Manufactured home purchasing?

Question

I’m 19 years old looking to start investing in real estate. Originally I wanted to start house hacking by purchasing my first multi family property such as a duplex or even up to a quad plex. ￼￼￼￼ but the loan I was approved for isn’t enough to purchase what I’m looking for. so lately I’ve been looking into manufactured homes. I saw that I could pay them off really quickly and I’m looking for cash flow rather than active cash. My goal is to move-in, pay it off and purchase my next one while renting out the first one I bought and so on and so forth. Any opinions or ideas about purchasing a manufactured home for starting out? ￼￼￼

Rachel H. · Answer

@Jose Zamora Welcome to the world of mobile home investing! Thanks for the mention @Brenden Mitchum.

Regarding your question, if you're going to be buying and holding the first thing you need to do is make sure you have the cash reserves to do it. As a buy and hold real estate investor, so many issues can come up. Especially when you're first starting out.

If you need to build up cash first, then you may look into working with other investors to help them find mobile home deals either as a bird dog or wholesaler. This will give you a chance to learn the market while at the same time help you build the cash to start buying and holding. Also, it will allow you to network with others and start building your team.

To start out, you may want to read a few books on the subject of mobile home investing. This will help you to determine whether or not you think it's right for you. From there, it's just a matter of learning your market and building your network.

Hope that helps!

Brenden Mitchum · Answer

Hey @Jose Zamora!

Well, the good news is that time is definitely on your side so first, don't rush into anything. Keep educating yourself and analyzing deals but hold off on buying until you find a solid deal.

Sorry to hear that you are not able to afford a small MF house hack, but I doubt many 19y/os could. Have you tried getting approved for a SF? You can house hack by the room or look for one with a mother-in-law suite. Also, you can always rent for a couple years (or better yet live at home if possible) and save up until you have the capital to start investing. There's no shame in that, you will still be light years ahead of most, and you will be incredibly knowledgeable on the subject by that time.

However, if waiting to invest just is not an option because you are that hungry to get started, mobile homes could be a great way to get into the game. I am sure @Rachel H. will hop on here shortly to give some advice on starting with MH, but I can tell you that there are tons of great resources out there for you. First, BP is filled with blog posts on the subject if you just search "mobile homes." You might also want to check out John Federo's site and any podcast he has been on.

Like I said before, no need to rush - just keep learning and networking and the pieces will begin to fall into place. If you have any questions along the way or just want to chat, please feel free to message me anytime!