All Forum Posts by: Zachary A.

I use YellowLetterHQ.com. I haven't seen better pricing anywhere I've looked. I usually pay $0.389/postcard at their rate for 2001+ postcards, but they get even cheaper with more bulk.  

I just called the park manager, and this time he told me we could keep the plot rent at $460 after I told him I knew that's what the current occupant paid. I think he was just trying to gouge it up the first time we talked. 

@Dylan Vargas

It's kind of a low end family park outside Marysville (on Hamonton Smartsville Rd). They don't allow rentals, and the lot rent is about $700/mo (current resident is at $400, but I think they are trying to raise it). 

@John Arendsen Thanks for the warning. Wholesalers get used to hearing this, but for the most part it isn't true of what we do on a regular basis. Is it possible it's more of a gray area if I sell to a retail buyer as opposed to an investor, like I usually would?

@Nic Williams Wow, thanks for the great response and info Nic! That's very helpful to hear about your experience. I'm a new wholesaler, and I've got more than I can handle in appointments and transaction management at the moment, and I really don't want to get tied up in this. Thanks again for sharing with me!

@Derek Robinson very good thoughts...I think I'm going to pass on the deal. Thanks for the help!

@Derek Robinson Yeah, it's in a park on a rented lot. Those are good thoughts about seller financing. I'd love to find an investor that would be interested in doing that and take it off my hands...I'm not sure I want to take the risk myself in a niche I don't understand very well. I would assume the risk of foreclosure would be pretty high.

I put a mobile home under contract about a week ago near Yuba City north of Sacramento. I never intended to get into mobile homes, but this seller responded to my marketing, and I'm new enough I'll take the time to look at almost anything. The couple had a long and compelling story which, as always, I enjoyed taking the time to understand. I made them an offer that was sufficient to meet their very specific needs, but I thought at the time it was a good deal for me too. I was VERY clear with the sellers about the fact that I might not be able to come through on the sale, and that everything was contingent upon me finding a "partner" to do the deal with me.

The house is a 1500sqft double wide, built in 1992, and in fairly good shape. I put it under contract for $13,000. It will need new kitchen appliances, and they smoke inside the house. It also needs new flooring in about half the house. I was not able to find great comps in the area, but I felt like this was a pretty good deal, because I couldn't find any mobile homes of its size on Zillow sold within the last 18 months for less than 18k, and most were 25k or more. I figured at this price point, buyers wouldn't expect much, and I wouldn't put much money into making it any nicer than it is. Maybe a little new carpet and low end kitchen appliances, and it should be good to go.

So far though, I'm having trouble finding anyone interested in it. Most of my contacts are interested in standard flips (that's what I'm mostly looking for, after all), and a very well connected broker friend of mine has not been able to find anyone interested. Even the organizer of one of the local REIAs who seems to know everybody didn't know of anyone who might be interested.

I am probably going to call the sellers tomorrow and let them know that I will continue trying to help them sell it, but that they are free to continue searching for a buyer on their own. They won't be excited about it, but I made sure they knew this was a possibility.

I've considered advertising it on Craigslist, but I'm reluctant to deal directly with retail buyers. How do you explain an assignment fee to retail buyers?

Ideally, I would like to find an investor who is knowledgeable about mobile homes and knows what to do with the deal. There just don't seem to be many of these around.

It seems to me that at this price, it should move. Am I missing something?

Thanks everyone for the input. 

So it looks like my best options are to go straight to an escrow company and/or get a lawyer, and probably not an agent. 

@Chris Isaacson there isn't much urgency, except the general desire to get it done while he is motivated. In fact the more I think about it, it might actually be best to wait, so that I can be around and make sure to do it right. I'm working long days over here, and the calling during working hours is very difficult. As for giving the buyer a deal, 6% is a lot of money, so if we spilt the savings 50/50 we both win. He's a very savvy guy and he knows exactly how much I'm saving by selling to him without an agent, so he immediately asked to spit the savings, which I think is only fair. 

I've already got a buyer for a house near Sacramento California I want to sell, and both the buyer and I would like to move ahead without paying 6% to agents (I'll give him a better deal as well). I could really use some help figuring out what sort of professional assistance outside of a full service agent I will need to make this work. 

A little back story...

My buyer is the current tenant in the home. He's very interested and I wanted to move ahead, but I left unexpectedly on military trip to the other side of the world for at least 30 days. I'm looking forward to freeing up my equity and investing in real estate elsewhere (the house is not a great rental, and is actually costing me money). My tenant is a really great trustworthy guy, and highly qualified to buy the house.

Should I offer an agent a flat fee to help out? Considering that I've already got a buyer, what would be a reasonable offer to an agent? If I were home, I would start out by asking a title company for help, and do as much as possible myself, but I may need more help being away. What kinds of pitfalls should I be looking for? I only need to get the process started while overseas, I should be home before we close.