All Forum Posts by: Eric Gard

Ok this took about as long as expected, about 3 months to sell... Which is about what I read, but mind wrenching non the less.

But I finally got it sold, papers were signed yesterday and I should receive my first payment check by mail in a few days.

This was by no means a slam dunk, this one was a few lessons learned the hard way. Or maybe I had to high of expectations going into this. However, I'm thrilled to have generated cashflow from this deal :)

Here are some final numbers,

Purchase price: $3,100
Remodel Costs: $1,155
Title Transfer: $100
Lot Rent(4 months): $1,400
Power: $300

Total Cost: $6,055

Sold the home for $6,500 with a 5 year term @ 10% interest. The payments are $138 per month so break even is a few years out. There is a good chance I will get cashed out on this deal in 2 months since the buyers are supposed to be receiving some kind of settlement money. If that happens great, I can go find a better deal. If not, great I will continue to collect the checks.

The numbers dont look great for a lonnie deal, but when you look at the alternatives its not to bad. You could take $90k loan, spend $10,000 on a down payment for a $100k house, then spend a few thousand to remodel. Then collect $650 per month and after loan payments and expenses end up with only $100 per month in cashflow. Plus you would have to manage the tenant and deal with that crap. Of course you might get more value later when the price of the home goes up... Could be awhile in this market though.

I learned a few really important lessons with this deal that will make the next one better. This first one I kind of jumped right, but I did it and I didnt loose my shirt.

-If you live in a cold climate, not having central heating is a huge roadblock for buyers. A wood or pellet stove is not enough.(I lost a few potential buyers on this one)

-If you live in an area with high speed internet everywhere and you cant get it at the trailer its another big roadblock(I lost a deal on this one)

-Wait for the killer deals, this one was ok... but I could have bought a doublewide in better condition a few weeks after purchasing this one for $1500. That would have made an awesome deal!

-Try to negotiate lower monthly payments on the lot. I didnt do this and it could have shaved a few hundred off my expenses. The guy that just moved in got $50 less.

-Replace old carpet, especially in the entry way. This is about as important as curb appeal. Doing this could have sold the place a few months ago, instead it cost more in lot rent. It would have been $100 to replace the living room carpet.

-I dont think I will buy another mobile home here in Spokane during the winter, the cost of heating can really ad up when we regularly get down around 0*F. Plus it slows down the glue and paint from drying, floor glue for vinyl wont even set up below 60*F or so.

-If I were to do the first over again I would have paid for a property manager to walk the property with me and help me decide where to spend my money on the remodel. They have priceless experience.

-Oh and I should have listened to a few people and put the home on market right away. I waited until I was done with the remodel, I could have saved a month of paying rent.

I was offering the rest of the month free since I already paid the park.

Ok here are the pics of the finished product.

Front Entrance

Living Room

Kitchen

Hallway(notice no hole in the floor!) :lol:

Bathroom

2nd bedroom

Master Bedroom

I'm working on selling it right now, I just posted the ad in Craigslist today. Tomorrow I will get it in the local papers and put up bandit signs.

After its all sold and finalized I will post up some numbers.

Thanks for the help everyone, the knowledge and inspiration from this board has given me the courage to get out and do it. Most memorable thing I read was something like "You know enough, stop reading and get out and do it". This isnt rocket science, its just good enough and anyone can do it :mrgreen:

Sorry, it has taken me awhile to post these and make an update.

Here are the pics from a week ago,
http://s169.photobucket.com/albums/u204/burtonridr2/Gonzalez_8/Week%202/

Since those pics were taken we have finished pretty much everything. I just finished laying the linoleum last night. We are finished with painting the inside and got a break in the weather to do touch up on the outside. During the break in weather I cleaned up the lot a little(raked the leaves, picked up trash, etc).

