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Hello,
I bought another singlewide trailer yesterday so it seems I am on a roll! This one is an older singlewide in need of updating but nothing major needs to be done and I got it at a great price. The seller is the son of the deceased owner but he was able to do a “non-probate” title transfer and signed it over to me along with a bill of sale, notarize by the title company representative that did the title transfer.
I would like to move it out of the park it is currently in and it is a lot older than most of the homes in there now so the park says they do not want it so they are not exercising their First Right of Refusal.
Today I called the park manager to arrange to move it out and she casually mentioned that I am responsible for also tearing out the concrete pad. I do not have any kind of written agreements with the park but they insist they wont let our mover move it until I agree to paying for the extra things they are just mentioning now.
What legal ground do I stand on here and what do you all suggest?Why do you want to move it out? That’s a huge expense and all kind of things can go wrong when you move an older mobile home.
You need to get a copy of the lot lease agreement to see what it says. Since you are a new buyer, I don’t see how they can enforce any lot lease rules bout removing pads, etc. Makes no sense because who ever moves their home on that lot will want to have a pad there.
Maybe they just don’t want you to move the home and are coming up with this excuse to try to get you to keep the mobile home there.
Ok so the park got back to me and said they dont want to buy it so its mine. I have to sign a lease and they say if I can move it or sell it by the end of this month, they wont require me to remove the concrete pad. I believe the reason for the concrete removal is they would rather move a double wide on it and I think the pad would need to be bigger. The lot rent is the same price for singlewides there as doublewides but if they sell the mobile home too, they can of course make more money.
On another strange note, a different park that I have my very first mobile home in has offered me an old mobile home for FREE if I move it! I said yes because I am going to wholesale it immediately and the new person will buy it knowing they have to move it. I have a park owner who will buy old singlewides for $500 so I know I will make at least that. The park has a clear title that the owner has signed already so its an open title. My question is should I get an actual bill of sale for this freebie mh? I want to make sure no one comes up and says they will give them a little bit of money and then I’m out, even with the title.
When it rains it pours (:Perhaps I spoke too soon….I just found out that while the park on the first singlewide is not going to buy it, the guy who already sold it to me is refusing to pay the park the last of the rent he owes them. The park is saying now they will “not release it” to me until he does. I have nothing in writing with this park yet but I have a bill of sale and an open title already from the individual seller. Anyone have this situation before?
It is always better to be a bill of sale, even if the price is ZERO. Remember to verify that no taxes are due before you sign the purchase agreement.
Sounds like you are on a Mobile Home roll! Keep up the good work! Try to avoid moving them though, it is a huge expense and all kinds of things can go wrong (ask me how I know)
Back to the original singlewide I bought from the deceased owner’s son: I noticed that a bunch of the singlewides in that park are older and for sale. The park is moving in a lot of new double wides and I think the singlewides are for sale because no one wants to pay the same price for a singlewide as a double wide. The lot rent is $575 a month, not including gas and electric so in our area, this is a mortgage on a smaller 3 bedroom 2 bath home. I put up some Seller Finance Craig’s List ads for my older singlewide and the response has been largely that the lot rent is too high. Part of the problem is that it is in a 55 and up community so that knocks off a lot of potential buyers and the lot rent is pricey so that is another hurdle. I found a mover who will move it for $1500 and then set it back up and hook to utilities for another $1500. I only have 2 more weeks before I will owe the park another $575 plus utilities so I am considering moving it. They will also require me to jackhammer out the concrete pad if I go into May. I found a park owner who will let me master lease it and wont charge me any lot rent for up to 4 months as I rehab it (it wont take that long as it just needs updating, I just wanted an extra cushion of time). Here is the agreement I have drafted and I’d like to get opinions on it:
Agreement between Mobile Home Park Owner and Elizabeth Smith for a Singlewide Mobile Home to be placed at XYZ Mobile Home Park
Both Elizabeth Smith and Mr. Jones, Mobile Home Park Owner agree that:
1. Mr. Jones is allowing Elizabeth to place her 12X60 singlewide mobile home at Mr. Jones’ property, XYZ Mobile Home Park.
2. Elizabeth will pay to move the mobile home to XYZ MHPark as soon as her mover can move it over to XYZ MHPark.
3. Elizabeth will be responsible for paying the lot rent as soon as the mobile home is rehabbed, not more than 4 months and not less than 2 months.
