andrew chose a Welcome Home Loan — the Community Loan Fund’s fixed-rate, long-term conventional mortgage for the purchase of new and pre-owned manufactured homes. He especially appreciated the low down payment required for the loan.
“It was so much more affordable,” he said. “It wasn’t like 20 percent down, 30 percent down... not everyone just has $125,000 laying around...”
Andrew was impressed by his experience working with our lending team, who guided him through the process.
“They’re there to make sure you can get a nice home for your family, for yourself, for your spouse that you can be able to afford and live a good life,” he said.
And, the experience opened his eyes to the value of manufactured homes to New Hampshire’s housing stock.
“These manufactured homes are fantastic options for young families, for single homeowners like myself,” he said.
In fact — like Andrew — 30 percent of manufactured-home owners in New Hampshire are 35 years old or younger, and 78 percent are first-time homebuyers, according to our lending data.
Understanding the Benefits of Cooperative Living
Andrew also learned about cooperative living through the process of purchasing his home and becoming a homeowner in the community, as well as treasurer of the cooperative’s board.
“A co-op, in the simplest terms, is a group of a group of folks — families, single homeowners, young people, old people, middle-aged — coming together to make their community the best possible place to live,” he explained. “Who owns the co-op? It’s you.”
“Everyone owns a little piece... there isn’t some developer who lives in Boston who’s going to, one day, just come in and ruin this place.”
Residents of a cooperative, who own the land and infrastructure under their homes, have an incentive to make their community as nice as possible, he said.
Andrew sees other benefits too: collaboration, purpose, and pride.
While some members of the co-op might have more knowledge about home repairs, Andrew said he can contribute his professional expertise in reading legal documents and contracts to the board’s work.
Tamworth Pines Cooperative’s board successfully applied for $2 million in federal funding for water and sewer improvements and started the infrastructure project last year.
“We all have our own specialties that we put in to make this place a great place to live for all of us,” Andrew said. “And that's what I'm all about. I love teamwork — I love that effort.”
Photo: Andrew sharing his experience at the Community Loan Fund's annual meeting in November 2025.
Numbers That Tell the Story
We know how hard it is for owners and buyers of manufactured homes to find fixed-rate, long-term mortgage loans.
That’s why we created Welcome Home Loans — for people who have, or who want, the security of living in an affordable manufactured-home in a resident-owned community (ROC) or on their own land.
30
percent of manufactured-home owners who are 35 years old or younger
78
percent of manufactured-home owners who are first-time homebuyers
40
average age of first-time homebuyer
$535K
average home price in New Hampshire in 2025
$128,500
average price of a manufactured home in New Hampshire
5.1
percent of housing stock that is manufactured housing
Sources: New Hampshire Community Loan Fund mortgage borrower data; National Association of REALTORS®; NH Housing; Freddie Mac data