Mobile home rules of thumb?

Question

Account Closed · Answer

@John Humphries

Homes sell for what they sell for.  Can be 5k or 50k.  Rent will not be a function of the lot rent.  You may have a 400 lot rent and a 700 home rent or maybe a 900 home rent.  You might check local CL ads and find out what homes are going for in your area as this will vary. A lot of parks prohibit rentals as well so make sure to check into that with the park...

John Humphries · Answer

Thanks for the input, Account Closed. What I'm trying to figure out is how much to set aside for CapX and maintenance in relation to a typical stick built home. Is maintaining a mobile typically more, less, or equally expensive than a typical stick built home? In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they different?

John Humphries · Answer

Sorry, didn't see the comments in between there.  thanks @John Arendsen and Thomas S. for chiming in as well. I will probably end up flipping after all. Not sure about park procedures yet.

What are some good things to check on during my walkthrough? Red flags? I'm pretty good at getting a feel for a house due to my contracting background, but I'm not familiar with mobiles.

John Arendsen · Answer

Let me echo Thomas S.. Many if not most MHC rules and regs strictly prohibit sub leasing. At least that's the rule and not the exception in Cali.

Rachel H. · Answer

When it comes to buying homes in parks, the best source of information will be park manager/owner. They know what homes are selling and renting for in the community. Also, you can talk to the maintenance staff and local residents. Hope that helps!

John Arendsen · Answer

Amen and MERRY CHRISTMAS bro

John Humphries · Answer

@John Arendsen and @Jean Nelsen thanks for the tips!! Mobiles are truly different animals altogether.

I'm supposed to walk through this thing tomorrow, but the seller has stopped responding to messages. Maybe it's for the best...

Jean Nelsen · Answer

Also, it's very very difficult to get a loan on a night teen 76 or earlier home so that reduces your buyer pool.  In fact it is difficult to get a loan on a home in a park anyway. I do know someone who does nothing but that and if you want to text, call or personal message me I can give you his name and number. Also when you're considering it and then decide to do a little remodeling remember that if you  cut into the trailer it's self to make the addition, lenders won't touch it. I say all this from the perspective of a realtor who is concerned about your ability to sell after you rehab.

John Arendsen · Answer

Depends on the year. If it's a pre HUD home built before June 15, 1976, I wouldn't touch is for a variety of reasons.

• Built like a trailer with 2x3 inch exterior walls and 1x2 or 2x2 interior wall const. which makes them very flimsy and difficult even dangerous to repair.
• Interior paneling is usually a 3/16 inch photo-finished veneer which for the most part isn't even manufactured any longer.
• Flimsy aluminum siding no longer manufactured and hard to repair.
• Trying to replace interior wall paneling and/or aluminum siding with heavier materials which is about all that's available with today's material selections can drastically overload exterior walls causing sagging and settling unless reinforced by perimeter piers which still isn't a good idea for lots of engineering reasons.
• Roof were usual a 1x2 truss system with a rolled aluminum skin place on top. The roof trusses if not inundated with dry rot and termite damage may also have lots of truss fractures caused by tradesmen not knowing where or how to walk on it or by falling branches and wind driven rain issues.
• Particle board sub flooring is held together with Elmers Glue. This is water soluble and once wet if not dried quickly will dissolve the holding agents in the glue and return the particle board back to sawdust which is what it was before the glue dried when manufactured. Additionally lot's of particle board was laced with formaldehyde which is a caustic chemical.
• Formica counter tops are known to have been laced with formaldehyde as well.
• Acoustical and popcorn ceilings in that circa were known to have asbestos in it which is a highly carcinogenic chemical and can be very detrimental to ones health.
• Above ceiling and wall insulation was also know to have asbestos in it.
• A lot of plumbing in those days was made from "Quest" Poly Butylene which proved to be catastrophic and ended up costing Shell Oil huge losses in a class action lawsuit in order to cover court ordered replacement on hundreds of thousands of mobile homes.
• Finally, once you start going down that road it will be like feeding a cancer that just keeps manifesting itself.

Too many other things to consider as well but I don't have the time nor the inclination to go over them. If you're intent on keeping an old "toilet" as most MH specialists call them the best thing you could do is strip them down to the bones, reinforce the skeleton and start completely over which will not make it a viable investment for a rental.

In fact I'm doing one now and will be happy to send you photos of my progress. However, the MH is in a MHC less than 300 feet from the ocean in a very mixed residential community  neighborhood with an average price tag of 3 million dollars.

I'll spend about 30-50k to rehab it but it will be totally updated and I should be able to sell it for about 250k plus 1k/mth rent. The reason I had to go this route was due to the existing legal non-conforming setbacks. Had I removed the 12x36 foot MH I would have had to install any new one with a Park Model because I'd never be able to use the same footprint due to the set back requirements.

Hope all this helps.