Does raw land apply for MLA? Can you not do a ballon loan on this type of loan?

A land-only (no dwelling) loan is a "covered loan" under the MLA. It meets neither the residential mortgage exception (which requires the dwelling as security); nor the purchase-money exception (which is for personal property, not real property).

That said, MLA does not prohibit balloons. There just cannot be any prepayment penalty on it (or on any MLA loan, for that matter).

See:

- CFPB MLA Flow chart

- BOL's MLA reg page