Easy Steps to Setting up Mobile Home on Land??

Question

I'm looking at buying a vacant lot, then getting a used single wide mobile home for it. The purpose would be to rent it out through a property manager just like a regular single family home. Where I invest (East Central Indiana) there are many used mobile homes for sale (mostly in mobile home parks) and vacant lots for sale. Most of the mobile homes priced well and in good condition sell within 14 days on facebook marketplace

However, there are 3 problems I've run into. First, the zoning rules vary widely from one town/city to another regarding set backs, minimum size of home you can place on a lot, etc. Some towns are much more "mobile home friendly" than others. The second problem is it is difficult to find people who will do preparation of the land for the mobile hand ,and also I don't really know what is better/easier/cheaper...putting concrete pillars in the ground every 8 feet or putting down an asphalt or concrete slab. Third , I have heard you are supposed to have a "licensed mobile home installer" attach the home to the ground, but I have called some of them in the big cities and these people won't come to a small town 75 miles from Indianapolis. Is it really necessary to have a licensed mobile home installer for a single wide mobile home?

Would it be feasible to do it in these five steps ?:

1) First, buy the land and a mobile home within 60 days of each other and have the mobile home moved there, keeping the hitch and axle and wheels in place

2) Second, get a perimeter wall or concrete pillar every 8 feet built under the frame of the mobile home. Get the mobile home anchored to the ground by cables. Then remove the wheels and hitch and axle. Have all this done by a handyman

3) Third, get water and sewer lines put in and connected (plumber) . Get electrical connected (electrician)

4) Do any cleaning , painting , etc needed to get it rent ready

4) Get a tenant!

If this is a lousy plan , which step should I change? If I'm not sure in advance what size home I'll be buying (14x70 vs 16x80 feet) does that change how I should do the land preparation steps? Is it better to do the concrete or asphalt slab than the perimeter wall or concrete pillars?

Any replies would be appreciated! Thanks!

Scott Davis · Answer

Talk to several local movers and go from there. They could be good source for leads, they should be able to do the site work or refer to someone 'recommended' who can. For bare land- Your short 2month timeframe for permitting (city or county) and utilities is not going to be realistic or even close, most of the time. Your best bet is to find land that has a mobile (demo and scrap it) then replace. You can finance new manufactured, *you can often not finance (conventionally, or easily) used manufactured that have been moved more than once. So most of the time developers who pull this move, replace with a new unit NOT used. Utilities on bare dirt will cost more time/money than I think most realize. You have to have a building permit in before you can start running utilities. Most times you are probably talking septic systems (otherwise you are in town where things are much more likely to be restrictive (zoning, ccrs, limits on how old units can be, etc) there are considerations for used mobiles that you may not think of initially- , such as for example securing insurance being difficult or near impossible in some cases if the home has been moved more than once. I'd love to hear more input from any others who have dealt in used manufactured (single and doublewides, HUD, made after 1976). In my area, used "asking" prices on decent used manufactured to be moved are too high. (used homes mostly get moved to parks, where values are overall regionally still high). Dealers/movers definitely know what they can get, and private sellers follow suit so you'd have to be motivated/connected AND be able to move fast to find a fair deal on a decent 'newer' used manufactured in the first place. I'd probably go new 75% of the time vs what I've been able to find price wise, used, personally.. However I have thought that if I came across 90s and 2000's era manufactured used to be moved, for truly good value (10k singlewides or 15-30k doublewides etc) I would have to do further research to see if it could pencil out & i could mitigate the obsticals. I think for buy and hold/rent, it is promising in some cases, the more rural the county the better, overall. I don't think too many are pouring slabs (vs minimum required footings and anchors), but that's regional

Tricia O'Brien · Answer

Are concrete footers the strips of concrete I see in mobile home parks sometimes that are about 2 feet wide and 80 or 90 feet long... and the edge of the mobile home (the metal frame or chassis) is placed on the footer?

Justin Polston · Answer

@Tricia O'Brien sorry, I reread the post!

Justin Polston · Answer

@Tricia O'Brien my father was (was) a modular builder and mobile home installer all my life. Yes, you want someone licensed to install. You might seek out some manufacturers and see if they can recommend anyone. I'm in Shelby County so i can imagine some of the places you're speaking of like Rush Co or Brookeville, Richmond, etc. Footers are typically needed. Tie downs as well. If you ever go to sell, of it isn't cash, these are some guidelines some financiers go by. Are you keeping the hitches and axles underneath?

Paul Sofia · Answer

Zoning is key, so before you buy the land, you want to have planning and zoning's blessing. Get a licensed set up contractor first. They will determine how to block it up. Make sure you call licensed contractors for HVAC, plumbing and electrical. Do they normally do slabs or can you just do concrete footings? I have never done any slabs for MH's in NC. If you were to do a slab, I doubt very much asphalt would be approved.