Lost Titles - Posted by paul - East Texas

Posted by Mike -TX on October 25, 2000 at 17:19:19:

Paul,

If you are in Texas as your name indicates, you may want to skip this home. But a little homework will tell you yes or no…each mobile has the HUD label on the end of it (Unless it is an early '70s model) that will have a serial number on that placard. Take that number and call the Texas Department of Manufactured Housing and Community Affairs (TMHCA)… they will track title as it is registered and tell you who the last official owner is.

The problem in Texas will be that in order to register the home properly for clear title, you must have received a clear title, and I can almost gaurantee that you will not in this instance.

If your sellers bought this mobile and did not receive clear title for their purchase, then they are going to need to produce a Bill of Sale from that seller. Hopefully the guy that sold them this home was the last name on the title, but if not, you may have to track down a lot of folks to get them to sign off on a home in order to update the title. Texas will require you to have all authorizations and signatures from past owners on title and they will most likely require all past taxes (sales and whatever else) should have been paid when the home passed hands. That could make this too expensive for a profit.

On the other hand, if the guy that sold it to the seller was the last on title, and the current sellers have their Bill of Sale, then it may be fairly easy to update title and have the sellers pay any old taxes. You will never know unless you look though.

I would recommend you take the 20 hour training held by TMHCA that is required to obtain a Manufactured Home Retail License if you are going to be doing homes in Texas. You may not get your license right away (as you will learn that it is a bit pricey with your bond) but the knowledge you will gain from it will save you a lot of headaches. It is worth the $100 i spent to attend. Also, you can only do one mobile home resale per every 12 months in Texas without a license, so doing more may get you fined if you forgo the license. Look into the TMHCA website (sorry, I am at work and do not have the URL handy) for more information…and if I remember correctly, you can look up title information online thru their website.

I hope this helps,

Mike

Lost Titles - Posted by paul - East Texas

Posted by paul - East Texas on October 24, 2000 at 14:33:07:

Need to know if anyone out there knows how I can get a lost title on a mobile home. The people I am buying it from bought it without a title and the people they bought it from didnt have one either!
Thanks for the help!

Re: Lost Titles - Posted by Roger

Posted by Roger on October 25, 2000 at 17:47:31:

Paul - If these are old MH there may never have been a title issued. Texsa used bills of sale before they went to titles. You can check with Austin to get info on these MH’s. You will need the info from the label inside the MH.