Mobile home note buying in Florida - Posted by Chad Lare(FL)

Posted by kevin on April 06, 2000 at 15:36:11:

In Florida, if you reposess a mobile home that you personnally hold the paper on, the mobile home becomes your personal property. Having said this, no license is required to sell your own property. The license is required if you are trying to sell the property of someone else. In this case you would be a broker/dealer.

Mobile home note buying in Florida - Posted by Chad Lare(FL)

Posted by Chad Lare(FL) on April 06, 2000 at 10:15:17:

I was reading the Florida statutes about license requirements for MH brokers and dealers. From what I can tell if I buy a note secured by a MH and then end up reposessing the home, I would not need any kind of license to sell it.

I’ll copy the statute here.


320.77 License required of mobile home dealers.–

(1) DEFINITIONS.–As used in this section:

(a) “Dealer” means any person engaged in the business of buying, selling, or dealing in mobile homes or offering or displaying mobile homes for sale. The term “dealer” includes a mobile home broker. Any person who buys, sells, deals in, or offers or displays for sale, or who acts as the agent for the sale of, one or more mobile homes in any 12-month period shall be prima facie presumed to be a dealer. The terms “selling” and “sale” include lease-purchase transactions. The term “dealer” does not include banks, credit unions, and finance companies that acquire mobile homes as an incident to their regular business and does not include mobile home rental and leasing companies that sell mobile homes to dealers licensed under this section. A licensed dealer may transact business in recreational vehicles with a motor vehicle auction as defined in s. 320.27(1)(c)4. Any licensed dealer dealing exclusively in mobile homes shall not have benefit of the privilege of using dealer license plates.


I take that to mean that a private investor who buys a note would not be considered a dealer (and would not need a license) if he or she resells the home after reposessing it, if the note goes into default.

If that is true it seems to me that I could still make some very good returns by just buying notes secured by mobile homes (at big discounts, of course). If, and when, I do end up taking one back I could use Lonnie’s method of selling the home and creating a new note. It seems to me that I could do all of this without getting a license from the DMV, which requires leasing office space and having a $25,000 surety bond.

Does anyone know if I am correct in my interpretation of this?