…answer. There are many different levels of valuation. There is the factory selling price, the dealer price, used mobile home blue book price. Then there is the comparable sales value among private private buyers and sellers. Confused yet? Well there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that there is still one more valuation, the Lonnied dealer valuation. This is the ONLY value you need to care about. The bad news is that you can only learn this by watching this board, reading Lonnie’s books, and better yet by having a local Lonnie dealer be your mentor for a couple of weeks while you learn the REAL values, the Lonnie values. You’re just not going to learn this any other way, and it you try you’re going to get hurt real bad financially, sorry. Follow the yellow brick road that leads to Green St.
Warning: NEVER use the blue books when buying because the prices may be as much a 10 times too high. I LOVE to use blue books when I am selling though. I show the book to my prospective buyers, to ‘prove’ to them how much below “Blue Book” they are getting my mobile. They eat it up. Works like a charm every time, and a WONDERFUL sales tool. To find a blue book appropriate to your area just ask mobile home dealers and/or lenders who finance mobile homes.
Clint,
“Rules of Thumb” will get you in trouble. The general consensus is that if it looks like a good deal, tie it up with a contract contingent on due diligence and then dig into the financials etc.
Read Ray Alcorn’s due diligence for commercial properties article and Doug Ottersberg’s 4 part series on Turning Trailer Parks into Communities to learn what is required to keep you from shooting off a foot (or wallet as the case may be).
All the best, Lyal