All Forum Posts by: Greg B.

OK guys here's the story.

I go to the Texas MH dealers class about 2 weeks ago to learn the sate law on buying and selling MH's. Took the class, passed the test, decided not to license because I do mostly rentals anyway.

So i buy a nice 3/2 MH in my area for $6000. It needs about $1000 in repairs and it will net me $300-$400 a month. I have been doing rentals for a few years, no biggie to me. Before I buy it I do a tax search and found nothing owed on it. The MHP said it was clean. The title(SOL in Texas) was in her name and clean. Cool, money exchanged hands and she signed everything over. I took possession and began the cleanup yesterday.

Before the state will change the SOL to me they need a statement that there are no property taxes owed on it. Cool, no problem. I go to the county tax assessor today, with my printed instructions from the state, and the clerk looks at me like I'm stupid. She finally tells me that there is a lot more to it than that and every county does things differently. She doesn't care what the state says. Breathe, OK, thanks.

So she proceeds to look for the MH on the county records and can't find it. Her coworker suggests that she calls the central appraisal district. My clerk begins to go on a tirade about how incompetent the CAD is and it would be a waste of her time.

She finally figures out that the previous owner has registered the MH in the wrong county. She goes and talks to the county assessor and they determine that they want me to go to the other county's incompetent CAD and have them change the location of the MH to their county and send the past tax money to them. They also want me to go to my incompetent county's CAD and register the MH there. Then I can come back to my clerk with a smile on my face and get the document I need.

I told her that was a lot of work for maybe $100 in back taxes and I would be happy to pay them and get this resolved. Nope, no way. "I can't help you. You should have gone through a title company."

So I turn and leave with the impression that one incompetent layer of my government is calling another layer incompetent. But hey, her paycheck will clear, right.

The moral of the story is, in Texas, make sure the MH in question is registered in the correct county AND there are no back taxes on it.

Now I get to go look stupid in front of more government pencil pushers. Good luck out there.

Welcome to BP Amanda. Lots of questions that still have to be answered here.

What part of the country are you in? What is the competition, lots of for rent signs everywhere? Does the price include the land? Who pays utilities? Why do you think it is worth $80,000 beyond the tax A/C? Are you paying cash? Taxes? Insurance? Deferred maintenance?

I am sure others will chime in but here's my thing. I haven't seen many manufactured homes that increase in value like a site built house. Most MH';s I have seen lose value a lot.

I'm impressed Felix. I wish you well on your journey.

It's a Texas invasion. Welcome to BP neighbors.

Vikram I STILL look at SF and think San Francisco. I guess it's the old dawg thing. :)

Originally posted by Jim S:

Looks like I am heading to the contractors desk next time.
What proof do they require to set up an account?

Last time I worked with Lowes contractor desk they didn't require setting up an account. I had already spent some time and developed my list of materials and quantities and gave it to the desk guy. He typed into his form and submitted it. he said they would submit it for a discount if the order was over $2500. I came back the next day and they had knocked off 15%. A few days later it was all bundled up and ready to put on my trailer.

I'm with you Kim. When I meet a new business prospect I introduce myself as Greg Brister of Charger Properties. After the initial introduction I am just Greg. The business name only comes up if they ask. They want to deal with Greg, not Charger Properties.

As you can probably guess, I don't have full time employees. If I need something done I contract it out, but my clients deal with me not my business.

What would your expected outcomes be of using your personal name or your business name?

Personally, your business name wouldn't impress me that much. Real Estate is a people business. You are in the business to help solve people's problems. I would rather deal with you than a business name. The business name is just a legal formality. Good luck Kim.

I used my rentals to replace my job for about a year. Now I use the rental cashflow to pay my kids college education. She should graduate with no student loans and the units will continue to cashflow after she is finished.

I agree. The more deals you do the less it will bother you. It all comes down to the numbers.