The Complete Guide to Yardi MH Manager

Yardi MH Manager is a purpose-built module for manufactured housing communities, mobile home parks, and RV parks. It tracks lots and homes as distinct assets, supports split billing for lot rent and home rent, manages home sales and inventory, and handles the community-specific workflows that generic residential software misses. Originally available only in Yardi Breeze, MH Manager launched for Yardi Voyager in December 2025, giving larger operators access to MH-specific functionality within the full Voyager platform.

This guide walks through the core capabilities of MH Manager, how billing and inventory work, what to consider when choosing between Breeze and Voyager, and how to plan an implementation. Whether you're evaluating Yardi for the first time or already on the platform and exploring the MH module, this is what you need to know. For a real-world example of these workflows in action, see the Bedrock Communities case study.

The Dual-Asset Model: Lots and Homes

The fundamental difference between manufactured housing and traditional multifamily is that MH communities manage two distinct assets: the lot (the physical space, hookups, and infrastructure) and the home (the manufactured structure on it). Residents may own their home and rent the lot, rent both, or be in the process of purchasing a home through a rent-to-own arrangement. This dual-asset structure affects every downstream process: billing, reporting, maintenance, and financial consolidation.

Lot Structure in MH Manager

Each lot in MH Manager carries its own set of attributes that define how it operates within the community. Lot status tracks whether a space is occupied, vacant, under maintenance, or reserved. Size classification (single-wide, double-wide, triple-wide) determines which homes can be placed. Hookup details record available utilities: water, sewer, electric, gas, and cable. These fields drive both operational decisions (which lots can accept new home placements) and marketing (which lots are available and for what home types).

Home Inventory Tracking

Homes are tracked separately from lots with their own detailed records. MH Manager stores make, model, year, serial number (HUD label), dimensions, and condition. Each home record links to a lot, but the relationship is dynamic: homes can be moved between lots, sold, or removed from inventory. Ownership status tracks whether a home is community-owned (rental), resident-owned, or in a sales pipeline. This distinction is critical because it determines billing logic: a resident who owns their home pays only lot rent, while a resident renting a community-owned home pays both lot rent and home rent.

Billing Configuration: Lot Rent, Home Rent, and Beyond

Billing in manufactured housing is more layered than in standard multifamily. MH Manager supports separate charge codes for each revenue stream, all flowing to distinct GL accounts for clear financial reporting.

Core Charge Types

• Lot rent: The base charge for the physical space. This is charged to every resident regardless of home ownership status. Lot rent typically includes basic infrastructure access (pads, roads, common areas).
• Home rent: Charged only when the resident is renting a community-owned home. This is a separate line item from lot rent, giving operators clear visibility into home rental revenue vs. lot revenue.
• Utility charges: MH communities often run master-metered systems where the community pays the utility provider and bills residents individually. MH Manager supports submetering, ratio billing (allocating costs by lot size or occupancy), and flat-rate utility charges.
• Amenity fees: Charges for community amenities: clubhouse, pool, laundry, storage, parking. These can be mandatory or optional, one-time or recurring.
• Community assessments: Periodic charges for infrastructure maintenance, capital improvements, or HOA-style community costs.

Split Billing in Practice

The key configuration decision is how lot rent and home rent appear on the resident's ledger. MH Manager displays both on a single account with separate charge line items. This means one invoice covers all charges, but each revenue category tracks independently through the general ledger. During implementation, we configure charge codes, GL mappings, and automated charge schedules so the system matches your community's actual lease terms and pricing structure.

Utility Billing Models

Utility allocation is where many MH implementations get complicated. The three common approaches are:

Home Sales and Inventory Management

Communities that sell manufactured homes, whether new inventory, used community-owned homes, or brokered third-party sales, need workflows that standard rental software doesn't support. MH Manager adds home inventory and sales management as native functions.

Inventory Tracking

Every home in the community is a tracked asset with status categories: occupied (rental), occupied (resident-owned), available for sale, available for rent, in transit, and under refurbishment. This gives community managers a real-time view of their housing stock. For communities that purchase homes from manufacturers and resell them, the inventory module tracks acquisition cost, improvements, and asking price, which feeds into margin calculations and financial reporting.

The Sales Pipeline

MH Manager supports the home sales process from initial prospect inquiry through closing. The pipeline tracks prospect information, home selections, pricing negotiations, credit applications, and closing documentation. When a sale closes, the system transitions the home record from "available" to "resident-owned" and adjusts the billing configuration for that lot from home-rent-plus-lot-rent to lot-rent-only.

Title and Ownership Records

Manufactured home titles work differently from real property. Homes are titled as personal property in most states, similar to vehicles. MH Manager stores title numbers, VIN/serial numbers, and ownership transfer histories. This is critical for communities that hold chattel liens on homes sold through financing arrangements, where the community retains a security interest until the home is paid off.

RentCafe for Manufactured Housing

RentCafe, Yardi's marketing and leasing platform, integrates with MH Manager to handle online presence and prospect management for manufactured housing communities. The integration works on both Breeze and Voyager, though the feature depth varies by platform.

