Re: Help- MH not Selling!(long) - Posted by ned - il/mo
Posted by ned - il/mo on July 09, 2003 at 07:00:24:
Jennyj,
I feel your pain. I posted this a while back about my first deal (you might relate):
Well, I bought a 1988 14x70 bank repo for $1000 and paid $880 in back lot rent in March (2-3 br (was 3br converted to 2 very large br?s), 2ba). The sale went smoothly. I fixed a ?few? things and cleaned a lot. I had some water leak issues which were not too bad and I had fixed by a local handyman. When it was all said and done I was in this home around $2500. I figured I could sell around $8000 on a note.
Now the pain (215 lot rent a month), I started advertising and got tons of calls (around 100 in the on and off 4 months). I showed it numerous times and went to many no-shows. I finally got a lockbox set up so shoppers could go themselves. I also got many interested buyers but time and time again they were rejected. This park is very very picky ? which doesn?t make a lot of sense to me. Also, after I bought I have learned that this park doesn?t exactly have the best reputation.
Finally in mid-July I got a young couple whose parents co-signed and they got in. Well this month (June) they left. They did mess some things up including a bathroom which now has missing carpet and the toilet apart (this was all working when I sold it.) I did get $300 down from them which I kept.
With the above said and done I was in the home for about $3500. Of course there were the things I didn?t even think about - power, gas, grass cutting which I have done some but got extremely busy at my day job and couldn?t handle anymore, time to check on it a few times a week, a gas leak (someone turned on the exposed gas line for the stove and when they shut it off the valve was loose), advertising becomes a biggie when holding this long, etc?.
I now got another guy to pass (we close end of this week). This guy seemed great at first. He said he thought he would have $500 down. But now that he paid the 220 deposit for the lot, 215 for first months rent, and got his required insurance. He only has $100 down for me. I am going to give him a try at around 200 a month at $7400 (7500-100 down) (I Knocked off 500 and he will be handling the repairs) at 10% interest. I hope this guy sticks it out at least till I recoup some of my investment.
Is this for me? I?m not sure. It has been extremely frustrating and I?ve had some worries. I have had my highs and lows. I have certainly learned a ton and overall am glad I?ve went down the path. If this guy does pay my return seems to be ?good enuff?. I have a lot on my mind: Should I attempt this again? (I think I will) Why didn?t the sale side go smoothly? Should I try another park? Do I need to negotiate with the current park on lot rent since it seems to take a long time to sell? Should I buy newer and nicer (maybe it would sell better)? Should I change the way I advertise? Ect??. (these are questions only I can answer but just want to share my thinking).