When Dennis took the course, they told him that, in effect, to do “lonnie deals” he would need to be a DEALER, not a BROKER, as the MH’s would be in his name. The only way around that would be to keep an open title from the time it was signed over to you and until it was sold … which would be conceivable and though probably not legal would likely never be caught if it were simultaneous.
Otherwise, if you take title from Sam Seller on Tuesday and don’t have a buyer sitting there ready to sign on the line it should be titled and insured in your (or your entity’s name)… and that requires a dealer’s licence.
At least, this was what we were told by the good folks doing the course in Orlando (Winter Park).
If your info is different, please post or email me… we would greatly appreciate it!
Let’s take this a little farther …
To get a licence not only do you need to take the course (no big deal), but you need to be bonded (maybe not a big deal either, depending on your situation), and ALSO have a separate office - ACCEPTABLE to the STate!
Hang on - this can’t just be an office … it has to be a show lot, with room, and zoning, to display at least one MH.
One more item: the inspectors in our area and to the West of us, told us and another investor that if they caught us doing these deals without a licence they would nail our behinds (actually, much stiffer language).
The solutions seem to be:
work something out with a licenced dealer
get some commercial property with room for one MH to be displayed (we have an office in town, but no waythe city would zone it for display, even if we promised never to put one there!)
buy a park (and voila! an office and display room).
If anyone has any other solutions, we’d love to hear them. We did 2 Lonnie’s before Dennis took the course, and then decided life was too short to wonder if we were going to end up in jail over them!
Of course, if we used personal property trusts to take title, we could probably get around this… just occured to me. Hmmmm.
All you do is apply for a used mobile home brokers license, you do not need a showroom or anything like that. You will have to apply for a Fl sales tax permit and if you are going to finance you need to register with the Dept. of banking and finance. Also you do need a $25,000 surety bond. When you take the class all these agencies will have someone there to explain.
I think the next class is in Deland Fl around april 14.
The class is free but all the license and permits are going to cost around $600. Make sure you call dmv early classes fill up quick.