Abandoned Mobile homes - Do you even touch them?

[Eric Gard]

I have been out looking at a lot of MH over the last week, I cannot believe the condition of some.

Some of the mobile homes I have seen really look like a tornado swept through. I'm talking busted windows, missing doors (int and ext), no plumbing fixtures, decks half tore out, siding missing, holes in the siding, cabinet doors missing, whole cabinets missing, garbage piles, missing floors, wire stripped out...

I cant believe some people waste their time destroying a property like that.

Does anyone here rehab these kind of properties and make money on them? Horror and success stories are welcome :wink:

[Terry Drake]

I'm not a big fan of junkers either but if a deal presents itself and you can make a good profit on it, then don't be afraid to at least take a look and crunch the numbers.

My intentions were to not do any work but I ended up in a park and they had some vacant homes with a lot of potential. They were willing to give them to me for free and free lot rent until they sold. Some I sold as is, others I put in $1500-$2000 (labor and materials) and let my handyman do all the work and ended up with a completely remodeled MH in less then two weeks.

Just to give you an idea how cheap you can get things done:

My handyman gets $100/day (or $12/hr) and usually takes him 4-5 days to complete the job.

Carpet is delivered, installed, tack strips and padding for $10/yd. (avg cost is about $500 to re carpet the home)

Laminate wood flooring + under layment is about $1.20/sq ft. (kitchens/bathrooms are small, avg lam flooring cost is $150)

Misc materials (plywood/2x4's/paint/cool seal) usually runs about $250.

If you need appliances, stoves and refrigerators are about $75 a piece on craigslist.

So for about $1,500 you've got a mobile home with no leaks, solid floors, fresh paint, new carpet, new wood flooring and ready to sell. An added benefit of doing this is the homes show much better and sell quicker (an even bigger benefit is these homes appeal to the more picky cash buyers or those who fall in love with the place with a nice chunk to put down).

Now you know when you walk into a home for sale like this and the guy wants 8k, you know you can do everything he has for less then 2k. Likewise if you walk into a home for sale with potential (nice ''floor plan'', cabinets, ect) but otherwise 'trashed' you know you can clean it up cheap and make a healthy profit. JM2C