This seems like a great way to make money! - Posted by Taylor (Tucson, AZ)

Real Estate Investing Real Estate Financing
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Posted by Richie on March 09, 2001 at 22:35:17:

They are considered to be just like houses. They have absolutely nothing to do with cars, and so they do not carry a Vin number. Most mobile homes are not exactly “mobile”, since it is isn’t usually cost effective to move them.
My advice on the $25,000 - Put $20,000 in an index fund and keep 5,000 to play with. You will find that you will be doing “All Cash” deals for only a thousand bucks, and then you can use the revenue from your deals to fund others.

Good Luck Investing,

Richie

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This seems like a great way to make money! - Posted by Taylor (Tucson, AZ)

Posted by Taylor (Tucson, AZ) on March 06, 2001 at 22:01:11:

Hello everyone,

My name is Taylor. I’m from Tucson, AZ and I’m thinking about getting started in buying/selling mobile homes. I just ordered Lonnie’s book today. I read all the articles on the site and I’ve read a ton of messages on this board.

I’m amazed that this kind of thing can work… buying a mobile home for $4000 and selling it for $8000 the next week!!! It just seems so amazing!

Why would any mobile home park owner cooperate with any of us? Why wouldn’t they do this themselves? I don’t get it… If I owned a mobile home park, I’d be doing this thing for myself and not letting other people come in and do it.

Also, are mobile homes the same as manufactured homes? When you do owner financing, how are liens placed on mobile/manufactured homes? Are they classified as cars or houses or what?

Do you get fire/flood/whatever insurance for them? Or if something bad happens do you just write off the loss?

How do you transfer the title/deed/whatever of the mobile/manufactured home to yourself and then to someone else? Does the government do this?

After you’ve sold the mobile home and have a note, what prevents someone from simply moving the house to some unknown location out of state and you never hearing from them again? Is this what the insurance is for, or is this just a risk of doing business? Do you let people move to a different mobile home park? Can you stop them? Should you stop them?

How do you foreclose on someone who doesn’t pay on the note? Is it easy, hard? How long does it take? When you do foreclose, do they get to keep any equity in the property or do they lose all the equity they’ve built up? What if they only have 4 more payments and all of a sudden they can’t pay? Does that mean you get the whole mobile home back again?

I probably sound really stupid with all these questions, but I’m 21, I don’t know much about real estate or mobile home deals (which is why I ordered the book). I got the idea to invest in real estate several weeks ago so I bought 5 books and read 'em all. Then I stumbled on this site and read Lonnie’s articles.

I’ve been a compulsive saver since I started earning a weekly allowance and I have plenty of cash sitting around in an MMA just waiting to be invested (about $25,000). It just seems frightening to use it to buy mobile homes…

Something inside is telling me to stay away from all this and put the money in an index fund, but the dreamer in me tells me to try something like this. I know that I’ll probably get all these questions answered AFTER I read the book, but I’m way too excited to wait for it to arrive.

Also, would anyone here who is experienced in Lonnie deals be willing to help me out with the first couple deals (sort of like a mentor or something)? I’d like to know that I’m not going to lose my shirt in something like this. If there’s anyone here from Tucson, AZ, that does Lonnie deals I’d be glad to buy you a lunch or dinner and pick your brain a bit…

Thanks in advance to everyone,
Taylor

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Re: This seems like a great way to make money! - Posted by Yeah rite

Posted by Yeah rite on March 18, 2001 at 01:32:12:

Are U people for real? Lonnie paying you for the plug or wut? I know $$$ can be made in this business but you sound like an infomercial or somethin…golly gee

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Re: This seems like a great way to make money! - Posted by Scott Az

Posted by Scott Az on March 11, 2001 at 13:01:25:

Taylor, I live in mesa. I am also only 21, with limited knowledge of real estate. I own lonnies book and a l/o course I’m trying to combine the two, to create maximum number of deals. Anyways if you have questions or comments please email me.
Thanks Scott Az

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It is!!! - Posted by Blane (MI)

Posted by Blane (MI) on March 07, 2001 at 06:31:26:

Taylor,

This is a great business, and one reason is you don’t need any experience to get started. Lonnie’s books lay it all out in an easy to read and enjoyable way. I’ll say again it’s almost ridiculous how much money you can make from one $30 book.

It’s already evident that the fear factor is creeping into your thinking. I think we’ve all gone through that at one point or another. Do you let that keep you from what you want? Heck, I was so scared to take the plunge it took me a week to work up the courage to click and buy the first book. You could put your money into an index fund if you want to be average, but you’ll discover this is a much better and faster way to grow your money.

I’ll try to answer a few of your questions real quickly. You think selling a home for $8000 that you bought for $4000 is amazing? Once you get some experience you’ll see that in many cases $4000 is too much to pay. As Tony-VA has said in the past, if you believe that’s what you gotta pay you will, but if you believe you can get them for less, you will find those deals. Last month I sold a home for $8000 I bought for $1200. Right now have two (no, make that three) people literally begging me to buy their homes, and the most I’d pay on any one is $2500. And that’s only if I don’t negotiate.

Park owners may cooperate for any number of reasons. In a sense we are doing some of the dirty work for them. We may buy homes that need some sprucing up outside, or the sellers may have been a problem for the park (noisy, late payors, whatever). We fix the place up, and any buyer we have has to be acceptable to them. We solve their problem and profit from it. As for park managers, who knows why some of them don’t. I keep reading about PM’s who keep keys and show homes for people. Must be nice!! Up here PM’s are too busy running the park to take on more “work”, even if that work could make them money.

Handling things like liens and transferring title is easy. This is generally handled through a Secretary of State or some similar office. You as lienholder go on the title along with the buyer’s name. You definitley want buyers to have insurance coverage at closing to protect your interest in the event of disaster. A couple deals from now these will be no-brainers.

Moving a home can be expensive and a hassle, which is good enough reason for most people to not move them. Foreclosure procedures vary by state. Depending on why they can’t pay, it doesn’t have to be a pain. Tony has told about people who have to move out, and he just asks them to clean the home up, and I think he even paid them $100 to do it. Those buyers walk away happy, they’re released from their obligation, and Tony has a clean home to resell. It’s called win-win. And if someone only has a few payments left, I’d bet my two kids they’ll find a way to pay you off.

You’ve got a good start with your $25,000. You’ll also discover with this business you won’t necessarily need your own money to make money. That’s where investors will come in handy. And keep posting here, as you’ll be able to have all your questions answered. I’m sure someone in your area will post or be in touch. Good luck and keep learning.

Blane

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Re: Thanks so much for your answer! - Posted by Taylor (Tucson, AZ)

Posted by Taylor (Tucson, AZ) on March 07, 2001 at 07:54:30:

Are mobile homes classified as cars or houses? Do they have VIN numbers or something like that?

Thanks,
Taylor