Posted by vic on December 12, 2000 at 16:26:15:
I just found and passed up a free 1978Double wide,
cause it had to be moved and it was a real dump,
Keep Looking !
Dont pay too much !
I would look for a house though if you could find a fixer upper in a safe neighborhood for 400 mo.
Convincing Seller to finance? - Posted by Ray
Posted by Ray on December 09, 2000 at 18:39:13:
Hi All,
I really don’t know anything about MH’s except that I lived in one as a kid and told myself I’d never live in one again, well, we’ve all heard the saying “never say never”.
Anyway, my wife and I started looking today. The one we looked at is very nice, 14x70, 1987, the owner is a remodeler so the interior is somewhat updated. It has a 3 year old furnace w/cent. air, water tank is 2 yrs. old. It has 2bd 2ba He extended the concrete pad for two parking spaces, the stove, fridge, washer/dryer are 5 yrs. or less and they stay. The master bedroom is open to the master bath which has his/her sink with a garden tub between them, a walk in closet. They are selling because they have bought a house. I asked about owner financing and he was clueless as to the concept. His reply was “Oh no, you see in order to live in this park you have to own the trailer” I tried to explain it to him, but, his fear of the unknown took over and he came up with several reasons why he didn’t want to do that. He said he had borrowed the down payment for his house from his mother, he needed to build a pole building for his remodeling business, yada yada, he has to buy his cat a fur coat, etc. etc. etc.
I don’t want to give up on this trailer yet because it fits us perfectly. They are asking $20,000 OBO. They had pictures of the trailer (in summer with plants/flowers)on the counter when we walked in. The wife said they didn’t think it would be winter before they sold it (which got a hard look from him)before we left he said they just put it in the paper. I’m thinking they have been trying to sell for a while.(hopefully) I think we may be able to come up with 4-5K for a down payment. I’m looking for some advice on how to help him understand the benefits of seller financing. I haven’t spent much time here on the MH board, but I bet you folks are every bit as creative and knowledgeable as on the other board, can anybody help me out with this situation?
I’d really appreciate any help you could give
Thank You
Ray
Re: Hold ON… - Posted by David S
Posted by David S on December 13, 2000 at 22:33:32:
don’t get is such a bit hurry… there are zillions of deals and you can keep your cash in your pocket. Truly motivated sellers will finance for you IF and when you find them… be patient.
As for a mobile home vs a house for investment; that would depend on your exit strategy. Those that say “trailers” are depreciating and therefore must be worthless, don’t really have a clue as to the investment possibilities available nor do they understand the note business.
Keep looking for a better deal. You’ll know when you find it.
David S
Re: Convincing Seller to finance? - Posted by Rich_Ga
Posted by Rich_Ga on December 10, 2000 at 16:25:36:
Ray,
I own 11 mobile homes in Georgia, and have a 1983 that sounds similar to the one you described. Trailers depreciate over time, and I just sold mine for $8k with $1000 down rent to own. There are many out there, if you have that kind of money to put down, you should really look at finding a house to owner finance, at least that appreciates and you have Real Property vs Personal Property.
Rich_Ga
Re: Convincing Seller to finance? - Posted by vic
Posted by vic on December 10, 2000 at 15:47:04:
If you have 5K to go down you can buy a house.
We bought a 100K house for 3500 down.
20K is way too much unless you are buying the lot also.
Trailer is worth about 5K
Re: Convincing Seller to finance? - Posted by DavidTX
Posted by DavidTX on December 10, 2000 at 01:31:12:
Ray
I don’t know your location but I have a MH dealer license in Tx. and that price sounds outrageous to me I buy 1999 16x80 repos 3bdr 2bth for 10000-13000. Just thought I would comment. Good Luck
Re: Convincing Seller to finance? - Posted by Ray
Posted by Ray on December 10, 2000 at 19:22:02:
Hi Rich,
Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.
Our goal is to find a decent place to live as inexpensively as possible for a year or two so we can repair our credit and build a business.
I just learned from another investor here that the blue book is $12,300 for a MH in good condition in an average park. far less than they are asking, perhaps they are too fond of their home, we shall see.
I’m beginning to think there may be a good market for “Deals on Wheels” in this area.
anyway, thanks for your help Rich.
Re: Convincing Seller to finance? - Posted by Ray
Posted by Ray on December 10, 2000 at 16:09:49:
Hi Vic,
Thanks for your input.
Our purpose for getting into a MH is to live cheaply. We want to be able to live on my wife’s salary alone so we can use what I make to get out of debt and build my business. We have credit problems we need to fix as well, which will probably take a year. So for now, living cheaply is the priority. $400 per month for space rent and trailer payment is doable.
Having said that, I have had a few people tell me that the price is high for this trailer,(I haven’t seen the Blue Book yet) but they haven’t seen that it is pretty new on the interior, so I need to do some more investigation to find out how much the improvements to the trailer are worth. If I find out it is not worth their price, I will offer what I think it is worth and if they don’t accept, I’ll move on. We looked at another one today that we can buy for $5,500. A 1978 12x56 that is nowhere near as nice, it needs updating throughout. I guess the bottom line is, We’re still looking:-)
Thanks again Vic, I appreciate it.
Ray
Re: Convincing Seller to finance? - Posted by Ray
Posted by Ray on December 10, 2000 at 09:22:44:
Hi David,
Thanks for your reply.
I too was a little surprised at the asking price, while it may be a very nice trailer, updated inside and somewhat updated outside, it is still a 1987 trailer. It is the first trailer we’ve looked at, it’s a perfect fit for my wife and I, I want to keep our communication open on this trailer and see if we can convince the seller to finance. By the same token, we are looking at more trailers today, still trying to get a feel for values in the MH market. I would certainly like to find a repo like you describe, we have a few weeks, maybe we will.
Thanks again,
BTW, where are you in Texas? We lived in Lake Worth for a couple of years. (too hot!)