Mobile Home Question - Posted by d.henderson

Real Estate Investing
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Posted by Karl (Oh) on March 04, 2000 at 08:03:34:

No No No, Dee! Move that home! Why should I be the only idiot out there moving these instead of buying them in place? I’ll tell you what. Get on a plane and come to Cincinnati, you can help me this weekend get my one ready to be moved, I won’t even charge you for the experience.

Just kidding, good luck with your search.

Probably not a real good idea for your first one, but maybe some dealers down near Ft. Worth has some cheap trade-ins you could put on those three empty lots. I know good cheap trailers are hard to come by down there (based on what you told me in Atlanta), just an idea.

Any news on that trailer park that’s for sale?

Karl Kleiner

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Mobile Home Question - Posted by d.henderson

Posted by d.henderson on March 03, 2000 at 18:51:43:

I have some questions please, a very newbie at mobiles, keeping running into these so I thought that I would try one. I have Lonnie’s books, they were the first thing that I bought and they are the best. These are questions that I need answered before I commit to buying.
This mobile has nothing on the tongue to tell what it is or the model except 11-71. The sellers have a bill of sale nothing else. They remodled it and it looks pretty nice, but they covered over the floor vents. They have 2 window units but no heat. New stove and refrig that go with mobile and they are leaving all furnishings.It also has a nice built on porch but that will probably be scrap, I guess when it’s moved. Movers will move and set up for 2K. Sellers want 3K.
Park Manager says he’s has room for three and he will let me even rent them if I want. Any help?
Dee-Texas

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Re: Mobile Home Question - Posted by d.henderson

Posted by d.henderson on March 04, 2000 at 06:58:38:

Thank you all for helping me with this problem. Let me clairify some of the questions:
The mobile is sitting out in the country 25 miles away. These people bought it three years ago at an auction to redo and live in. And yes it does it cold here, but they didn’t have the money to put in heating, so they stuffed the heating vents with insulation and carpeted over the vents. They are using electric heaters, the baseboard kind. I’ve checked under their names about liens and found none, around here if you take something like this down back roads the tax man can’t find it.
The park manager has three openings and will let me do anything from rent to sell in his park. No trailers are for sale in his park or I would have started there.
From what everyone has said, I think I will wait for another to come along before I try it, even though hubby knows about mobiles (he use to build them in the early days)as everyone has pointed out is more headache than profit.
Thanks again, I’ve found out so much good information from all now I can make an informed decision.
Dee-Texas

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Re: Mobile Home Question - Posted by Karl (Oh)

Posted by Karl (Oh) on March 04, 2000 at 01:08:36:

Going to start out with an really fun one, aren’t you Dee?

In Ohio, the mobile homes are part of the BMV, like a car title. I call down to the county treasurer’s office, give them the name of the owner and address, and they tell me if the taxes are paid. (I spent an hour on the phone the first time calling everyone at the courthouse until I found the two women that handle all the mobile home stuff.) They have on record the make, year, etc., of every trailer. Don’t know how it works in Texas, but how’s the owner going to sell the home without being able to give you the title? Make sure there are no liens on the property.

I just bought one that didn’t have the propane tank hooked up to the furnace, cause the owner was paranoid it might blow up and kill her. So she had several plug in baseboard heaters. If you wanted to add them, they could plug in or be hardwired. (Not sure if thats a code violation or not). It doesn’t get very cold down there anyway, right? Maybe your buyer won’t even care, since summers on its way.

Why would you scrap a new porch? Doesn’t your husband own a construction company? Tell him to send a couple of his guys over to tear the porch down and take it to the new park. I’m getting ready to have one moved that has a nice big deck with an awning. Tomorrow morning I’m taking a buddy with me and we’re going to tear it all apart and take it to the new park. Its really nice and will help sell the home. Sures its a lot of work, but I sit behind a desk all week and need to swing a hammer every once in a while to feel like a real man. (Plus I don’t have the money to pay someone to do it for me, yet). I’ll also take a half hour to tear off all the skirting and pitch it, For $250 I can buy new skirting and I’ve got a guy that will install it for $100, it looks a lot better than saving the old stuff. Basically, I just want the mover to move it, block it and level it, and hook up the utilities. I save some money by doing the others things myself. Right now I’ve got more time than money (hopefully that will change soon). While those guys are working on the porch, have them rip off all the skirting, too.

