Questions about Buying Bank Repo

[Rita Hoeffner]

I am totally new to mobile homes, but my husband and I would like to buy a repo to place on his father's ranch as a vacation/retirement home. This is strictly for personal use, we are not investors.

Due to the rural location, I have found a repo that is about 75 miles away; however, I'm not really sure how to proceed.

I found the house at [LINK REMOVED], listed by 21st Mortgage as a repo. There really is no information available as of yet, other than an address. When I contact 21st Mortgage about viewing the home, they tell me it is still occupied, but feel free to make an offer if I would like. My husband happened to be in the area and drove around a couple of hours looking for the house and finally found it. It's REALLY out in the middle of nowhere. It's a 1998 Solitaire 28X80.

I'm guessing from having dabbled in these listings for a couple of months, that the area rep probably hasn't been able to FIND the darn thing, to view and assess it for value and make pictures. My husband's family has lived in the area their whole lives and it took them 2 hours to even find the road it was on!

Here are my questions:
1. Is it common to list a home as a bank repo with it still occupied? How long do they allow the previous owners to remain in the home after a repo and would a cash offer speed up the bank in getting them out?

2. After seeing the outside and area conditions, we would consider a cash offer on the home, but we really have no idea where to even start. Especially since I've never bought a mobile home before, let alone a repo, I have no clue where to start. I've checked and the home is on private property (no lot rent) and the taxes are current (surprisingly). The lady in the tax office was very chatty and knew the owner personally and told me the daughter pays her taxes but that she is recently divorced and cannot afford the payments. The land is family land that was divided up between the children - she was VERY chatty!
I've found a couple other comparable repos listed at $39K, but they are in good locations and even in different states. This home is going to be expensive for anyone to move. I want the bank to know I'm serious, but I am, after all, looking for a good deal and I have to take into consideration the moving cost on caliche roads of $9K. I'm considering a sight-unseen cash offer of $16.5K - is that too low? The movers that I got estimates from suggested that I start even lower?!?! I want the bank to know I'm serious - I really want this home, mainly due to the location (the move will be considerably cheaper than from other locations).

3. Or should we just wait until the rep finally finds it and posts pictures and a price to make an offer? We've been waiting for 3 weeks now with the bank continually saying contact us again next week. LOL

4. How do you make an offer? Do I just send an email saying - I'd like to offer $XX Cash for this unit?

5. If we make an offer, does the bank usually counter or just ignore if the offer is too low? I know that's a hard question, but if you've worked enough repos I'm sure you get a feel for what you can usually expect from the different banks.

6. If they do accept my offer, can someone tell me basically what the next steps are in order to complete the purchase and how much time I have to get it moved?

I've already contacted movers and gotten estimates, but since I'm over 400 miles away from the home and where it needs to go, I'll need time to coordinate everything.

Not finding a lot of help out there, I have posted this to a couple other MH sites, so I apologize if you are reading this again. Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer any insight or advice into our crazy adventure!