4. Elizabeth will retain ownership of the mobile home and will remain responsible for the lot rent to Mr. Jones.
5. Mr. Jones will allow Elizabeth to either rent out the mobile home or sell it to a new buyer at her discretion and at any price she chooses.
6. Mr. Jones and Elizabeth will have a signed lease that will remain in affect even in the event of the sale of XYZ Mobile Home Park.I asked the park manager at the existing park if they the older homes that I could take over or buy at a very low price and she said they would definitely be calling me when the owners were ready to move or sell. She said they dont take the older ones and they are not what they want long term. This could be a great source of more homes for me.
Hey Elizabeth
Tell us what happened with your FREE mobile home. What did you finally do with it?
In the last 20 years, I’ve been given about 20 free mobile homes. Some had to be moved. Many did not need to be moved. And I’ve bought about 100 mobile homes for less than $500.
I remember a CashFlowDepot member talking about a free mobile home he was getting in over 55 parks in Florida. He advertised them on craiglist for $15,000 with seller financing. But had the problem that most buyers just wanted to pay CASH in over 55 parks. He did not get the cash flow but he did make a ton of money with free mobile homes.
Hi Jackie,
The FREE mobile home deal worked out like this: I paid $32 to the seller to help him transfer the title to his name from his deceased Dad’s name and another $550 for April’s lot rent as I marketed it to sell it. I found a mobile home park owner who had at least half of their spaces vacant so I knew he was motivated to buy and I sold this 1970, 2 bed/2.5 bath, 12X60 singlewide for $1900 cash. I had it less than 3 weeks and didn’t have to spend any actual money on marketing and the new buyer of course paid his own money to move it to his own park. He got it out just in time not to have to deal with removing the concrete (the park it was in wanted to replace this singlewide with a double wide and verbally required that I remove the concrete slabs if I moved it but I talked them into no concrete removal if I moved it by April 30th).
The next one I mentioned in an earlier post is a 1975 14×65 singlewide with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, (the master bath has a shower in it which is nicer than just a toilet and sink like the last one). It was given to me for FREE as well from a park that wants it gone. I paid them a crisp dollar bill to make the bill of sale a little more official BUT, there is no lot rent needed for this one. I put in deadbolts and new locks and paid a lady $40 to remove trash and old furniture from it so I have a total of $79 in this one. It does have a LOT more work needed to it so I sold this one at a discount: $1100. Not bad huh (:
I did not even bother transferring the titles of either one into my name. They were open titles so the new owner can do that himself. I have notarized bills of sale and purchase agreements for both my buying and my selling of each one but nothing else.
Now that I have done these 2 deals plus the one I am holding a note on, I have heard rumors that I might need to get a dealer’s license to sell anymore. What do you think?Oh, I should mention that the first singlewide had just swamp cooling and needed a new ceiling in the main rooms, had original flooring and all original bathrooms so it would have probably needed about $3500 worth of updating and fixing but overall, it was in decent shape. The second one however had holes in the floor, the entire ceiling was in bad shape, no appliances whatsoever, missing copper water lines and graffiti inside. It was rough looking but still had its good points like it was more roomy and had the extra shower. Just to give you an idea of why I sold them to a park owner at a wholesale price instead of an end user. I would like to find some land and put a couple of mobile homes on to either rent or seller finance so I have some long term cash flow and somewhere that I can do the rehab without paying lot rent to a park.
GREAT job Elizabeth! Great strategy to find some land/home deals or land where you can move your el cheapo mobile homes.
Or, buy a mobile home park with some vacant lots so you can get the park cheaper. Some older park owners are glad to sell with seller financing or even a master lease.
As far as getting a mobile home dealer’s license, the laws are different in every state so you’ll need to research what they are for Arizona ( where you live if I remember right).
I did about 100 mobile home deals before I went to the boring class to get my mobile home dealers license.
I remember selling 5 mobile homes to a park owner one time. He was moving them all to his park. I told him I was going to Austin the next week to get my mobile home dealers license. He said WHAT? Then he told me he had been buying and selling mobile homes for 20 years and never heard of a mobile home dealers license and he had no plans to get one either.
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