Tell me what YOU'VE done wrong! - Posted by Ernie

Posted by Anne_ND on September 04, 2003 at 11:04:51:

Steve,

This is an excellent point, one that I have not yet dealt with. I’ve been planning to have the IRS discount the notes I get to reduce the tax (per Hyre’s course), but have yet to deal with how to do that.

Very naive question: is there a very general formula of how much money to set aside for taxes either per home (assuming most houses sell for around $10K on a note) or per $1K per note? Feel free to answer with ‘it all depends, check with your CPA!’

Thanks!

Anne

Tell me what YOU’VE done wrong! - Posted by Ernie

Posted by Ernie on September 01, 2003 at 22:20:58:

Hello all,

I’ve bought and read the book, spent a couple of weeks reading through posts here, and am buying my first MH next week. I’ve read a few posts where folks have talked about some mistakes they have made, but not a lot of them. Most of the posts I’ve seen are related to spending too much on the first MH. Let me know what other mistakes you’ve made so I might be able to avoid repeating them! Thanks.

Ernie

Thanks for the info! - Posted by Ernie

Posted by Ernie on September 03, 2003 at 19:15:18:

Thanks to all who have replied. Hopefully I’ll be able to learn from your experience. I’ll keep you advised of how it’s going!

Thanks again.
Ernie

Re: Tell me what YOU’VE done wrong! - Posted by Steve-WA

Posted by Steve-WA on September 03, 2003 at 17:41:29:

From the beginning, it was a struggle to set aside money for taxes. “Come April, I’ll just sell one for cash, and pay the bill!” Yeah, right. Very difficult to not reinvest every cent of profit.

Also, and I have mentioned it here before, when starting, you tend to want to buy them ALL - and there’s just too many! Set limits, and stick to them. If anything goes wrong, it will cost. And a hungry newbie HAS to have a reserve.

BTW, for all of my mistakes, I still made money.

Re: Tell me what YOU’VE done wrong! - Posted by Philip

Posted by Philip on September 02, 2003 at 14:27:48:

Didn’t get enough information about park restrictions before doing first deal…bu it turned out ok.

Re: Tell me what YOU’VE done wrong! - Posted by ned - il/mo

Posted by ned - il/mo on September 02, 2003 at 13:12:21:

I’ve only done one deal but I’d say my biggest mistake was underestimating the time and hassel that came with selling. I held for nearly 4 months at 220 a month. In short, I had many many many interested buyers but they all failed the park application process. Had a buyer that did finally pass BUT he changed his mind after a month. I did finally get someone in (he has been in for about three months now).

Re: Tell me what YOU’VE done wrong! - Posted by Dan (MD)

Posted by Dan (MD) on September 02, 2003 at 12:27:05:

My number one mistake when I started was to wait for the credit report for each person who said, “I love it, I’ll go fill out the credit app tommorrow.”

I’d wait 2-3 days while they get to the park office to fill out the credit app then I’d wait another 2-3 days for the park to get it’s act together all to find out that my buyer who told me, “I won’t have any problems with a credit report.” filed for bankrupcty last week (true story) you will run into a LOT of interesting credit/money situations and if you do this a couple of times you’ve just run through a months lot rent…

Here’s my advice, the home is ALWAYS for sale until you have a signed contract, with money in your hand. So if 10 people say they want to buy it and somebody calls you about the home…it’s still for sale (this will save you hundreds of dollars in lot rent)

Dan

I waited 3 yrs after buying Lonnie’s book to start - Posted by Anne_ND

Posted by Anne_ND on September 02, 2003 at 07:25:43:

Not getting started right away has been my biggest mistake.

My second biggest mistake was to agree to help a friend sell a moble home out of state.

Yesterday I bought a 1970 MH for $2K. I showed it an hour later and had three couples eagerly asking me what they had to do to get qualified by the park- whether their applications will materialize I don’t know. My yield on this house will be 109% if I sell it with my terms.

My advice: get started today!

Anne

Re: bought second lonnie in an adult… - Posted by Greg Meade

Posted by Greg Meade on September 02, 2003 at 06:43:10:

park.very clean unit with skylite in master bath. saw some water stains so figged 300 to fix for resale. when my handy women went up to repair, her foot went thru roof. digging into existing roof, found the entire roof was shot. Had to do a roof over…546 for metal and framing,460 labor to install. i will always add ik to any roof work period. My basis in home was such i could overcome the hit, but it really did freak me out! good luck!