All Forum Posts by: Deborah Mettler

I've been in the used mobile home business for a number of years and I think the best route to take is to find a lot zoned for a mobile home that already has water, sewer and power on the lot. Move a mobile home on the lot...detitle the mobile and sell as a package to a retail buyer. FHA will finance as long as the mobile has been "detitled" and is then considered as "attached to land." There are also some other requirements' you would need; brick underpinning, axels and tongue removed. I focus on singlewides as doublewides are twice the expenditure to transport. I personally wouldn't purchase a lot that needed water/sewer lines and power setups, along with city/county tap fees. Then you are talking about a good sum of money.

Hello Group,

I'm at a stumbling block with a residential property I have under a Lease-Option contract. It's a round home by Deltec Homes located in the Upstate area of SC. Travelers Rest which is the mountain area of SC. It has 4 bedrooms, 4 full baths. Open floor plan. Large wrap around deck. Situated on two tracts of land which totals .65 of an acre. Main level is 10 rooms. CHA and a wood stove for an alternative heat source. This home also has a partial - 3-room finished basement with two outside entrances with separate furnace and heat pump. The fourth bathroom is in the basement. Main level is 2435 sq. ft. Basement is 545 sq. ft.

This home is convenient to the metropolitan city of Greenville (20 minutes) and is only 8 miles to shopping, restaurants, banks, walmart, hospital, etc. There are mountain views from this home and there is a Lake directly across from this home.

I presently live in the home but want to re-locate back to FL. I presently have it listed with a realtor. The listing expires this month on the 20th of Sept. I don't think I can assign the contract as I didn't put "and/or assignee" in the contract. This home also qualifies for a 100% financed USDA guaranteed loan.

I originally had the property priced at $187K but dropped it down to $159,900 to try to get a quick sell. I haven't had any luck in selling this home to a retail buyer. I'm using the same realtor that put this together when I entered into the Lease-Option. The owner of record wants me at this time to either buy the house or sell it.

I'm not able to purchase the home as I've had some life changes and need to return to FL. I put $5K down with the option and have approx. $15K in rehab in the home. The rental market value of this home is $1500/month. I have had difficulty finding good comps because of the uniqueness of the home. My realtor has never supplied any comps for that reason.

My comps reflect an arv of close to $200K. I'm going by the sq. footage, number of bedrooms and baths, lot size, updates and area of the home. The home is in a very nice area of Travelers Rest, right down from the Cliffs.

I don't know if there are any investors here on Bigger Pockets that may have interest in this type of property as either an investment or an equity share partner. I know it wouldn't be a problem to find a buyer with an option, as that's been offered to me on several occasions.

Any advice or interest would be greatly appreciated.

Deborah

I'm personally leaning towards buying land with a mobile, or move a mobile onto the land if there isn't one...Detitle the mobile and sell the property to a retail buyer. FHA will loan on land with a mobile home as long as the mobile has been detitled.

I presently do something close to a "rent to own" but you don't see that wordage in the "addendum" to the lease. The addendum basically states the "leasee" has the right to purchase the mobile if all rent payments are made.

If I decide to go with owner financing, then I would just find a good loan originator to work with and resolve the issue.

This Thread is great!!

I've had many of the same. One comes to mind with a previous tenant that was late with the rent. She said she had been out of town because her mother had passed away and she had to spend her rent money.

I said - you said your mother passed away 3 months ago when you were late with the rent.

Tenant said - Oh yeah, I forgot.

Notice I said "previous tenant".

Recently one caller asked "I was evicted and still owe money to the landlord, would you rent to me"?

My response - So actually you stayed in the rental without paying rent (living rent free) until you were forced to move out legally and owe that money plus the legal costs the landlord had to pay...and you want me to rent to you? Are you serious?

Caller said - yep.

I said - nope

Since this mobile is located in a MHP, you should speak with the manager/owner first. Parks have a set of rules and regulations and if you are permitted to sell the mobile, I'm sure the buyer would have to be approved by the Park management/owner first.

If you purchase the mobile without first speaking with management and your buyer isn't approved, that could lead to a very sticky situation.

Are you prepared to pay the lot rent until the mobile sells? Is the lot rent paid current? Are the taxes on the mobile paid current? Is there a clear title to the mobile?

Just some things to consider. The price seems reasonable.

We no longer consider any applications from hispanics that do not have a legitimate green card. No exceptions to this.

In my state of SC, the landlord can be fined heavily for doing so.

We have stated in our Lease that a resident may have a guest for no longer than 10 days. If it appears the resident has allowed a guest to move in without approval from management they immediately receive a 14-day notice to correct the violation. They are also fined ten dollars per day until resolved.

If the violation is not corrected by the resident, we then file eviction or if on a month-to-month tenancy, they receive a 30-day notice to vacate. We take this very seriously as this defrays having undesirable occupants. As long as you have a solid, tight lease, you shouldn't have any problems with the city and less problems with your tenants.

On the other hand, tenants certainly have rights and having visiting guests is one of them. I have seen small town officials getting into grey areas when passing an ordinance. I'm not so sure some of them would stand up in a court of law.

Contact your local "Housing Authority "and they will mail you a complete package with all the info including their current rental market rates and application.

Mike Matthews: There are MANY mobile home parks, if the park is not Investor friendly. I simply find another. If the park does not want to work with me. It is there loss not mine, as there actuals drop. They need me, I do not need them.

Any park that does not allow investors to rent in them is becuase they are trying to buy all the homes for themselves. At least that is true in the Houston, TX area.

In this aream there are parks that will pay for the move on the mobile home into there park 100%. They know odds are once it is there it will never leave.

------------------------------

We are actually "investor friendly" and do have a few mobiles in the Park that are owned by investors. The point I was attempting to make to the original posted question is that he should learn about the mobile home business before jumping in head first and not begin approaching managers and park owners with little knowledge about the business.

I would however like to agree to disagree that I don't believe that MHP owners are dependent upon investors to have a successful, operating MPH. It really comes down to each independent MHP and their business structure and if they wish to have investors in the Park, or not.

If you did indeed take care of the mold issue promptly, as soon as it was reported (as it appears that you did) then you will have no worries. You did what you as the landlord was required to do.

It is unfortunate that the PM did not file eviction as soon as the tenant stopped paying the rent. As this involves a substantial amount of money I would personally go to the magistrate and file to seek judgement for rent arrears. You may or may not be able to collect, but filing for a judgement for rent arrears is not very costly.

If you are unsure, you should seek legal advice from a competent attorney in your locality. Good Luck!!!