killer deal or a bullet missed? - Posted by Anne_ND

Posted by Lyal on August 10, 2003 at 13:27:37:

Al,
The $21,750 would be the total of the payments with the principal and interest, not the price. You can use your financial calculator to figure out what the actual price was.
That said, you NEVER hide anything in your transactions. Apart from the ethics issues, it’s a recipe for disaster somewhere down the road. The free legal attorneys would salivate at the chance to beat up on you.
I always talk about the price, terms and anything else that’s relevant up front. If they have a problem with it, we discuss it and I explain that if they can pay cash I can do better on the price, but if we’re doing the financing, we’re just a small operation and we get paid for giving people the opportunity for getting into a home when noone else will help them.
I always put the price, interest rate etc in BOLD type in the documents and they initial each page. I also use “2 multiple originals” so they have a copy they can take with them right then (they get to choose which copy) and I can never be accused of changing the documents.
It has been my experience that the market we serve understands that they will need to pay a premium price to get in and yes, the down, and monthly payment are the deciding factors.
Bottom line, ALWAYS be open and honest in your dealings.
If someone complains about the price but buys the home anyway, their animosity will fester and they’ll be looking for ways to “get you back”.
All the best, Lyal

killer deal or a bullet missed? - Posted by Anne_ND

Posted by Anne_ND on August 06, 2003 at 22:54:26:

Yesterday I looked at a trailer (1979 2/1) that had been pulled out of one park and had been left in the seller’s mother’s front yard. The seller’s mother called on my ad and asked me to come take a look-see. The house had been trashed by her daughter and grandkids, but looked okay on the outside. No appliances. I told her I couldn’t give her more than $500 for the home as is. She wanted $1700. 5 minutes after I left she called me on my cell to say she’d take the $500. I told her I’d get back to her after showing the photos to the PM.

Today the PM said okay to move it in, and I got firm estimates for moving and set up- turned out to be very reasonable. I called the seller back and she said her daughter won’t take less than $1700. I said okay call me if she changes her mind.

Later I returned a call from another seller- 1974 3/2 home already in my park of choice. She’ll take $2500 or $3000, but is really okay with anything I give her. I’ll probably get it for around $1750, but I’d give her as much as $2K. All appliances and central air. I already have a buyer for this home, can probably get $6500 with financing.

If the other person calls me back again I’d still buy her house, but my offer goes down to $450. I keep remembering Lonnie saying not to move houses, so I feel lucky that this deal fell through AND that I had another waiting in the wings.

I love this business.

Anne

Ditto, and . . . - Posted by Steve-WA

Posted by Steve-WA on August 07, 2003 at 09:44:43:

Karl is right on pushing your sales price.

Do you not find that people (generally) are only interested in how much down and how much a month? What is the average term (length) of your notes?

I ran across a park owner recently that was trying to sell some homes himself, and the standard terms(which seem very reasonable) were $1K down, $200/mo for five years, no interest. That’s 13K!

Don’t short yourself Anne - you need to buy bread!

Re: killer deal or a bullet missed? - Posted by Karl (Oh)

Posted by Karl (Oh) on August 06, 2003 at 23:53:31:

Anne,

Its funny when a seller gives you a range of what they want for their trailer. “I need $3k or $4k.” Do they think we’ll take the average? Heck no, we jump on the low number as the starting point!

Two things. If you thought the home that had to be moved was a deal worth doing at $500, no need to punish them if they call back by beating them down to $450. Give them the $500. Just my opinion. Also, don’t be afraid to ask closer to $10k for the older 3 bedroom. There’s a good demand for 3 bedrooms, push your price and see what happens.

Karl Kleiner

Re: Ditto, and . . . - Posted by Anne_ND

Posted by Anne_ND on August 07, 2003 at 11:03:34:

Steve,

Thanks for your response. The average term of my notes to sellers is 55 months (varies from 22 to 80). I have charged all of them 14%, and my average down payment is $1066 (varies from $500 to $2500).

I like the idea of doing notes with no interest rate- but I do sell some of my notes to investors and I like to give them at least 18%, have gone as high as 35%. This is hard unless I get a high interest rate from my buyer. However, as I’m becoming more financially stable I can afford to keep more of the notes. You’re right, buyers could care less about the interest rate, the down payment and monthly and lot rent are what they care about.

I appreciate your comments on the price. I wrote about my experience with the MH seller this morning in my response to Karl. I’m going to try to sell for $10,900 (based on other homes I’ve sold) because it has all appliances including central air and a wood burning stove, and I’ll be putting in all new carpet.

Thanks!

Anne

Re: killer deal or a bullet missed? - Posted by Anne_ND

Posted by Anne_ND on August 07, 2003 at 10:48:27:

Karl,

Thanks for your response. You’re right, there’s no need to punish the seller of MH #1. I do think they’ll be back and $500 still makes it a good deal for me.

I looked at the MH #2 this morning. It’s very tidy outside with an entryway, porch and new wooden wheelchair ramp. On the inside it was also very tidy, and didn’t smell too bad considering that EIGHTEEN cats and three people lived there.

For sure I could have gotten MH #2 for $1500 but I didn’t want to haggle with a woman in a wheelchair. I just told her that I couldn’t go higher than $2000 and she was very okay with that. I would happily sell for $6500 if I had to do no work on it. My cost for new carpet throughout the house will be about $1500 installed and I’ll be able to sell it for $10,900. It also includes a new woodburning stove which I hadn’t seen before in a mobile home.

I appreciate your comments,

Anne

comp - Posted by Steve-WA

Posted by Steve-WA on August 07, 2003 at 11:20:29:

I just sold a 1974 2/2 with a heat pump, no repairs necessary, and needing updated carpet (buyer is replacing)

16.5 @ 13% 300/mo

Of course there are regional market differences, but my buyer loved the $300/mo for only 6 years.

Who wouldn’t?

:wink:

Re: killer deal or a bullet missed? - Posted by Lyal

Posted by Lyal on August 08, 2003 at 19:33:16:

Anne,
One comment on the wood burning stove. They are kinda cozy but also an insurance nightmare. I’m to the point where, if a home has one, the first thing I do is tear it out.
All the best, Lyal

Re: how do you do it? - Posted by Al (Wi)

Posted by Al (Wi) on August 10, 2003 at 08:45:56:

Steve,

Where do you show the total price on your selling documents? Which documents show the total price? Don’t your buyers read them? $21,750 is a big number. Where do you hide it without breaking the law?
Is the secret that the buyer is aware of the $21,750 but just dosen’t care what the total is, as long as he/she can afford the monthly payments?