On Thursday, Sept. 17, the Los Lunas Village Council took two housing votes. It gave final plat approval to 156 more single-family lots at Fiesta del Norte, a subdivision that has already finished 129 lots in its first phase. It also approved an installment plan for impact fees at Villa Escondida 2, a 60-lot manufactured-home community in central Los Lunas where, according to the Valencia County News-Bulletin, only eight lots are occupied or close to it.
Both projects are new and both sit inside the village. The bigger gap between them is ownership of the ground. At Villa Escondida 2, residents lease the lot and own the home. That one fact sets the type of loan a buyer can use, how long it runs, and how New Mexico titles the home. Each of those affects the monthly cost in ways a price tag doesn't show.
What the council heard on Sept. 17
The first approval came with little debate. Community Development Director Alex Ochoa said his office had received no calls for or against Fiesta del Norte phase 2, and that the application complies with the village's municipal code and comprehensive plan. The development team for Sivage Investments, LLC described homes of 1,420 to 1,883 square feet with three to four bedrooms, starting at $338,990 and topping out around $455,000. The subdivision began in 2022.
The second approval was a payment arrangement. Villa Escondida 2 lies between Los Lentes Road and the Rio Grande bosque, and Carson Road runs through it. The News-Bulletin quoted the property's co-owner describing the pace of move-ins:
"The market has been challenging. It is very difficult to get a home placed."
The council approved paying the $5,395.25 per-lot impact fee at $89.92 a month over 60 months, secured by individual mortgages. The co-owner said impact fees for the eight lots that are occupied or close to it were paid in cash.
The council didn't discuss why placing homes has been slow, and nothing in the coverage gives a single cause. The financing rules for leased-land homes are public, though, and they explain why a buyer comparing these two neighborhoods is really comparing two different kinds of loans.
The loan follows the land
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes the split simply. A chattel loan is secured by the manufactured home alone. A manufactured-home mortgage is secured by the home and the land together. In a 2014 CFPB report, the bureau found that homes in land-lease communities were generally eligible only for chattel financing. It estimated chattel rates could run 50 to 500 basis points above comparable mortgages, with generally shorter terms.
The CFPB's 2021 analysis of 2019 purchase loans puts numbers on that gap. These are historical medians from 2019 and are not current rate quotes. They show how the pricing is structured.
| 2019 purchase loans, CFPB median | Interest rate | Term |
|---|---|---|
| Chattel loan, home only | 8.6% | 23 years |
| Manufactured-home mortgage, home and land | 4.9% | 30 years |
| Site-built home mortgage | 4.1% | 30 years |
A higher rate over a shorter term pushes the monthly payment up from both directions. The same CFPB data found that 49% of chattel borrowers rented their land. On top of the loan payment, a leased-lot owner pays the lot lease.
The federal programs that do allow leased land
Leased land doesn't rule out every other option. It narrows them, and each one comes with conditions tied to the lease.
- FHA Title I allows a home-only loan whether the home is classified as personal or real property, on an owned or a leased site. For a leased lot, HUD requires an initial lease of at least three years and at least 180 days' written notice before termination.
- Title I terms are capped at 20 years and 32 days for a single-unit manufactured home, and the interest rate is negotiated between borrower and lender.
- Fannie Mae's ground-lease path applies only to manufactured homes in an eligible condo or PUD where the association holds the ground lease, not each owner. The lease must run at least five years past the loan's maturity.
Each of these runs about a decade shorter than a standard 30-year mortgage, depends on how the land lease is written, or both. For a community trying to fill 60 lots, that means each buyer's financing depends on paperwork that a house on owned land doesn't need.
How New Mexico decides whether a home is a vehicle
New Mexico adds another layer. A new manufactured home is titled and registered through the Motor Vehicle Division before it can be moved on a highway, according to the MVD's procedures manual. Under the state's property tax rule, the home is valued as real property only after all of these steps are done:
- The owner requests the change.
- The tongue and axle are removed.
- The home is affixed to a permanent foundation.
- The home's owner also owns the real estate under it.
- The MVD title is deactivated and evidence goes to the valuation authority.
Step four is the one a leased-lot community can't meet, because the resident doesn't own the ground. The motor vehicle rule also requires a title free of recorded liens before deactivation. The MVD manual warns that when a title isn't properly deactivated, an active vehicle title and a real-property assessment can both sit in county and MVD records. That mismatch can complicate a later sale or mortgage. Installation inspections are handled separately by the Manufactured Housing Division of the state Regulation and Licensing Department.
For a Fiesta del Norte buyer, none of this comes up. The house and the lot transfer together as real estate, and a standard mortgage covers both.
What the regional numbers say about the other side
Detached homes across the region aren't sitting idle. The Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors' August 2026 market statistics, released Sept. 10, show a $385,000 median sales price for detached homes in August 2026. That was up 1.3% from August 2025 and flat against July. The median home went under contract in 18 days, and there was 3.1 months of supply. These are regional Southwest MLS totals, not Los Lunas figures. They do frame the comparison. A new Fiesta del Norte home starting at $338,990 sits below the August regional median, and buyers can finance it with the same tools they would use for any detached house in the metro.
Where in the village the lot sits
Land tenure isn't the only factor. Location inside Los Lunas is changing too, and it affects the two projects differently.
Fiesta del Norte sits in District 2 on the village's northern edge. At the Sept. 17 meeting, Councilor Matthew Chavez asked whether the development had a plan for a northern interchange, which village officials and Isleta Pueblo officials are currently discussing. Ochoa said northern access isn't part of the final plats. He described a possible route that would run past a drainage area and along the MRGCD ditch up to Los Cerillos before turning north. In February 2025, the News-Bulletin reported that a village economic developer described a third interchange on the north side as a potential need and a concept, not a funded project.
The project actually under construction is farther south. The Los Lunas Boulevard corridor adds a new I-25 interchange, a new road, and a Rio Grande bridge just over 2,500 feet long connecting I-25 to NM 47. Construction began in August 2025. In a July 2026 News-Bulletin update, Molzen Corbin, the firm managing the project, reported 197 working days used and 743 remaining, with about 20% of the time and 30% of the money spent. At the August 2025 groundbreaking, the paper reported total project funding of $169 million and said the village planned to seek phase-two funding in the 2026 legislative session. We haven't found a confirmed completion date or confirmation of phase-two funding.
For buyers, the open question is which part of the village the new road network will favor once it's built. The southern crossing is funded and moving. The northern access that would most directly serve Fiesta del Norte is still in discussion.
Quick Questions
Can a manufactured home on a leased lot in Los Lunas ever be taxed as real property? Under the New Mexico rule, real-property treatment requires the home's owner to also own the real estate under it, along with a permanent foundation and a deactivated MVD title. On a leased lot, that ownership condition isn't met.
Are the CFPB rates what a buyer would see today? No. The 8.6%, 4.9% and 4.1% figures are 2019 medians. They show the spread between loan types, not current pricing.
Is the Fiesta del Norte phase 2 approval the only new housing change in Los Lunas? No. The village's zoning rewrite, effective Feb. 11, 2025, allows tiny homes and permits accessory dwelling units in most residential zones without a designated-use permit, the News-Bulletin reported.
If you're comparing a new build in Los Lunas with a leased-lot home or with something in Albuquerque, the comparison that counts is the monthly payment with the land question settled first. Jenny Nguyen Real Estate works alongside an in-team mortgage contact, in English or Vietnamese, so you can line up the loan types for each option before you tour. If you already own and are weighing a move south, start with a Free Home Valuation so you know what your current home brings to the comparison.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.