Posted by Anne_ND on September 16, 2004 at 09:02:53:
Geez! What a crabby post that was! I should just be grateful I’m not in the path of a hurricane.
Anne
PS- but I stand by the intent of my original post, long distance deals are not advised!
Buying MH Out of State , Good or Bad Idea? - Posted by Robert R. (Maryland)
Posted by Robert R. (Maryland) on September 15, 2004 at 19:34:34:
my subject pretty much says it all. i have cruised other online classified ads where mobile homes (some even look like Lonnie deals) are for sale. Want to get a discussion going about the pros/cons of doing business out of state. I keep thinking i can make a decision by looking at a good digital picture(s), but then what? there shouldn’t be much “management” to it if I can locate the right buyer. That’s my thinking. Now what do you gurus out there think?
yes, I am a newbie to MH buy/sell/hold business. You can probably tell by this post. Good luck to all. Robert R.
Re: Buying MH Out of State , Good or Bad Idea? - Posted by John
Posted by John on September 17, 2004 at 10:22:20:
Robert,
I do a lot of out of state investing (out of country is more correct as I
am not based full time in the US these days).
Some details.
I am talking about non-MH deals. Not sure that it really matters but
lets make that clear.
I started investing locally and I did a lot of my own property
management at the time. Painting a duplex till three in the morning
think about how every day vacant was another $30 lost.
At this stage I have more of a nose for a deal and have a bit more cash
to hire folks. I also will work with partners (as the lender, as the cash
partner, what ever) if I need a local person for a deal.
Investing at distance is pretty much the same as learning how to invest
in a large portfolio. When you can not personally be front and center
with each property and each tenant, seller, buyer.
Expect that when you are remote the costs for repairs tends to go up a
bit as you can not use personal judgment if a ‘cheap’ fix will do it.
You need some hands on training in some form or RE investing before
doing things at a distance. Or you need to be the passive investor in
someone else’s deal.
John
PS. Send me an email as I might have some ideas for you depending on
where you are in MD.
Bad Idea - Posted by Anne_ND
Posted by Anne_ND on September 16, 2004 at 06:44:27:
Speaking from experience, it’s a bad idea.
Usually when people threaten to sue me I tell them “go ahead, sue me!”, turns out the one time the jerk actually followed through it was after an out-of-state Lonnie deal went awry (the seller lied about everything). Although I certainly would have won on the facts, it wasn’t worth the money or the time so I sent the guy his lousy $200.
Don’t try this either out of state or more than an hour away… not worth the headache and you can’t smell the home over the internet.
Anne
Re: Buying MH Out of State , Good or Bad Idea? - Posted by The55+GuyFromAZ
Posted by The55+GuyFromAZ on September 15, 2004 at 20:57:57:
I wrote about 300 words on how this was a bad idea and then decided you’d probably end up doing it anyway… so, I’ll simply say… if you can’t get there and back in less than an hour… I wouldn’t.
Hehe…“smell the home …” - Posted by Andrew
Posted by Andrew on September 16, 2004 at 13:42:42:
You know Anne, maybe you’ve just coined a new phrase like…
“That home was so nasty you could smell it over the internet!”
-Andrew