Investor -- dealer? Mr. Hyre, please help! - Posted by chill

Posted by Dave T on July 04, 2002 at 22:02:09:

John,

I do not invest in MHs so I have no direct experience here. It is my understanding that in many states, selling mobile homes is considered in the same vein as selling automobiles and a dealer license (issued by whichever local taxing authority issues business licenses) may be required before very many sales occur.

I realize that your response only addressed the IRS “dealer” question, but since mobile homes are the inventory under discussion this other “dealer” issue should be mentioned. Perhaps Chill should be directed to the Mobile Home Forum for a more complete discussion of this aspect of the “dealer” issue.

Dave

Investor – dealer? Mr. Hyre, please help! - Posted by chill

Posted by chill on July 02, 2002 at 08:52:07:

We own a mh park and have put a couple of mhs in and have set up lease-to-own options. That has worked ok, but now we want to use an investor to add another home. If the investor buys the mh and carries the note (which we found and will have moved and set up and sell) and we get a portion of the profit in the sale for our services, does that make us a dealer? We don’t want to be a dealer.

How could we structure this?

Thanks.

Re: Investor – dealer? Mr. Hyre, please help! - Posted by JHyre in Ohio

Posted by JHyre in Ohio on July 03, 2002 at 10:21:34:

One such deal probably wouldn’t cause “dealer” issues (no pattern of sales)…repeats probably would be treated as dealer properties, because a pattern of selling would emerge…not necessarily a reason to avoid doing the deals, just a factor in evaluating the return to you. In terms of how-to set it up…that’s where I draw the line between “general questions” and “billable legal advice”!

John Hyre