This is a question I get all the time when dealing with people entering the mobile home market... and there are a whole bunch of answers. Lets start with one thing in mind, the less you pay- the quicker you recover your investment.
So with that said, lets break it down:
First you need to understand your own market- what will someone pay monthly for a home payment. A good place to look are the local apartment rentals. If a 3/2 apartment rents for $800 per month, that is a good place to start. Next we look at space rent. in my area it varies from $450 to $520 per month. That said, for the most part a payment on a 3/2 would come out to about $350 per month. That number will be higher if the home is a double wide, and less if it is old and junk.
I want you to notice, we have not talked about the type of home, age or anything yet. I set my purchase price on what I will get back, not on what I am buying. This is a very important part of the equation because it takes emotion out of the process.
So for everyone here, think about how quickly you want to RECOVER your investment. For me, the number is 12 months, 18 if the home is newer and nicer.
So lets back these numbers out and see what we have. My payment of $350 consists of what? $30 of it is insurance and the rest is payment. I have my owners pay their own taxes. So I am working with $320. Lets say this is an older home- so top $ is $3840. That is total money out- after every fee, tax and park manager is paid. It must also include fix up costs and space rent for however long it will sit. So our home needs taxes paid of $200, Title fees of $25, space rent for 45 days- say $600, and lets say the park manager found and sold the home for me, so add another $500. I pay the managers $250 per side, buy and sell on my deals. So I am at $3115 before cleaning a carpet or replacing a light bulb. Lets say this deal need some fix up. For the sake of argument lets say it has a couple of broken windows and needs carpet and deep cleaning. Lets value that at $1300. Now my top dollar is at $1815.
On a deal like this I would offer to take the home off their hands. If they did not take that I would probably pay $1750 tops as is. I would add they have to leave all of the appliances in working order.

Lets look at the selling options-

Lets say I sell it as a fix-up home. Say as is I would sell it for $7,000, no money down and payments of $200 per month. On a fix up I would escrow $25 for insurance leaving $175 of payments- or $2100 per year. After 56 payments i would have collected $9,800. I also charge $15 per month to service the note, so add $840. Grand total- $10,640. People love fix up homes, and my return looks good!

OK- lets fix this baby up and sell it for top $. Lets say we pump all of our money into the home and in the end we have $3800 in it. We sell it on payments of $350 for $15,500. So after 12 payments of $350 minus $30= $320 I have $3840. After the 75 payments I have collected $24,000 plus the $15/month $1,125 so $25,125. So that works out to about a 100% return yearly for 6.24 years.

The bottom line- how fast do you want your money back out of these deals. If your borrowing money to run this business you might not need the money out so quick. I am self funded so at this point I only spend what the business makes. Next- we can look at a higher price home that sells for more money on a long term, the numbers will excite you!

Last week I stopped into a local park and inquired about the homes that have been abandoned that the park did not have title to. In other posts I have mentioned about how this is a great way to get homes by bonding for title. in the conversation they gave me a lead on a home where they evicted the owner for non payment and the bank was just sitting on the home. Mobile homes receive their financing from several sources and local banks ore one of them. For the most part, a local bank has no clue what to do with a home after it goes bad. This is where you can step in and solve many problems all at once.
I looked at the home and much to mu surprise, it was a very nice looking double wide. I contacted the bank and they said I would have a call back soon with a price. They came back saying they were owed $15,000 but would take $3,000. At this time I had no access to the home so I called back and they told me I was free to enter. I called my contractor and he was inside within the hour. The bid to fix the home up was under $600, just some paint and kitchen flooring. I asked the bank what they had negotiated with the park concerning space rent, they had no contact with the park concerning space rent. So I offered to talk to the park and see what I could work out. I told the park I could buy the home but I needed to know what the past space rent due was. I was sure to let them know I was leaving the home in the park, and would work closely with them to find a good buyer. I should note, I have two other homes in this park and the transactions have gone well. The park liked my pitch and forgave all the back space rent, and gave me 45 days of free time to get the home fixed up and sold without a space rent payment. I sell 3 bedroom 2 bath double-wides for $25,000 on payments of $450/month. I will venture a guess this home will sell before the end of this month.

Local banks are a gold mine for finding deals. If you have a contact at your bank ask if they loan on mobile homes, and if the answer is no, ask if they ever have. Let the person in charge of delinquent accounts know if they ever have one go bad, you will be happy to look at the deal and make them an offer.

Be sure when talking to park managers to ask if there are homes that are vacant that the lenders are just sitting on. They will most of the time be willing to give you contact info for the bank so you can deal with them directly.

I should note I took what this bank wanted for the home without bartering with them. I knew how much I would have paid for this home and they were well inside of my number. Because the park was willing to remove the past space rent and give me 45 days free, the deal really made sense.

And to complete the story, the park gave me 5 additional homes with lien releases for me to bond for the titles. I have as much time as I need, again without space rent to renovate and sell these homes.

If your dreams do not keep you up at night, your not dreaming big enough.