Made a Tax Deed Mistake

[Pete K.]

Quick Background: I started investing and learning about real estate two years ago. Since then I bought a 3/2 that is cash flowing nicely and purchased my own home with three roommates covering the mortgage for me. After researching all different methods of acquiring real estate I decided to look in to tax deeds.

The problem: So I recently took a class on investing in tax deeds and liens and at the end of the class decided to bid on property in Florida. I did some basic analysis from the class, did not do a drive by because I live in Georgia (can you see where the first mistake is?), and submitted some remote bids. I ended up winning a bid on a property for $16,500 that my market research confirmed was worth about $80K at FMV, so I purchased it at about 20% of FMV thinking I had plenty of wiggle room. It turns out the 2/2, 1000 sq/ft single family home that I thought I had purchased was actually a mobile home. I had read a few books on mobile homes but had no practical experience so I figured I could try to get out of this deal quickly by selling it extremely low. Upon entry to the property it turn out a group of squatters had been living in the home according to the neighbors and had flooded the place with two feet of water. The result is a completely destroyed mobile home that was built in 1986. So what do I do now?

Possible Courses of Action:

1. Have the home demolished and leave the slab, electrical, water in place (Cost:$3K). Rent the lot. My question here for the experienced members is how easy is it to find a person willing to emplace their own mobile home? Thinking Florida in particular. I don't know how to research this or where to look for the answer. I assume I could market the lot through Craigslist or a realtor.

2. Have the home demolished and replaced with a new home. I am calling builders now to get a quote but I feel like this may not be profitable.

3. Have the home demolished and have a used home from somewhere else to replace it. My issue with this is I do not know where to start finding a used mobile home. When I use google or craigslist, everything is already in place on a lot. Who should I be contacting and how should I go about finding a decent used mobile home to put on the lot?

4. Any recommendations on another course of action?

Thanks for all of your help with solving my very unintelligent mistake!

[Jarrod Weaver]

Agree with @Rick H. take a quick trip and find out what you actually own. There may be more value there than you think. If the mobile is worth anything rent or sell it. If it has no value and will be an expense to haul away and dispose of, put it on Craigslist for $FREE and watch how quickly someone will come and remove it for you. In the right place that lot could be reasonably valuable. Where in Florida is it?