The only big issues left are getting power to the stove and dryer. I found a good handy man that is going to take care of it this week. I also need to order a new fill valve for the clothes washer and replace it. Oh, and last but not least, wrap the water main as Greg suggested :)

I will take pics of the finished product and post them up soon. I'm posting it for sale today, so we will see how it goes.

He gave me 20 days rent free, but I should have negotiated for more.

The market here should support a payment of $225-250 per month, but I will accept a payment of $175 to $200 with the right buyer. A 2/1 apartment starts at $600 per month and goes up from there, a nice one would run about $700-$750. I know the lot rent price is going to probably hinder my ability to sell, but I'm already committed so we will see how it plays out.

Would you guys replace the carpet in the living(see pics above), its pretty dirty... but I dont know what to expect when trying to sell it.

Would you replace the carpet in the master bedroom? The carpet is in good condition, but it doesnt cover the whole room floor... I'm not sure if I should replace it or not.

I want to thank everyone for all the help and expertise everyone has contributed to this thread. We have made great progress so far and i will post new pics soon :)

What has been done so far

-Pulled at least 100 staples from the walls, ceilings, and trim.
-Finished painting the 2nd bed room, the hallway, and have a single coat on the living room walls and master bedroom.
-put up a new shower surround.
-fixed the front door.
-fixed the 2nd bedroom door.
-cleaned the entire house.
-fixed 1 of the 3 holes in the floor.
-found and purchased cheap linoleum and carpet for the 2nd bedroom.

What we have left
-We cannot remove the washer and dryer from the master bedroom without taking a window out of its frame... the door is to small... so I'm going to buy a new fill valve to fix the washer.
-hole in the master bed floor needs to be fixed.
-hole in the kitchen floor needs to be fixed.
-new/used linoleum needs to be installed in kitchen and hallway.
-new/used carpet needs to be installed in the 2nd bedroom, I still need to find carpet padding.
-we need to finish painting
-we need to figure out why the oven/range doesnt turn on.

We got this blast of winter weather again, so on wednesday I went out and turned the water off and drained out the system except the water heater(hot water system still filled with water), and poured nontoxic antifreeze into the p-traps. I'm really worried about a pipe freezing near the water heater or along the hot water pipe, the temps have been 15*-20*F daytime and 0*F to -15*F night time. The night time temps last week were 30*F to 36*F, this is a bizarre storm we just got hit with. We put a small fan forced unit heater in the bathroom(which shares a wall with the water heater on the exterior) and a unit heater in the kitchen blowing under the kitchen sink. Oh I should mention the house is only equipped with a pellet stove in the living room.

For this weekend we are going to get the holes in the floor patched up, and find carpet padding so I can do the 2nd bedroom carpet. Everything else requires glue or paint, and that requires warmer temperatures. It should warm up next week and get back to normal :)

Please let me know if you guys know any tips to save money on the work I described, or if you dont think I should do certain things and leave it as is. I'm still not familiar enough with mobile homes to know what can be left alone and still sell.

Living Room: We will be painting walls, painting the ceiling, and cleaning carpets.

Kitchen: Cleaning cupboards, fixing stove, buying a refrigerator, and replacing the linoleum.

Backdoor needs the floor repaired.

Hallway leading from kitchen to bathroom and 2nd bedroom: we are replacing the floor and linoleum.

What we found under the board

2nd bedroom: we are replacing a few soft spots around the edges and adding new/used carpet, fix the messed up door, and painting.

Piece of floor in bedroom from hallway that needs repair

Restroom: needs new shower surround, new linoleum(maybe) and painted.

Master bedroom: needs repainted, new carpet that cover the whole floor.

The floor under the wood pieces needs to be patched

Entire Album
http://s169.photobucket.com/albums/u204/burtonridr2/Gonzalez_8/

Purchase = $3100
Rehab = $1000
Lot Rent = $350
Taxes and Fees = $300
Total Expenses= $4750

Sales price = $10,000
Down payment = $500-1000
Monthly Payments = $225