All Forum Posts by: Miriam Seidel

Pay more for a fast, good, mobile home & trailer experienced person! My friend used her mom's handyman that had no experience at all with mobile homes. She told him to just fix the water stained areas of the ceiling. Instead he tore out the entire ceiling and made the leaks worse on the roof. A disaster that cost her $3000 and months of delays. Because of this one mistake, she made no money on her flip. Remember that mobile homes move, expand & contract more than a stick built home.

So, the workers need to know how to accommodate this when doing drywall and flooring. Never use hard tile on the floors, they will eventually move & crack. best to use laminate products - the peel & stick tile that is groutable is great, just make sure to use the special grout that is expandable...is in small pre-mixed containers on shelf near the peel-n-stick tiles. Also, for backsplashes, there is a new vinyl peel-n-stick tile product that looks great - better to have a slow detail oriented person to install -not a product for the average handyman, takes time and attention to detail to make it even.

Hi Sam,

I do vacation rentals with mobile homes in communities.

Make sure first - call the sales office at Silver View Farm and ask if they allow short term vacation rentals - "weekly"

I saw on the ad, they require a background check for purchase - most do; as well as income verification to make sure you can afford the monthly lot rent to the community. MOST mobile home communities do not allow short term rentals, if they allow rentals at all. MOST have a rule of no felons allowed. If by some miracle, they do allow short term rentals, they will probably want a background check done on each and every renter you have. This could be a turn-off for some vacationers.

Some communities that allow short-term rentals have a minimum of 3 or 6 months; where again the guest must go thru the background application check with the community - usually $50-$100 fee.

Also note, that mobile home communities that do not do a background check, will have felons & drama/crime in the community. 

Being that said, mobile homes in communities, that cannot be but on a block foundation, cannot be funded by the normal mortgage companies/private lenders. Mobile homes use different loan companies than regular real estate, because you do not own the land, and because it is "mobile", there is no collateral for the lender to foreclose on if needed.

Some reasons why you do not see many mobile home vacation rentals in communities in Rehoboth are:

- Community does not allow it - period

- More Difficult to get a lender (not considered real estate)

- Expect Community Lot Rent to go up every year 5-10%

- Add your electric/gas, lawn maintenance (which is mandatory in a community), pool fee, insurance, etc.

- If you cannot walk to the beach, must have much much lower rates to compete with others / renter pool reduced considerably

- High Vacation Season is now only about 6 weeks, where you can get top dollar rent / then another 7 weeks for shoulder season rent / and the rest of the year is lucky to get enough to break even - or get a long term renter for the off-season, where now you become a landlord vs. a vacation rental owner at a low rate, where hard to find a good renter that won't trash the place - & then landlord/tenant laws apply - may not be able to evict if needed in time for high-season guests (now what)

- More upkeep and maintenance needed on a mobile home - they are not built as well/sturdy etc. as a stick built home on a foundation

- There is a stigma attached to "mobile homes"

- The numbers just do not make it as good an investment, when you add devaluation into the calculations

- Resale is like a car, devalues over time

HOWEVER- If you find a community that will allow short term vacation renters, and you have all cash, you can probably find a good deal on an older used home where they numbers make more sense. Spend the money on the decor - make it "beachy", and then you might have a winner vacation rental for budget-minded families and retired couples that do not mind the short drive to the beach, as long as they can find parking. If the community allows dogs, this is a way to increase the rental pool -being Dog friendly. I do not allow cats-period. The sub-floors in a mobile home are very expensive to replace if a cat pees and seeps into the sub-floor. Adding $100 fee for the family pet is added revenue, and is less expensive than boarding their dog while gone. Also look at www.bringfido.com. You can post your listing there for free, and many dog owners use this website. Just make sure they have their updated rabies shots and on flea/tick meds. (I have the guest email their vet records prior to arrival). Also, find out if there is a weight limit for dogs in the community. If they allow large dogs - winner! Very hard for large dog-owners to find decent accommodations. I have also found that a couple with a dog and no kids are wonderful guests. Usually no damage, and they are very concerned about keeping place neat & tidy. I prefer dogs over kids any day!

I know this is a very long response, but thought the more info -the better.

Feel free to contact me if you have more questions.

i believe it is nationwide. It's not income tax, but sales tax i am referring to. Being a vacation rental owner has it's pros n cons. I am not a "landlord", i am an "owner". They are not "tenants", they are "guests". So landlord-tenant laws do not always apply here in FL. Not sure how CA write their laws. But, here we are treated like hotels. Hotel tax here is 6.5% state + 6% county tourism = 12.5%, which the guest pays n is passed on to state & county monthly. If one doesn't charge & pass on these taxes, then landlord-tenant laws can be enforced. So, although can be a little more expensive, i can be assured that i won't have some of the "tenant" problems that long term landlords have.

Look up a hotel in SD n see what their tax rate is...will probably be the same for your rental.

Hope this helps!

I have vacation rentals in Daytona Beach FL & use VRBO. The one thing to note is:

Where are the renters from? If they are from a neighboring area, they may not be

vacationers, but evicted renters or felons that cannot pass a background check

for a long term rental.

Use facebook, google & county arrest records to vet on your own.

Last minute bookings are also a warning. Most people plan their vacations in

advance.

Also note, vrbo & airbnb have up to 13% service fee added to the renter's

cost, and 3% service fee for credit card transactions to the owner's cost

(5% if renter is out of the U.S.)

And, in order to legally be a vacation rental property, must charge state &

local taxes to pass on. If you do not charge tax, you become a "long-term"

rental owner, and different laws apply for evictions & allowances.

One thing to consider, is where the MH/Cottage was built. I do know that many were built in the north, that used materials that when exposed to hot-humid FL summers, will emit noxious fumes. So be aware

Regarding Mobile Homes in Communities, best deals are usually doing drive-bys FSBO, and calling the community office to find out if they have any homes that they had to "foreclose" on because of non-payment of lot-rent. There is also MHVillage.com, where you will find listings w/sales agents & communities. Many times they will have one that needs fixing. But beware...the lot rent is killer if you don't fix it up quickly & getter sold. In my experience, floors, roofs, plumbing & electric are more important than new kitchen/bath...and every community has it's own personality. Some are all-age communities, that tend to buy & sell higher (although they don't look as nice) & others are senior communities (usually must be 55+ to buy/sell and do so lower than the all-age communities). As far as the senior communities go, Lot Rent (& what is included with the lot rent) is more important to a buyer than a brand new kitchen.

Best of Luck!