Another place to find mobile homes..... - Posted by Carey_PA

Posted by Bob,PA on November 05, 2000 at 19:24:26:

Amy,MO No, actually the arrangement to pay $50 for each of the first two MH’s was already set up by the park owner (who knew the Treasurer on a personal basis). I just went in and asked to see the Treasurer and told him “My name is Bob and Mr. Park Owner told me you have a couple MH’s in his park which you’d like to clear off your books.” He knew exactly which homes I was talking about and that’s when he went over to the County Owned Property book to look up the numbers, etc. That led to a discussion of County Owned Property and that’s how I learned about it. The book sits out on the counter for public access and they almost seem to encourage you to look thru it.
If I were to advise someone on how to do it themselves, I’d say to do it just like you said. Go to the County Treasurer’s office and ask if they have a listing of County Owned Property. If you get blank stares, just say “You know, the stuff that didn’t sell at the tax sales.” If they still give you blank stares I don’t know what to do! Maybe try another county?
Actually though, they’re very happy to get rid of any of this property because otherwise it will sit there on their books forever. Some of the stuff he was willing to let go for $100 had taxes owed in excess of two thousand dollars.
Good luck.

Another place to find mobile homes… - Posted by Carey_PA

Posted by Carey_PA on November 04, 2000 at 18:15:13:

Hello,

Hope everyone is having a happy saturday! Well, I think another great place to find potential deals if you don’t call or go there already is your local tax lien office!

I called there the other day wanting to know when they were going to be auctioning off their mobile homes. The woman was very polite and said OH boy we’d love to but it probably won’t be for a longggg time before we get to mobiles. I said oh really, because there is this one home that i know of that is behind in back taxes and i want to buy it but i can not find the owner. SO we talked about that home for awhile and she tried to see if she could find the owner but nothing. Then she says well i’ll work on that home for you, but in the meantime would you be interested in getting in contact with other people that owe back taxes, i mean maybe you could get them to sell their homes to you before they have to be auctioned off!

I SAID YESSSSSSS i would definitely be interested in EVERYONE THAT OWES BACK TAXES!!! She said ok great, i’ll try to get them i touch with you or i’ll just dig up everyones info and she what i can find.

Then she proceeded to tell me about a mh that owes back taxes and she KNOWS the guy doesn’t want the home, she said i’ll get his number for you.

SEE IF YOU’RE POLITE TO THESE PEOPLE, THEY MAY JUST HELP YOU MORE THAN THOUGHT IMAGINABLE!

Good luck,

CAREY

p.s. i should be getting an abandoned mobile home this week. I contacted the seller and I told her that I’d pay her past tax bill IF she just signed the title over to me. SHe agreed :slight_smile: (oh and i have an agreement with the park that they won’t make me pay all the back lot rent, they just want me to get someone in the home ASAP)

Re: Another place to find mobile homes… - Posted by Lonnie

Posted by Lonnie on November 05, 2000 at 19:07:40:

Hi Carey,

Congratulations and thanks for sharing your experiences with us. There’s no substitute for getting out in the field and talking with people.

Best wishes,

Lonnie

Re: Another place to find mobile homes… - Posted by Bob, PA

Posted by Bob, PA on November 05, 2000 at 07:49:12:

The County Treasurer’s Office can be a gold mine.

I bought three MH’s from them. Two for $50 each and one for $100. Here’s how.

I had bought an eyesore in a local park, fixed it up real pretty and sold it. Then I moved a nice home into one of the park’s empty lots. The owner had started to like me. He said he had two abandoned homes that I could have (both, not one or the other), waiving all back lot rent, if I’d settle the back taxes with the County Treasurer, who had already agreed to sign them off for $50 each! He didn’t care what I did with them, he just wanted to start collecting rent on those two lots. One home was junk but the other, a 12 x 60, had possibilities.

Fools rush in, and so did I. Paid off the Treasurer ($100 total), had the junker hauled away and ??? for $250.(“I know nothing, but I did see smoke coming from that direction”) Spent a month of spare time and about $1000 on the 12x60 and sold it for $6500, $1000 down, $200/mo.

While at the Treasurer’s office, he said “If you’re interested in mobile homes you ought to look at this list. I’ll sign off anything on this list for $100.” It was a list of County Owned Property. Everything on the list has been through a tax sale and has not sold, for one reason or another (FLAG!!!), and the County now owns it. Land, houses, mobile homes - you name it. It was full of mobile homes. Apparently it’s pretty easy for an increasing tax bill to pass up the depreciating value of a mobile home. But there were a few “nuggets” there too. He showed me how to decipher the list and I found one with an appraised value of $11,000! Went and looked at it immediately and ended up buying it for $100. (It might have been worth $3000). 14 x 65 Liberty 2/1. Had it moved to the lot where the junker had been, fixed it up (I ended up with about $3000 in it, counting the move) and sold it for $9000, $2000 down, $200/mo.

A few words of caution. Tax sales don’t wipe out liens in PA - Sheriff’s Sales do - but tax sales don’t. Before you invest a lot of time or money in anything from a tax sale, find out who has the title and what it will cost you to get it. I almost got burned (oops, that’s not a good word, maybe “stung”) Yeah, I almost got stung on the 12 x 60 because a Savings and Loan had a Lien against it and they had the title. Luckily, they knew the poor condition of the home, and also knew they’d have to pay off the back taxes and the back lot rent before they got anything and they agreed to sign it over to me, no charge. Bless their souls.

On the 14 x 65, there was no title - it had been “purged” from the state’s system. But I was able to get it reinstated by dealing with a notary who got online with the state and got me all the details of the old, “purged” title (which I guess wasn’t completely purged).

I’m glad I didn’t know then what I know now because I probably wouldn’t have done either of these deals and would have lost out on several thousand dollars.

Be careful but keep on pluggin’.

Re: Another place to find mobile homes… - Posted by Tony-VA

Posted by Tony-VA on November 05, 2000 at 06:23:16:

Carey,

Another fine example of asking question and going that extra step. If we don’t ask, we don’t get! A little creativity and the guts to ask questions can take you a very, very long way.

I am still amazed at how just a quick question such as, “Is that the best you can do?”, can earn hundreds and even thousands of dollars.

Nice Job Carey,

Tony-VA

Re: Another place to find mobile homes… - Posted by Amy,MO

Posted by Amy,MO on November 05, 2000 at 10:54:07:

Bob,PA

Did you just go to the County Treasurer’s office and ask them if they had any County Owned Property that they wanted to sell for the back taxes owed?

Amy,MO