Mobile homes insights?

[Jadon Kabernick]

Hey y'all. Newbie here. I've been soaking up all the info I can about REI over the last months and one thing I don't hear about often in mobile homes. What I've gathered is that they devalue much faster than normal houses, and maybe don't sell well? Anyways I've seen a lot of mobile homes for sale much cheaper than normal houses, especially the ones over 20 years old. One listing I've been eyeing lately is a single wide built in 1992 and its selling for much less than similar properties are. I would be looking into renting it and having cash flow. So I was wondering why they sell so cheap once their old? Are they notorious for falling apart and deteriorating once they reach a certain age? Would repairs typically be abnormally high compared to normal homes around the same age? (thus making the up for the cheaper paying price for it) I haven't heard much about that but I can't figure out why else these old mobile ones sell for so cheap around here. Any insight is appreciated as I said I'm quite new to this realm and just trying to learn all I can. Thanks!

[Aaron Poling]

This is a really good question and topic. There are some things to think about when investing in mobile homes. First, when you purchase are you buying the mobile home only or are you also purchasing the land that it is attached to. I would recommend always buy when they are attached to land, although there is a whole industry of investors that purchase mobile homes in parks with rented lots and rent the mobile homes out. They just aren't technically real estate investors as they aren't buying any land. 

Second thing to consider is that they are considered personal property and typically have a title with the DMV as opposed to a deed recorded at the courthouse. They structures do depreciate over time, as do stick built properties. In my opinion the reason they lose value more than a regular house is that many loan types will not loan on them. When you decrease the amount of loan types available then you reduce the size of your buying pool so your potential sales price is decreased. 

Third thing is to try and only purchase them if they were built in 1980 or newer. In the late 70's they established more stringent building codes for mobile homes which increased the quality of those being built. The loan types that you can use to purchase mobile homes mostly go away if built before those codes were created. 

I would suggest listening to some podcasts on mobile home investing. I recommend Mobile Home Park Investors with Jefferson Lilly. It talks more about buying the parks than mobile homes, but you will pick up great information on this industry with this podcast. 

My suggestion would be to keep analyzing the different types of investing you have access to, and if mobile homes fits what your looking for, then it could be the right move. 

Good Luck! Aaron