Mobile Homes- Young and looking to get my feet wet.

[Shane Short]

Hi everyone! 

I have some questions regarding mobile homes. I'm currently 21 years old, and "living" in the Portland, OR area. I currently travel for work 8 weeks on 1 week off as an engineer. I've been reading articles a lot the past year on flipping houses, especially here on biggerpockets, and i'm excited to get the opportunity to flip my first house down the road. But that is a huge step, and I could risk a lot of money, especially at a young age without much to fall back on. I currently have a small savings and I was thinking about getting my toes wet by maybe flipping a mobile home and seeing where it takes me. I know everyone immediately thinks of the stereotypical mobile home they see in their head, but i've seen a lot of good come out of them. I come from a family of construction, builders, and art and faux and i've watched them do some pretty amazing things. My aunt is very "conservative" with her money lol, and bought a mobile home for her first home, she does art and faux for a living doing acid stain concrete, cabinets, concrete counter tops, etc. and she made her mobile home look INCREDIBLE. I wish i had pictures, when you were inside you wouldn't have a clue it was a mobile home... I think over all she bought it for 12k and invested about 15k into renovations and sold it for close to 60, these numbers could be way off, this is just what i remember. Then there is my mobile home experience.. I was 18 at the time, picked up a 1960s mobile home that sat for 25 years in a field in Montana, mostly gutted, bad plumbing, etc. for about 550 dollars. I ripped out the skirt, took out the "belly" of the MH and re did all of the plumbing with PEX tubing instead of the old galvanized crap that is notorious for cracking, installed new toilets, and finished gutting the interior and sold it as a "fixer" to an old work partner for 2700. Overall made about 1700 for a miserable learning lesson, and pretty horrible plumbing experience in the -15 Montana Winter weather... I've learned a lot since then, and would never make the mistake of buying something that old, and worn down again. Aside from that he actually made it look amazing when he was done with it. But that is a different story.

So, now i'm back, a little older, a lot of lessons learned, and looking to invest. I'm tired of having one source of income, I've always had 2 or 3 sources through rentals, office cleaning business, my HVAC business, etc. And I was wondering if the more experienced members here think this is an ok idea to get into? And if so, should I go into flipping them, or renting them? Right now the housing market in Portland is BOOMING. The cheapest rent you can find right now anywhere near Portland is 850-900 a month for a semi decent 1 bedroom apartment. I have the renovations experience, though i'd probably have contractors do most of it since i travel (i.e. drywall or the counterpart for mobile homes, electrical, etc.) I have family I can pay to do the art and faux, for the cabinets, concrete counter tops, backsplashes, trim, carpeting, windows, etc. 
And I could do the HVAC, plumbing, appliances, trim, painting, siding, skirts, insulation, drywall or counterpart if needed, laminate/ vinyl floors, etc. I also have my aunt as a real estate agent. 

Also on another side note, I was curious about getting my real estate license? I have no idea how hard it is. My aunt just recently got hers so she could clip along with art and faux, and she said it was pretty easy overall to get. Obviously selling real estate would require A LOT of legality you have to learn, paperwork, shortcuts, etc. but do you guys think it would be a good idea for me to look into this? I have plenty of time on my days off and evenings to take classes, and learn, read, educate myself, etc. I wouldn't want to do real estate full time, but just to save on costs when flipping houses in the future.

As far as having someone in Portland to manage things while i'm gone, I have one very very close friend that is extremely responsible and willing to help out whenever needed. And I also have my fiancee that travels with me part time and would love to get into flipping houses also, and can manage things while i'm gone. 

Best Regards