Posted by Phil Pelletier on June 30, 2003 at 18:58:03:
I am less diplomatic than Gentleman Steve from Washington. You are just NUTS! If you reread your post, the ONLY idea to come out of it is YOU taking credit for the idea of selling for cash and accusing Steve of selling on a note (“with the possibilities of missed rent, forclosure {it’s repo, by the way, forclosure is the legal process to re-aquire Real property}, etc”)
Read the post! You must see the folly in your agrument!
Phil Pelletier
55+ parks- stay away? - Posted by Bill
Posted by Bill on June 25, 2003 at 10:16:29:
I’m just getting started, and I’m looking for feedback regarding 55+ parks. Thanks for your help in advance!
Re: 55+ parks- stay away? - Posted by Ray-SRQ
Posted by Ray-SRQ on June 25, 2003 at 21:27:15:
I’d love to know what other’s experiences have been with the 55+ parks. I’m surrounded by them - they seem to be the majority here.
The search engine here won’t let me search with the term 55 or 55+ for some odd reason.
Ray
Re: 55+ parks - stay away? Hell no!! - Posted by Mr. C
Posted by Mr. C on June 25, 2003 at 15:54:40:
Make sure your buying a mobile home or a “park model”, not an “rv”. If it doesn’t have a pitched factory-type roof, don’t touch it. Learn what the differances are so you don’t get stuck with a lemon you can’t sell.
Phoenix and Yuma are subject to seasonal sales in the 55+ buyer (read - snowbirds). Plan on longer holding times, advertising and lot rent.
Don’t be dead set on carrying a note. Most of the buyers in this age group have been brainwashed by their peers into believing that paying cash is better than making payments. Take the money anyway you can get it.
For some inexplicable reason, many lonnie-dealers seem to think that they can put a 35 year old with a wife and 3 kids into a home in a 55+ park. It don’t work that way… 55+ means 55+. Refer to item # 2.
Remind me to write a book on this topic someday.
Re: 55+ parks- stay away? - Posted by Lin
Posted by Lin on July 08, 2003 at 17:04:07:
My first deal was done in a 55+ park. I bought in January 'cause I was trying to start the new year off with a bang. I re-carpeted and painted the entire interior. I spent about $1300 on clean-up. The place sat empty for nearly 3 months. I had ads in the paper non-stop, and I changed the copy frequently. I only showed it three times between January and March. I had about $5300 into it, after fix-up and three months of lot rent. I didn’t sleep very well.
My third prospect came in, liked it, and bought for $7750 cash. $2450 was enough profit to send me to the CREONLINE convention in Atlanta and buy myself a couple new courses while I was there. Definitely go to the Convention, if you get a chance.
My thoughts:
Find out what the slow months are and time your purchases to take advantage of them. Park managers can tell you this. My seller had tried to sell since early fall. By January he was desperate and hadn’t showed it in quite awhile. Things start to pick up in March here in Oregon. Rain keeps people indoors. And I’ve heard, though I haven’t substantiated this, that April and May are pretty good because lots of people are getting tax refunds.
I got dozens of calls, and only 10% were qualified seniors. It was frustrating to let interested, and qualified folks get put on a buyer list while I waited for that puppy to sell. I didn’t want to have two homes at the same time when I was just starting out.
Would I seek out 55+ parks? I guess not, though I loved getting cash, and the wait was worth it. I haven’t done any more deals in that park. The market just isn’t that good for 55+ here. Check the demographics in your area. That’ll give you an idea about whether there’s a strong market.
HTH
-Lin
Re: 55+ parks- stay away? - Posted by Mr. C
Posted by Mr. C on June 26, 2003 at 24:29:24:
http://www.creonline.com/cgi-bin/search_wb4/search.pl?p=1&lang=en&mode=all&q=senior
Did you bump your head right before - Posted by Philip
Posted by Philip on June 30, 2003 at 21:10:58:
starting this string?
I am actually a fairly nice guy, but you say one thing then another.
I think you must not have a wife to argue with.
Philip
Re: 55+ parks - stay away? Hell no!! - Posted by Lyal
Posted by Lyal on June 26, 2003 at 07:42:07:
I was hoping you’d reply to this as you are one of the resident experts on 55+ deals and opened my eyes to the possiblities here. Haven’t scored one here yet but I look now when I didn’t bother before. That “all cash” thing sounds pretty good!
All the best, Lyal
PS: No sharp edge to this reply. Looks like the old Mr C. is back. Cool!
did one - still cringe - Posted by Steve-WA
Posted by Steve-WA on June 27, 2003 at 02:42:33:
bought for 1900, stripped carpet out, sold for 4K cash.
Held for about 3 weeks, sweated the whole time.
Re: did one - still cringe - Posted by Mr. C
Posted by Mr. C on June 28, 2003 at 24:37:59:
“Bought for 1900, stripped carpet out, sold for 4K cash. Held for about 3 weeks, sweated the whole time.”
Let’s compare…
$1,900 purchase price
$4,000 sales price
= $2,100 profit
12.0 % financing
36 months
$132.86 a month
= $782.84 in interest + $2,100 = $2,882.84
…or…
$2,100 cash to your pocket in 3 weeks, less the cost of replacing the carpet.
I’ll take my way over your’s anyday.