All Forum Posts by: Marilyn A.

Hi Jason!
The MH does seem to be significantly different from the larger RE world, especially on values.
I don't know of a way to do comps other than in person with a lot of work.
There is a NADA guide for MH values that I understand the lenders use, but it seems that the investors don't use the guide for values.
It seems that different investors retail price their homes at wildly varying markups. Some merely double their cost and others mark them up what seems an astronomical amount.
Some who sell owner finance work back from the payment amount (using the market rental price) to get the total price.
They say buyers are more interested in the monthly payment than the price.

Congratulations on your new mobile home park! I'm jealous- no money down!

That's great, Donna! Amazing how fast you sold that one. Hope all the future ones go as smoothly.

Eric,
How are you feeling? Are you still discouraged? Let us hear from you.

Forgive me for answering, since I don't own a park, have only read about investing in them.
But, from what I understand, you need to value the park based on what the current, actual occupancy is right now. You also need to see a current statement of actual expenxes. And they're probably higher than what you're estimating.
You need to know if the park pays for water or if the residents pay their own. This will have a significant impact on the cash flow from the park.

Hi Eric!
I am in a similar situation as you. I'm still looking for my first deal, but I only have $2000 to work with right now!
I want to encourage you to keep trying. I am doing my best to not give up and keep going. From what others have posted, it seems the the first deal is the hardest to find, then the 2nd and later ones come much easier. So we will have to just keep looking til we find the 1st! We can do this!!!!
Donna,
I'm very excited to hear about your first deal. Sounds like you did a great job with that one!! Congratulations. We would love to hear any details you would care to share.

Wow, Donna. I'm so happy for you that you found a park like that to work with. That's fabulous.
I've talked to a few, but haven't found anything like that, so far.
It's funny, but the ad that had Mobile spelled Mobil was a park advertising a $2500 incentive for moving homes in, and they had a bunch of ads that I had missed because of the spelling.
Unfortunately, they're really far from me and require wind zone II homes, so probably won't be working with them.

I would love to hear your tips for searching for MHs on Craigslist.

Here are a few I've learned over the past couple months:

Search through Real Estate for Sale, Free, and General sections. It seems there are about as many under General as Real Estate. There are some under Free, but they usually have to be moved, it seems.

These are the searches that have turned up homes for me:

Mobile Home, Mobil (!), Trailer, Trailor (!), Singlewide, Single wide, Doublewide, Double wide, Manufactured

Then some of them are simply listed as 2 BR Fleetwood, so I'm not sure how to turn those up. But here in Houston, reading through all the ads in Real Estate for Sale or General is a time consuming job.

Also, go back a good way, because I've seen people list a home on say the 1st, then lower the price a week or two later on the original ad, instead of reposting the ad.

Great progress! Thanks for keeping us posted.

How are things going, Terry? Anything to tell?

Marc,
thank you for your advice. Would love to have you here for a week, too!!
I'm having a hard time finding this buyers market you're talking about, but I'm going to keep looking and trying until I succeed.
Oh, and making offers!