My 1st Mobile Home

[Shakiah Naverre]

Hi everyone. 

I am new to bigger pockets and real estate investing. I recently purchased a mobile home because I wanted to start small. I purchased a 2 bedroom 1 bath 1978 mobile home. I was ready to jump on the ball so I ran my numbers and everything looked good. Therefore I purchased the mobile home on a nice lot for $3500 the lot rent is $125. I expected to put $1000-$1500 worth of work into to this mobile home in order to spiff it up a bit. I also planned to rent it out for $550 a month.

After purchasing this mobile home I started to put things in motion to get the home fixed up. I contacted the city in which I purchased the mobile home to get the electricity and water turned on. The lady on the other line stated the home had been moved into their city illegally and I needed to speak with the mayor. BUMMER....

In speaking with the mayor, I learned that the mobile home had been giving a permit to be moved in that city 2 years ago. However the person who gave it shouldn't have. They allowed the previous owner to keep it there because she was given the permit, but he states that he told her once sold it had to be moved!! 

At this point I'm in panic mode. How could this happen? The previous owner states that she is willing to refund the $ but she has spent some of it and only has $2500... So in essence I'm loosing $1,000 already. Plus my time etc. you guys know the saying "time is money"!

Has anyone dealt with anything similar? Moving the mobile home would be an additional $2000 + that I didn't expect to spend. How should this be handled?

It was definitely a lesson learned. Call and make sure you can get the electricity turned on before buying anymore mobile homes!!! Lol

Shakiah Hall

[John Fedro]

Hi Shakiah and all,

Congratulations for having the courage and ambition to pull the trigger and invest in the mobile home in the first place. Had this unforeseen issue never come up this probably would have been a very lucrative deal and quite a nice property for your end-user.

Good work calling the mayor and tracking down the possible solutions to move forward. With any luck you may be able to find a mobile home park that will pay for the entire move and set up of your mobile home. However if the city does not want your mobile home it may be difficult for a new park to want the home as well. However stranger things certainly have happened.

With that said I would also encourage you to seek as much of a refund you can as possible. When you title the home back to the previous seller you can attach a lein for your remaining $1000 if you and the seller agree to this. Whether you received the remaining $1000 or not this was a fairly inexpensive lesson. I hope it does not sour you on real estate investing or mobile home investing.

Welcome to bigger pockets and please feel free to post all of your questions and future deals here if you have any concerns at all. We are usually all very happy to help.

Talk soon,
John Fedro