Have your mover break down his charges, see where you can save a little. My mover is giving a little price break because I told him I was going to use him a lot. He’s giving me the price he charges my park, which is a little less than his regular rate.

Does the park you’re moving the home to have a maintenance guy? See if you can sweet talk him into taking on a little of the work to get it there.

These may sound like weenie little tips, but I’ve moved two homes, and am moving another one next week, and these little things have helped it go a lot easier, involve the folks that have done a lot of this and it should go smoother.

Why would you want to rent the trailers? Sell them on a note. Do you think a renter will take care of that home? If you sell them, you don’t have the liability in case those baseboard heaters burst into flames!

Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes.

Karl Kleiner

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Re: Mobile Home Question - Posted by Jacob

Posted by Jacob on March 04, 2000 at 24:06:23:

Hi Dee,

I’ve done more than two, so maybe I can help a little bit. I’ve personally never seen any info on the hitch (tongue), but I’ve never looked there, either. The little piece of paper on the fuse box Carey mentioned is the HUD certificate, and it is illegal to sell a mh without that little piece of paper in place (FYI). The certificate is required to list the manufacturer and date of manufacture on it, and many will also list the model as well. The easiest place to find it is either on the inside of the fuse box, or in one of the kitchen cabnets. If you ever plan on a buyer arranging financing through an outside source (Conseco, etc.) that certificate MUST be in place, they will not finance it without it.

The other things you mentioned confused me a bit. If the porch is nice, why will it be scrapped? In my experience, a good porch can be the best selling point of a mh.

While I am at it, why must it be moved? If you can possibly avoid it, do not EVER move an older mh. You’ll understand why after you’ve seen a mh that’s been in place for 20 years, and then moved. Not a good idea.

The whole heat thing also made no sense to me, but I’ve learned that there is little in the mh world that really does make sense. I always thought it sometimes gets cold in parts of Texas, but I guess I was mistaken.

You should always look at potential problems in this fashion: How can I explain this to a buyer. Meaning, if all of the heating vents are covered, how will a buyer see this and how will you explain it? If it doesn’t make sense to you, it may not make sense to them either.

Just the opinion of someone with a little more experience.
Jacob

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Re: Mobile Home Question - Posted by Carey_PA

Posted by Carey_PA on March 03, 2000 at 23:19:57:

Dee,

First of all, keep in mind that I’m new at mh’s too, I’ve only done two so far. (Hopefully my third will be tomorrow, but then that would be another post wouldn’t it?)

Ok, so here goes my 2cents: I don’t know if you’ve done any mh deals or not, because you just said you were a newbie at it, but if you haven’t done any mh deals yet I don’t know if I’d want to MOVE a mobile home for my first deal. It may be too much hassle and may end up being a big pain in the you know what and end up making ya hate lonnie deals! (I have NEVER moved one personally, but I know most people on the board say not to move one for your first deal)

BUT, if you were to move it, I don’t know if I’d go ahead and pay the sellers $3,000. That seems kinda high to me when I KNOW I’m going to move the home. But I’m speaking from where I am and when sellers are selling their homes that have to be moved, they usually LIST it in the paper for like $1,000-$1,500 and I wouldn’t pay that EITHER, probably. (I’m a cheap lil bugger)

I have no comment about the heat, because I know nothing about it, but I’m sure someone else could help you with that.

And about finding out the year and make, etc. I found in the last home that I had that if you look in the fuse box inside of the home, there was a paper taped to the thing that listed the make and the year the home was built. I don’t know if this would be the case with your particular home though, it may be worth a peek though.

You said the Park Manager said he has room for 3??? What does that mean, he has 3 empty spaces that you could move homes to? or he has 3 homes that he’s gonna let you rent if you want to? I wasn’t too sure what you meant. But RENT them if he’s gonna let you. But keep in mind that if they are empty and you have to move the homes to the spaces, GET THE HOMES FOR CHEAP! (just in case anything really screws up, that way it wouldn’t be too much of a loss,etc)

Sorry that I rambled on, I hope I made some sense and helped somewhat!

Good luck,

CAREY

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Re: Mobile Home Question - Posted by miloneco

Posted by miloneco on March 03, 2000 at 22:00:59:

My first commment is why can’t it stay where it is?Second what do you mean no heat no furnance at all?Third too much for the purchace without knowing the year
there must be a ucc statement filed somewhere.Check around on the cost of the movwe and set-up as well.Good luck.