Posted by Tony-VA on February 14, 2000 at 14:30:53:
Hey Steve,
Glad to hear you are interested in lonnie deals. Here is some answers to the specific questions you mentioned but feel free to email me at colella@erols.com for more info. I love to talk lonnie deals.
In VA, the 3rd mobile home you sell in 12 months technically requires you to obtain a dealers license. This is not necessarily a bad thing and is just a part of doing business. If you do 6 or more homes, I would bet the sales tax savings alone would pay for the costs. I would suggest you do the first two homes and find out if you like investing in these lonnie deals, before you apply for the dealer’s (broker’s) license.
I am willing to bet that if you do 2 of the deals, you will be as hooked as the rest of us. I also believe that once you do a lonnie deal, you will never want to rent a mobile home out again. These lonnie deals are too easy. No landlord maintenance. HUGE yields on your money, and no phone calls about problems with the homes. Many parks don’t want you to sublease the homes out so this limits your target rental market as well.
The regulating agency for licensing is The Dept. of Housing and Community Developement: The Address is "The Jackson Center 501 North Second Street Richmond, VA, 23219-1321. The contacts are Curtis McIver or Constance Moore (804) 371-7160. Ask them to send you the “Manufactured Housing Licensing and Transaction Recovery Fund Regulations” and a copy of the “Mobile Home Act”. These are free and will answer many of your questions.
The cost of moving a home will vary depending on many things such as the size of the home (single vs. double wide), the distance to move it, if axles will need to be rented etc. 1k might move the home but not far, and not likely to include any tear down and set up. You will also need permits and licensed electrician and plumbers to do the hookup. The zoning inspector then comes out to check. I strongly suggest that you avoid moving these homes, especially during your first few deals. To get exact costs, you simply need to call a Mobile Home moving company in your area. I called 3 and got a price in the neighborhood of $2300 for the move, tear down, set up and axle rental. That is what I generally pay for the homes already in the parks, so moving one made no sense at all, not to mention the risks and frustrations.
The info you will obtain from the state agencies is by no means a substitute for Lonnie’s book “Deals On Wheels”. That book tells you more about the Mobile Home business than you can imagine.
Hope this helps. Shoot me an email when you get a chance.
Tony-VA
It might be easier to answer all of these state specific questions via email or phone. I will shoot you an email and phone number.