need advice on old mobile - purchase

Hi all,
Just went to look at a 1970 New Moon SW. Owner/seller - asking 12,000 in a small park. When I went in I immediately could smell what I thought was cat urine. I asked if she owned a cat and the answer was no. Then noticed water damage in living room where the carpet meets the wall. Maybe what I was smelling was must. Then saw water damage in one of the bedroom ceilings. The roof is obviously leaking. The roof itself looks flat but I was told it is slightly rounded. The seller is very motivated, and thought about offering her 5 or 6k for the place. My concern of course is the roof - if it needs to be replaced and not just repaired what kind of money am I looking at? The MH is in seacoast area of New Hampshire.

Thanks for any advice given

I suppose every area is different but this is the kind of home most people have to give away. This is a pre-hud home for starters. It is very old and needs work. If you had done dozens of deals and somehow knew you would make money with this home I might feel differently but for the most part I would say run not walk away from this one.

For the educational perspective, use this one as a learning tool. Negotiate just like Lonnie teaches. Don’t offer anything. Stick to only what he wrote in the book. Do this confidently, knowing that you aren’t going to buy it so you won’t be afraid “of losing” a deal. Just stick to the script and you will be amazed at what a truly motivated buyer will do.

Tony

[QUOTE=Tony Colella;886153]For the educational perspective, use this one as a learning tool. Negotiate just like Lonnie teaches. Don’t offer anything. Stick to only what he wrote in the book. Do this confidently, knowing that you aren’t going to buy it so you won’t be afraid “of losing” a deal. Just stick to the script and you will be amazed at what a truly motivated buyer will do.

Tony[/QUOTE]

Great advice. A perfect opportunity to negotiate and have no emotional commitment.

She might give you the place. You then need to decide if you will accept. There will be costs once you become the owner. If you are the owner, who can you sell to if you need to exit?

Mary, what part of NH is this. There is only 11 miles of coast if you mean the bit touching the ocean. I great up in Lawrence MA so know southern NH pretty well. I used to train and race bicycles so I covered a lot of NH on two wheels.

Thank you for the quick response. I tried to go in and do as Lonnie said, put a price tag on repair costs as I did the walk through. The owner has called me twice since I saw the place so she is very motivated to sell. I have also put a call into the park owner/manager because there is another vacant mobile in the same park.

John, to answer your question it is in Rye NH. It is not “on” the ocean but about two miles inland in a small park.

Don’t worry so much about the repairs price tag. There are several tactics for that, one is just asking them what they think all those repairs would cost.

The key negotiating skill to practice here is “if I paid you cash to today, what would be your best, all cash price?” Then don’t speak. Let them name the next number. From there you can decide to negotiate more, walk away or buy (although in this case you may just be using this one for practice).

Re-read how Lonnie handles the back and forth of the negotiations and use the exact language he uses.

Tony

Mary,
Do as the others suggested. I know the following example isn’t your situation but you can feel the motivation in it too:

Seven weeks ago I had a cash buyer who wanted to trade her old 1973 double wide from another park as part of the cash payment on my $21,000 totally updated double wide in a 5-star-beautiful park. Three(3) years ago her father paid $15,000 for her home. They said they’d like to get at least $6000 for it, knowing they would be “losing money”.

I didn’t even get out of the truck, I just said I wasn’t interested. I said just pay the $277 lot rent on it 'till you sell it. They said no way! Not two lot rents! Then suddenly they only wanted $1000 for the home… I went in. The plumbing & kitchen were updated. It had a fireplace, hardwood floors in the kitchen and dining room, two baths, brand new elec furnace and working central air. It also came with all appliances which were less than 5 yrs old. It needed $800 of carpet to fetch a realistic price of $6000. They paid the current month’s lot rent.

I took the deal at that point. She moved into my place two weeks later. I put a sign in the window a week later (I was busy) for $3500 OBO. Got 5 calls, I sold it to a park-approved buyer for $3000 1 day before lot rent was due.

The dynamics between a motivated seller and an unmotivated buyer with cash are amazing!

One more story if you wish:

A PM called and told me a woman had moved out and wanted to get out from paying the lot rent on an empty home. I walked around it thinking $2500 would be a good wholesale price for me. She absolutely refused to name a price saying, I was in the business, I should know what to offer. This was about my 5th deal.
I said: “my colleagues and I get these anywhere from zero to $500.”
She said: “Is that good enough?”
I said: (Nothing. I was so dumbfounded by her answer)
She said: “$400?”
I said: (Nothing again.I hadn’t recovered from the previous moment)
She said: “$300?”
At this point I recovered and didn’t let her embarrass me in front of the PM
I said: “OK”
She said: “Good I’ll go up and pay the $72 taxes and meet you here tomorrow.”
THAT’S MOTIVATED!

I put in a $110 fan in the CAC unit and sold it 2 weeks later for $5600 with $750 down and $225.mo That was 7 yrs. ago.

Mary, This 1970 wreck you are looking at sounds like a true $0-500 home plus $3000 and 3 months work likely to sell for $3500 in my area. Check out other homes in the area. Do they sell for this kind of $$ when fixed up? I know in California they do (or even more) but not here and not in most places.
Steve