All Forum Posts by: Bill W.

Zillow does not use MLS data to compile comps. Redfin does and is available in Texas but not in all areas of the state. I use Redfin all the time and love it.

If Redfin does not provide MLS info in your area there may be other sites that do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_real_estate_websites

I see youre in Texas and for our state there actually is away to do this with a decent margin of error. You can visit the state site's database here: http://mhweb.tdhca.state.tx.us/mhweb/title_view.jsp

From there you can search by Install County. The state database has a high error rate so take the information in the database with a grain of salt if it isn't consistent with other info you have.

Eric,

Lonnie Dealers make money by using their cash to buy at a discount and selling on terms. This spread is how they make their profits.

Spending money and time rehabbing homes will greatly slow you down in turning profits.

There may be occasions that you should consider taking a complete junker and doing minimumal work to it to make it more marketable but generally speaking, you'll be better off passing off repairs to your buyer.

Let me check these numbers. If you say you've increased profit $48,000, each year, we will assume the "each year" at a minimum of two years. So you made $96,000 last year buying mobile homes.

In this thread
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/30/topics/58435-absentee-lonnie-deals you say you're making $50,000 a year doing loans.

So last year you made a minimum of $146,000 by both selling mobile homes on payments and loaning on points while you spent a significant amount of last year out of the country on military tour?

Is that accurate or am I missing something?

Dustin, I would suggest consulting with an attorney to determine if this is legal in your state. I had a similar idea last year and discussed it with a RE attorney in Texas. While he didn't say that it would be expressly forbidden, he did have concerns about its legality in Texas. I wound up going in a different direction and did not pursue the issue.

Bill

As long as you're happy with the arrangement of making the PM a boat load of money at your expense, that would work

Safe Act doesnt say anything about whether transferring title has any impact on applicability.

In Texas, TDHCA regulation states that you transferring title into another's name constitutes a sale rather than a rental though but other guy does not live in Texas. I am pretty sure some states allow rent to own structure with transfer of title.

And you pay referral fees to PMs when you move a home to their park? Weird arrangement. Should be other way around. I know of some parks in my area that pay Lonnie Dealers up to $6000 to get homes in their parks. You might want to do some digging and see if you can find that arrangement in your city.

In Texas they are actually regulated by Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Buying and selling a MH in Texas has its own distinct set of rules and laws apart from real estate and cars.

http://www.tdhca.state.tx.us/mh/

You are asking about whether you need to be a licensed dealer/retailer for manufactured homes. Shari responded about being a licensed real estate broker which is different. For your state, I don't know the answer but you'll need to do more digging to find out.

I would recommend googling your state name and "manufactured home agency" to find the state agency which regulates this.

Dustin, I'm of the mindset that selling them as fixer uppers is much more profitable.

Suppose you spend $1000 on repairs and increase the house's value by $1000.

One of two scenarios would happen. You'd sell the home for $1000 more and recoup that money during the last few month's of the note's life a few years later.

Or the buyer defaults before paying the additional $1000 built into the price to reflect repairs and you never get the money back. Now if it was carpet that you replaced, expect it to needs to be replaced again before you sell.

So best case scenario is you sell it faster but it takes you several years to recoup your money. Worst case scenario is that you never get that money back.

Suppose you start off with $10k to buy mobile homes. That $1000 you sank into each house could have gone towards buying another fixer. If you buy two or three homes and put that kind of repair money into it, you missed out on the opportunity to buy another home and create an additional note.

Money you spend should go towards making more money. Repairing homes to move in condition is counter productive to that goal.