Vacation home house hacking

[Ashlee Logan]

Hi all,

I’m looking for some help. We’re house hacking a vacation home in Maine using VRBO/HomeAway on our 1st deal).

We found a property on a pond. We know it’s overpriced and are currently negotiating on counter offers.

Facts: pristine manufactured home on 3/4 acre of waterfront property. Property is overpriced at $255k. Manufactured homes are unusual in the area. Sales are down from last year. I'm having trouble doing the ROI because while the location is desirable, the fact that it's a manufactured home has turned buyers off.

We’re thinking the bottom line number is $230k with closing but are struggling (because we’re new and trying to be cautious).

The comps in the area are all over the place but none of them involve manufactured homes.

We have 20% down, approved 30 yr mortgage at 3.75. Minimum rents appear to be avg 2k/month.

Can anyone help me analyze?

[Avery Carl]

I’m sure you have already looked into this, but is your lender aware that it’s manufactured? If it’s not a double wide on a foundation, it’s going to be difficult to finance conventionally.

My other question is: if manufactured homes aren’t typical in the area, would it be typical to vacationers to rent one? If there’s only one out there, wouldn’t vacationers gravitate toward single family non-modular homes? I’d check out VRBO and Airbnb and see what other comparable homes (manufactured) are getting per night and what their occupancy rate is before I went any further.