Posted by Hubert on September 14, 2005 at 06:26:17:
Thanks, I will go look at the courthouse records. I would prefer to do the financing, but I need to get some things in order first before I can move forward with the dealers license. I wonder how many seller finance deals I can do in SC without flags going up all over the place.
Lease Options - Posted by Hubert
Posted by Hubert on September 12, 2005 at 05:54:26:
I have read Deals on Wheels a couple of times now and I have a couple of MH’s I am going to look at today for purchase. I am thinking much like the fellow earlier that I want to do a few of these before I spring for the dealers license to be sure it’s right for me.
I plan on hitting this pretty hard and have set a goal to buy 3-5 MH’s a month if I can get them for the price I am willing to pay. I have 25K to invest and the way I have it figured I should be able to buy 10-15 MH’s with that amount of money.
Lonnie, do you or anyone else for that matter, have a good lease agreement and option agreement contract that you can send me. My thoughts are to do the first few on lease option then step up to the dealers license once I am comfortable with things and feel like this is something I can do long term.
Hubert
Re: Lease Options - Posted by Ryan (NC)
Posted by Ryan (NC) on September 12, 2005 at 07:18:21:
Hubert,
You need to locate a good lease that has been to court in your area, try to find a landlord association or just ask a few landlords in your area and explain that you are just getting started and ask if you can get a blank copy of their lease. For the option part I use Ernest Tews which you can get for free at ernesttew.com.
Don?t get to far ahead of yourself with 3-5 per month at first, get a deal or two under your belt learn the ropes and take the time to learn how the game is played so that you are not making the same mistakes over and over. With 25k you should easily be able to buy & sell your goal of 10-15 MH?s in the next 12 months while you learn.
Best wishes,
Ryan Needler
Re: Lease Options - Posted by Hubert
Posted by Hubert on September 13, 2005 at 08:43:08:
Ryan,
There is also a lease contract at the website you referred me to, but it makes reference to Florida law. Could that be used in the event I can’t get a contract in time if I remove the Florida reference?
Also, I found a website LawDepot.com that has lease agreements. Is anyone familar with this site?
BTW, last night the guy I met with wouldn’t budge on price, so I walked away. Asking 5K for 92 Oakwood 14x48 2+1 needing work. He said he was going to repair the home. So I asked how much if I took as is, and he only dropped $500. I thought to myself there is no way he is going to fix it for that and do it right.
A/C needed to be fixed, holes in the wallboard of almost every room, soft spots around washer, new carpet, paint, skirting. So, He’s motivated b/c his wife just had another baby, but he’s not motivated enough for me yet.
Re: Lease Options - Posted by Hubert
Posted by Hubert on September 12, 2005 at 08:07:24:
Thanks Ryan,
I plan on taking it slow but I forgot to mention that I worked as a general manager at a mobile home dealership for 4 years. I just need to get reacquinted with the industry. I left the business in 2000. I tried my best to get the owners to do these type of deals back then, but they couldn’t see the forrest for the trees.
I have gotten into REI and have flipped a couple of houses. Just never considered going back to mobile homes until I started my newspaper advertising (We Buy Houses ad) 4 weeks ago and 75% of the calls have been people wanting to sell mobile homes. So I purchased Lonnie’s books and here I am.
Funny how things come full circle sometimes.
Re: Lease Options - Posted by RyaN (NC)
Posted by RyaN (NC) on September 13, 2005 at 22:20:28:
Hubert,
If you’re going to use L/O’s, I highly recommend getting a good lease that you know will stand up in your local court room! The best way is to go to the court house get a copy of the eviction records and contact a few of the landlords that have gotten a judgment from the court so that you’ll know that it works if you ever have to go that route. The option is not as important to me as it is the buyer / tenant and I just use it as-is except for changing FL to NC.
As for finding truly motivate sellers I personally go through about 3-4 calls to find one home I’ll go look at. If they won’t drop their asking price at least 25% on the phone, I’ve found that they won’t drop the price much more once I’ve wasted my time going out to look at the trailer.
I approach this on the phone by asking how much they want for it, then asking for specifics about the home, condition, size, rooms, year, why selling, ect, chit chat for a bit then I close with “if I where to buy your trailer today, what do you think you could let it go for…” If I don?t like the answer I tell them that it sounds like something I might be interested in but I don?t think that price would work and to call me back if they can find a way to do better on the price? IF they drop their price a good bit or if the price seems reasonably low to start with, I’ll go take a look and use Lonnie?s squirrel dog routine & “best cash price” to negotiate the price to where I want or I?ll walk away if they stall out above what I think the home is worth
We?ve been through a heck of a lot of homes trying to figure out what the retail prices are in our area and looking for the good deals, but by knowing pretty close to what we can sell a home for we haven’t went broke by missing out on a deal that someone else has paid to much for.
IMHO you choose to walk away from a lot of work for very little return, this guy may call you back in a month or so when he needs a grand or two to put a deposit down on the new double wide his wife found for them and they can?t sell because of the damage. You are off the couch looking for deals and deals have a really funny way of finding you (or your money I should say) once you are in motion, if it don?t happen today there will always be more trailers to see tomorrow. Happy Hunting 
Best Wishes,
Ryan Needler