Community Website and Listings

RentCafe generates a community website with available lots and homes listed automatically from MH Manager's inventory. Listings distinguish between lots available for home placement (bring-your-own-home), community-owned homes available for rent, and homes available for purchase. Each listing pulls from the MH Manager data model: lot specifications, home details, pricing, photos, and availability dates.

Online Applications

Prospects can apply online through RentCafe for lot rentals, home rentals, or home purchases. Applications flow into Yardi's screening and approval workflow. For home purchases, the process differs from a standard rental application: it may include credit checks specific to chattel lending, down payment information, and financing qualification.

Resident Portal

Once residents move in, RentCafe provides a self-service portal for rent payments (covering both lot and home rent on a single payment), maintenance requests tied to either the lot or the home, and community announcements. The portal reduces administrative workload for community managers by enabling residents to handle routine transactions without phone calls or office visits.

Reporting and Financial Visibility

Accurate reporting is the payoff for getting the data model right. When lots and homes are tracked as distinct assets with separate charge codes and GL mappings, financial reporting reflects the true economics of the community.

Revenue by Type

MH Manager's split billing structure enables revenue reporting broken out by category: lot rent revenue, home rent revenue, utility revenue, amenity fees, and home sales proceeds. This visibility matters for portfolio valuation. Lot rent revenue, backed by land ownership, carries a different risk profile and cap rate than home rental revenue. Investors and lenders evaluate these streams separately.

Occupancy and Vacancy

Occupancy tracking in MH communities has two dimensions: lot occupancy (is there a home on the lot) and residential occupancy (is someone living in the home). A lot can have a home placed on it but be unoccupied. Standard multifamily occupancy metrics miss this nuance. MH Manager tracks both, giving operators an accurate picture of physical and economic occupancy.

Community-Level P&L

For multi-community portfolios, MH Manager's financial data rolls up into community-level and portfolio-level profit and loss statements. With the chart of accounts configured correctly, operators can compare performance across communities on metrics like revenue per lot, operating expense per lot, and NOI. On Voyager, these reports can be built as custom YSR reports or surfaced through Power BI dashboards for interactive analysis.

Breeze vs. Voyager: Which Platform Fits

Both Yardi Breeze and Yardi Voyager now support the MH Manager module. The right platform depends on portfolio size, operational complexity, and reporting needs. Here is how they compare for manufactured housing operators:

When to Choose Breeze

Breeze makes sense for operators managing a single community or a small number of communities with straightforward billing structures. If your reporting needs are met by Breeze's ad hoc report builder and you don't require custom SQL-based reports, Breeze delivers MH Manager functionality at a lower price point and faster implementation timeline.

When to Choose Voyager

Voyager is the right fit when you need advanced financial reporting (YSR, Power BI), complex billing configurations, integration with AP automation or job cost accounting, or the ability to build custom workflows and triggers. Multi-state operators with investor reporting requirements almost always land on Voyager. If you're currently on Breeze and outgrowing it, BC Solutions handles the Breeze-to-Voyager migration, preserving your MH Manager data and configurations.

MH Manager vs. the Alternatives

Manufactured housing operators evaluating Yardi MH Manager are typically coming from one of a few platforms: a purpose-built MH system like ManageAmerica, a mid-market property management tool like Rent Manager, or a general-purpose platform like AppFolio or RealPage that was never designed for MH workflows. Understanding where each platform excels and where it falls short helps operators make an informed decision. For a high-level overview of the MH software landscape, see our mobile home park software comparison.

Head-to-Head Comparisons

Implementation Planning Checklist

Whether you're implementing MH Manager on a new Yardi environment or adding it to an existing one, these are the key planning steps. BC Solutions handles MH Manager implementations end-to-end, but understanding the process helps operators prepare for a smoother project.

Pre-Implementation Data Gathering

• Lot inventory: Complete list of lots with status, size, hookups, and physical attributes. Export from your current system or prepare from site maps.
• Home inventory: Every home in the community with make, model, year, serial number, ownership status, and current condition.
• Resident data: Lease information, current charges, payment history, and deposit balances for every occupied lot.
• Chart of accounts: Current GL structure. Your consultant will map it to Yardi's COA framework or design a new one.
• Billing structure: Document every charge type, amount, frequency, and GL mapping. Include utility billing method and any special arrangements.
• Home sales records: If applicable, open sales contracts, inventory pricing, and historical sales data.

Configuration Decisions

• Lot type classifications: How lots are categorized (single-wide, double-wide, etc.) and whether categories affect pricing.
• Utility billing method: Submetering, ratio billing, or flat rate. This must be decided and validated before go-live.
• Home ownership workflows: How the system handles transitions between community-owned and resident-owned homes.
• RentCafe setup: Website design, listing categories, application workflows, and resident portal features.
• Reporting requirements: Which standard reports cover your needs and where custom reports are required.

Go-Live Preparation

• Data validation: Verify every lot, home, resident, and financial record against source data before go-live. This is the most common source of post-implementation issues.
• Staff training: Role-based training for community managers, accounting staff, and maintenance teams. Include both classroom sessions and hands-on practice in a test environment.
• Parallel operations: Plan 2-4 weeks of running both old and new systems in parallel to catch data discrepancies.
• Support plan: Identify who handles questions during the first 30-60 days post go-live. Through the BCS Concierge Club, our team provides dedicated support during this critical period.