First deal - Posted by Sharlene Franks

Posted by Dirk Roach on December 28, 2000 at 18:10:02:

Hi Sharlene,
I was just wandering why he needs the 5K?
Once I was buying a mobile home and (incidentally I always try to find out why the seller needs x, because you never know, right?)
and I asked this guy why he needed the 4k he was asking for.
He informed me that he needed it to buy this used mobile home to move onto his parents property. It was a double wide and he thought it was a pretty good deal at 4k. His parents were footing the bill for the move and set up. But he had to get the mobile home.
I said wow, I have a couple of pull out double wides (I really didn’t, but I had a pretty good idea where to find some) and if he would take a look at them, maybe we could just work out a trade or something.
He said, sure why not.
The mobile that he was looking at was for sale by one of the local dealers in town. Whom I had done business with before, he was okay, but by no means as creative as some of the other dealers that I have dealt with.
So I call up one of these joy boys, and guess what they currently have THREE pull outs (double wides), two of them are 3 bedroom.
The one that the seller was interested in was only a 2 bedroom.
So I tell the guys, that I’ll take one of them off their hands, for 5 hundred bucks. They tell me they need to clear off the spaces for the new homes to go on, and if I take all three I can have each one for a hundred bucks… net 30! (which means I pay for them thirty days later!)
Okay no problem, I go pick up the title, and sign the paper work, get keys etc.
Later that night I take my seller (who is now a buyer) to all three, he falls in love with one, we trade his home, for it.
So Cool, I got his mobile home for like 100 bucks! But I still have the other two albatrosses around my neck, so what do I do? I thought about donating them, their is a couple of missions that are always looking for donations to Mexico (I live in San Diego), and they give you blue book credit for you taxes etc. Which is fine, but I would really rather have cash, you know. It’s just more fun that way.
Heck even if someone gave me two hundred bucks, that’s doubling my money.
So I ran an ad on the internet and sold one, to a guy up in Desert Hot Springs, for a grand! $900.00 bucks in my pocket! and the other one to another guy off the internet for $1200.00 bucks for a bunk house on his horse ranch. So another 1100bucks.
Cool they move them etc. Oh and write me checks.
I go by the dealer give him the three hundred bucks, plus another 100 bucks for his trouble.
So at this point I have like $1900 bucks in my pocket from the deal.
Then a week later I sold the $100 dollar mobile (the original one for $10000.00
$1000 down, carrying the remaining $9000 at 10% interest for 43 months at $250.00 a month.
I tried to figure out the yield but my calculator just wouldn’t handle the numbers.
Anyhow A couple of months later I sold that note for .50 cents on the dollar. and put anther $4500.00 bucks in my pocket.
And everyone lived happily ever after…all because I asked a simple question…
“Gee Mr. Jones, 4 thousand dollars is a lot of money, what are you going to do with it?”

Dirk

First deal - Posted by Sharlene Franks

Posted by Sharlene Franks on December 28, 2000 at 12:50:04:

I’d like some advice, and the members of this group seem like the best experts to ask!

My husband and I had to declare bankruptcy in June of 1999. We’ve been subleasing space from my sister since then, paying $300 a month from June of 1999 to January of 2000 and $450 a month from January of 2000 to the present. The lease on this place expires at the end of January 2001 and we want to find out own place.

Reading over the forum has gotten me excited about the possibility of making a deal to +own+ instead of renting, and my mom has been helping me look at what’s available. We’re looking at mobile homes since we’d like to stay close to the $450 we know we can pay with our current income, and my mom is willing to cosign a loan to counteract the effect of the bankruptcy that hasn’t reached two years yet. So far we’ve found two possibilities in a nice park with a family atmosphere.

Both have 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. One is a 1989 Allegro that the owner bought for his brother. He’s asking $5,000 and would prefer cash over financing. Another is a gentleman who would like someone to take over payments on his trailer of $213.35 a month with 6 years left on the loan. Both would also require $175 per month lot rent.

My question is, what is the best way to work from here on in? Do I try to obtain a $5,000 loan, do I try to take over payments, or do I keep looking? What are some things I should look for when I go to see the trailers to determine what the value is and whether the second home would be worth the $6,200 more than the first one?

Investing in mobile homes seems like it has the potential to be a lucrative venture, and I’d like to get my feet wet by doing the best possible deal to own my own home. I appreciate very much any help or advice that anyone can give me.

Thank you,
Sharlene Franks