On Thursday I was surfing craigslist looking for some deals as I do from time to time. A part of the inspiration behind this was trying to solve a problem which was my mother needing a place to live. So I come across this ad for a mobile home in a C class neighborhood right off the i80 freeway in Sacramento for sale for $9,000, it was a 2 bed room 1 bath. I text the seller and I start inquiring about the home. I ask a number of questions like what is space rent, what are other expenses like garbage, water, and electricity. I ask if there was any property taxes. They say there are no other expenses but space rent which was $675 a month, which I felt was sort of high but I went and looked at the home anyways. I saw the home it needed some TLC but overall it had washer/dryer unit, refrigerator, stove. There was a language barrier because I did not speak Spanish. (I found out the person I was texting was actually the seller's brother doing translations.) So when we look at the home the actual seller wants to get out quickly by the beginning of June. She says she would take $7,000. She shows me the title, it is not in her name. I told her we would get back to her.
I figured all of this was going to be a learning experience. I am eager to make my second deal and be creative about it. So I figured I would work through all the little things like getting the money and the title situation worked out. I was a little emotional about the situation because I wanted to get my mother a place to live quickly. I thought about it and it seemed like a good idea. So I text the brother on Friday morning and I say, " I want to proceed with purchasing the home. Are you guys working with a title company? or Agent?" He says, "No." He was trying to get me to go down and give them all the money right away, $7,000. I agreed to give them $1000 down and sign a purchase agreement. Then I remembered something in the ad about getting approved by the park management first. So then I have my mother go down and get me an application and find out more information about the process. Turns out the seller's brother was not telling the full truth. I would have to pay space rent $675, and garbage and water $66. I thought ok, still not too bad, total expenses $741 a month. Before I went down to sign the purchase agreement I told the brother I did not feel comfortable giving $1000 down because if I do not get approved by the park owning the home could be a headache because I will have to move it.
So I tell him I will put $500 down and I will bring an agreement for us to sign. I obtained an agreement off BP and altered it for our situation. I go and have the sister sign an agreement for $7000 and then she says something in Spanish about appliances. I guess she wanted to keep all of them. Not thinking and not knowing how to speak Spanish I proceeded with signing the agreement.
Over the weekend I spoke to a few people. They were telling me get inspection and asking questions. Not having much money to put into this I was not going to get an inspection. I started to do my due diligence for other little things. I looked around at appliance prices and realized that might cost me another $3k to get new ones. (not very inspiring to go through with the deal) I had my mom turn in the application on Monday and the park manager tells her more interesting information that I was not aware of. Which they sold the home to the seller. For less with all the appliances. Did not bother me too much everyone needs to make money. Then they said there are property taxes that need to be paid and there will be a rent increase each year. Then I am thinking wow there is so much that was not said. Too many little expenses that I do not know if my mom can afford. So I text the brother and tell him if they keep all appliances I can only afford to give $5k for the home. He says, "No and starts being completely rude." So I back out the deal and cancel my check, which I feel horrible about but they were not going to give it back even though the agreement allowed me to get my money back. I tried to get it back, and No luck. I told them I would still give them $100 for their time. The whole deal seemed to risky and sketchy there were a lot of red flags that I was justifying. When I backed out all the way and informed them about the stop payment, the brother starts texting me all kinds of crazy rude things. Not a professional at all. I am glad I backed out I saved a bunch of money but at the same time I kind of feel I should have went through with it to see how it would ended up.
But the whole reason why I am doing this post is to get some feedback. What could I have done differently? Is there anyway to negotiate space rent?
**thanks for reading Stephanie Garcia, I apologize if the story seems all over the place.
