Closest thing for 1-2 families is a certificate of occupancy and that's only when the ownership changes hands.

I think more of what you are asking is how the occupancy level and accuracy will affect what kind of loan you can get and how much you will put down and how much the debt service will be.A regular lender at 90% occupied maybe 6.5% fixed at 75% ltv.If you get into value add deals you will pay points and a much higher rate to fund and lower LTV.You will then need to refi after stabilizing about 1 year out.So you build the carrying costs into the amount of time needed.The books will determine the verified income and actual costs.From there you run your desired cap going in and that tells you around the price you want to pay.Now if the books are out of normal standard margins you have to ask yourself why that is (deferred maintenance,undisclosed credits to tenants,disguising fees paid to themselves in other line items,etc.)

Next, when ownership of the house transfers, you are going to have to pay all the back taxes at once (or you will not be able to close).

Then I'd subtract whatever profit I wanted from the cost of the land minus the demo to determine my offer price.

Honestly, there are deals to be had in most places -- you just need to know how to identify them, That's going to be your first mission -- to determine what strategy to employ and to learn how to find and identify what would constitute a great deal.

My question is, if I take posession of this myself - will I be able to get a hard money loan to make the 40-50k in repairs after I close - or would I need to determine prior to close and have the HML listed on the title?

So there are some quick ways I figure out a ballpark value for a MHP.First- I have some constants- expensesIf the park owner pays W/S/T I use 45%If the tenants pay W/S/T I use 35%next is rental homes- I ONLY use the space rent to determine CAP value.

It seems lately from your posts that you have looked at real estate properties to own,note buying,and now restaurants.I am trying to determine if you are placing money in multiple streams or trying to place money into one type of investment and seeing what fits looking at multiple things.There is a difference between taking say 30,000 of cash and putting all that cash into a restaurant and having 200,000 and putting into multiple things.If the restaurant doesn't work out if it's just a small part of your overall portfolio it is okay.If it is a majority of your cash into that one thing it can be a bad investment if you do not know how to analyze properly.You might want to look at business brokerage.This is where I help people analyze buying the assets of a business.Since you will not want to run it day to day you will be what is called an "absentee owner".Businesses can give a great return when purchased properlyAny specific questions just ask.

Can anyone tell me the best ways to determine other areas to invest in and what types of criteria I should look for?

And if you ask about materials, you probably could have determined that it was less than $100 in materials.