All Forum Posts by: Knute Olsen

Thanks everyone, great answer. 

As a young renter, I was the one calling landlords about replacing lightbulbs and beeping smoke detectors. I figured it's their house, they own it, they go down to Lowe's and spend $5 replacing it. 

Hello,

Going to start renting out my first property very soon. I am dotting the I's and crossing the T's to get ready.

I was wondering, is it legal to charge tenants a "maintenance charge" (obviously I would write this into the lease) of say $50 or $100 every time somebody needs to come out to the property for a maintenance issue. I would not be doing it to make extra money, I would do it to avoid constant phone calls about unclogging a toilet, changing batteries in smoke detectors, changing lightbulbs, small things like that.

I have seen this suggestion in other posts on BP. Also, I am specifically wondering if it is legal in Washington State. I could not find anything in our states Landlord/Tenant law, so landlords familiar with WA law would be helpful. Our state is very "tenant friendly" in our Landlord/Tenant law.

Josh,

I used the others before, but never used Loopnet. WOW! This is exactly what I was looking for.

You have to play around with the filters a bit, but this is perfect. Thank you so much.

-Knute

Hello all,

I like this community. So much good information.

My question is, what is the best way to search for mobile home parks? The main MHP websites, google, google maps, trulia, zillow, ect are good but only provide the big parks with lots of sites. Kind of out of my price range.

I am looking to start small, with small amount of sites (1 to 20). My main issue is finding those parks. I have tried looking through county assessor websites, but those are tough without the specific addresses. They would be good once I FOUND something and wanted more information, but not for the initial find. 

Anybody else have some good online search ways to find these?

Thank you for the help.

Thank you for the reply Jefferson,

What I am interested in doing is not subletting. I would buy the mobile home with cash. Sign a new lease at the mobile home park. Then turn around and sell the mobile home with owner financing options. Washington State (not sure if other states have this law as well) has Chapter 59.20 RCW which allows tenants to assign their lease in a mobile home park if they sell their mobile during the lease. This is clearly written in law.

One issue I just realized is Dodd-Frank. I would have to figure out a way to comply with Dodd-Frank on this transaction.

My main issue here was buying homes in 55+ age restricted communities as stated above.

Hello all,

Looking to start my Real Estate investing career, and it seems the best bet (as far as profit margins go) are in mobile homes.

I have some cash on hand, so I am looking to buy a mobile home for cash in a Mobile Home Park. Put a little lipstick on it, then turn around and either rent it or sell it with owner financing.

As I am searching for mobile homes, I am finding great deals in 55+ communities. I think these would be great to buy with cash, fix up a little, then turn around and sell on owner financing terms. It would be affordable monthly payments to an elderly person who is likely to take good care of it, not flake out and vacate, but can't have rent increases because he/she might be on fixed social security income. Basically, I would be the bank.

My main sticking point is, well, I am not 55 years old. Not even close. I see lots of people in the forums who buy homes in mobile home parks to rent out, rent to own, or sell with owner financing. Assuming you are under age 55, how do you get around the age 55 restrictions as a buyer?