All Forum Posts by: Bill W.

What is the property worth?

Is this a single family home or a mobile home? (the loan amount and his willingness to have someone take over the loan rather than sell leads me to believe it might be a mobile home.)

"This statement is too broad and inaccurate."

Tom Goans, could you expound on this or give some scenarios that he could expect might not lead to depreciation?

When trying to make the determination, I would consider the advantages/disadvantages of the land and mobile home separately as well as the opportunity costs. Make your best determination on whether the home will appreciate and how much. For the home, it will only depreciate and it will have more maintenance expenses the older it gets. Weigh those two together and see if the $450 a month is worth it to ride that out.

I imagine it is close either way.

William Pickett

Could you tell us a little more about the double wide? Is the home on land and is that included in the $22k you owe? What year is the home? What do you realistically think the home (and possibley land) is worth?

If there is no land involved, financing will be difficult at best so you might have to hold out for a cash buyer since you're trying to pay off the loan completely.

I've never put the lot rental in my name. I've had some parks ask that I do that, but I have declined and it wasn't an issue. On the other hand, some parks would not even allow the lot to be in someone else's name other than the buyer if they only allow owner occupied homes. I don't do it because it's additional management and paperwork for me that won't be compensated. On top of that, if the buyer stops paying both home and lot rent, the buyer will have two entities putting pressure on them for the money instead of it falling on my shoulders alone.

In any event, whether the buyer directly pays the lot rent or the mobile home seller is responsible, the formula is the same. In the above scenario $400 is coming from the buyer either way and is ultimately winding up in the park owner's hands. It just sounds like John advocates the lot rent passing through the mobile home seller for additional oversight. This may be best for you if you like to manage and it may give you a bit more control and responsibility.

I haven't seen the video but from what you describe, the video is taking into account the total monthly expenses a potential buyer will have (both mobile home payment and lot rent).

The potential buyer has two likely scenarios. Rent an apartment or buy your home. For those two options to remain competitive choices, they should cost about the same. In the scenario where the person considers buying your home, any money that has to go to lot rent, will be less the person can pay per month towards the mobile home. If the person has $750 a month for either option, and lot rent is $400, that leaves $350 the buyer can pay you.

I usually try and make my mobile homes plus lot rent a little less than apartment rent but it's important to test your market and see what works best for you.

James, I didn't realize there was a documentary on the subject. I'll have to check it out next time I join Netflix. Thanks for the info.

totally off topic, but the McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit is often used as the poster child for frivilous lawsuits. The facts of the case are much more intersting as they demonstrate a culture of corporate neglect on the part of McDonald's. There were internal memos from McDonald's over the previous decade stating that they knew their coffee was caused damage at the temperature served but it was easier to pay these cases off when they occured than make a change. The woman was in the hospital for eight days and originally wanted her over $10,000 hospital bill covered but McDonald's would only agree to pay $800. If she wanted any more money beyond that, she had to sue.

http://www.caoc.org/index.cfm?pg=facts

Al Williamson if it's legal in your state, you may want to consider recording that call to cover you in case she starts to change her story and decides to sue you at a later date. Ask her to tell you again what happened and have her clarify that she was not injured. Then break the news that the incident doesn't qualify for compensation since she wasn't injured.

Google voice, as well as several free apps for mobiles, allow you to record calls.

I'm just now getting caught up with this thread. Thanks for posting, Rachel. I'll be sending a letter later today.