All Forum Posts by: Mark Gruetzmacher

@Russell Dancer  I will give you my thoughts on Mobile Homes.  I think it depends on the price range you are dealing in for the homes themselves. Are the homes in parks or on their own land.  If they are in parks then that does present issues.  A Lot of parks don't allow rentals.  It takes some leg work to check around and see which ones do and which ones don't.  Sometimes they change their mind after talking to you in person and will allow it.  Obviously on their own land would be great but the price would also be a lot higher as well.   As for price if you are under the 30K range then I think it is a good option to get started.  Ideally under 15K is better but I think the market varies so much it is hard to say what you can get for a specific price from market to market.  If you deal in older homes the value doesn't change much.  Actually in my market the prices have went up up the last few years.  I would stick with stuff that is at least in the 1980's or newer but preferably 90's or 2000+ is more ideal.  

I deal in mobile homes myself because the housing prices vs rent prices don't make sense a lot of the time.  Most of the 80K-100K houses here are on crappy side of town which means you get less desirable tenants and rents are maybe $600-750.  It doesn't leave you with much.  Now on the mobile home side of things for me, a 1280sqft MH in the mid 90's that is redone inside will get me rents in the 700-850 range.  Minus lot rents because mine are in parks which vary from 125-275.  That should give you an idea.  I think it is an option that works for a lot of people.  I would rather have a MH park or apartment building but the cost is just way out there in my limited small area.

That is a good place to start.  Like what has been mentioned, always check with the park first about rentals.  Buying mobile homes is just as easy as buying a car.   Same process in most states to double check your state.  Financing though is almost non existent.  Good luck. 

@Latisha Youngblood  Yeah check with your state on how it is treated.  Most states they are treated just like a car.  But as John stated in Cali they are different.  In my state they have titles just like a car unless it is on a piece of land and the title surrendered then it is just like a house.  Anyway for wholesaling it might be a little tough since the title has to be transferred from the seller to you and then to the end buyer.   Not sure if you could somehow assign it somehow but in most cases I have found that the state wants it's money for the transfer and taxes.  So for example, here when you buy it you have to pay the taxes current.  Usually they are paid in arrears, so you have to catch then up from the previous years and then pay the current year as well.  Then we have to wait 3-5 weeks for the title to come back from the state in our name.  We could then sell it to a buyer.  But if your state does titles like a car it is pretty simple.  Just have to make sure you have it all planned out.

Wow, that blows my mind.  I know Vail is a very nice area but those prices are crazy compared to what I am used to.  Anyway  I would check into the county and see what the actual land is valued at.  A 1974 mobile home is not worth too much.  I can see by the pictures that a lot of stuff in that place has been redone from what it used to be which is a good thing.  The roof is also a good benefit. I see it has a swamp cooler on top which I would get rid of.  It must have some sort of addition on it or the sqft is off on the listing.  For that listing price the land would have to be worth at least 150-160K as the home is not worth much.  Newer single wide homes can be had for $10-25K depending on year and condition.    Insurance on that year of a mobile home will also be an issue and that I would call around and ask about first.  From an insurance standpoint I would think there might be limits on how much they would even insure.  Wiring in that old of a mobile home could be made out of aluminium as well instead of copper which is better.

I know that you might be looking to jump in to get started but make sure you check everything, run the numbers and make sure it all makes sense first. 

Just some thought to think about.  

@Sid Leibowitz  What kind of mobile homes are you referring to?  It sounds like what your thinking of is a travel trailer and not a mobile home.  I am assuming @Christina Labowicz is talking about the homes that are put on private land and in parks.  Mobile Home and Manufactured Home are used interchangeably but  technically any home before 1976 is a mobile home and anything after 1977 is considered a manufactured home but most people call them mobile homes anyway.  

Christina, how old is this home?  Is it on it's own land or in a mobile home park?  Financing is about non-existent  when it comes to these types of investments.  If it is under 15yrs old there might be some places out there that would provide financing but I would only think that they would also only lend to the home owner and not for investments purposes.  $60K sounds like a lot unless it is pretty new and on land of some sort and maybe a double wide home and not a single wide variety. 

@Steven Hamilton II I was thinking that from what I read last night.  But talking to the CPA yesterday afternoon I was sure she told me that since it was a partnership then the income would be taxed as self employment income along with the normal tax rate.  Maybe I misunderstood her.  She was talking about taking distributions also and some other stuff with S corp election if I wanted that.  Pretty much it was too much info and I was trying to wrap my head around it all.  

On the rental income, can you take that out, or how does that work since it is all pass through?  

Thanks for the info and help.

I guess I am wondering about it from a tax stand point. With rental income being passive income, is it still the same in a LLC with 2 people.

Hey everyone one. I just formed a LLC for my Buy and Hold properties for myself and my wife. Since it is both of us on the LLC , I assume the IRS will consider us as a partnership since LLC's are disregarded entities. Since it is a pass through entity does the rental income pass through to us on the K-1's. And is it still considered rental income. I know one a single owner LLC it does but is it the same for multi owner LLC?

Thanks

@Stephani Horstman There is not much going on here as for meetings right now.  We did a few over the summer with just a couple of us but nothing right now.  We don't have any local meetup groups like some places do.  If you look around here at the market you might find it is a little tougher I think.  Depends on what your doing I guess though.  House prices are expensive and the rent doesn't justify it in a lot of cases.  For that reason alone I deal with mobile homes myself because I can do the repairs needed and also keep them to rent which for me works out good.  Everything has it advantages and disadvantages also I guess.  

I think you will find that there are very few options when it comes to MH furnaces.  Usually there Intertherm and Coleman mostly but Goodman has some too.  What size home is it?  There is usually 2 basic sizes of furnaces as well.  77K BTU and I think the other is 56K BTU.  All of them are 80% efficient as well.  You can also put in an electric furnace but if your electric company doesn't give you a huge discount then it is not worth it because the cost of electric is too expensive to run without the discount.  Plus the added cost for wiring it up.  I see them for sale from time to time as well.  I bought a few as spares last year.  Also check with your local mobile home companies and see if they have any.  I can't remember exactly but I thought I could get a new one for under $1000 somewhere.  It's been awhile since I have checked.