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All Forum Posts by: Sandy Uhlmann

Sandy Uhlmann has started 126 posts and replied 289 times.

Post: mobile homes

Sandy UhlmannPosted
  • Investor
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Posts 309
  • Votes 100

@Kennesha Powell @John Fedro @Rachel H.

John Fedro has loads of YouTube videos that are very informative and extremely helpful. I have learned a ton from watching all his videos.  You can also connect with him here on BP. Rachel H who posted above, has some videos and has written a few books on the subject of Mobile Home investing.

Good Luck!

Post: Seller Financing, Lease Options or Contract for Deed?

Sandy UhlmannPosted
  • Investor
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Posts 309
  • Votes 100

@John Arendsen

I have already spoken to the park manager about my plan and he is on board.  The park is bringing in new mobile homes and is doing everything it can to improve the park in order to attract better tenants.  Although the manager does rehab some of the homes himself, he offered his help and advice because ultimately, it is his goal to fill the park will well qualified tenants who want to be proud of the home that they are (hopefully) going to be owning.  The on site manager has agreed to help me inspect the home prior to my purchase.

As for your purchase and the park that it is in, I think that is awesome!  As they say; location, location, location.  I can't wait for you to post the after photos.  It is amazing what can be done with these homes.

Post: Seller Financing, Lease Options or Contract for Deed?

Sandy UhlmannPosted
  • Investor
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Posts 309
  • Votes 100

I would like to begin purchasing, rehabbing and then selling mobile homes.  Initially, my plan was to create a note and owner finance to the buyer.  I am getting the idea that because mobile homes are not treated the same way as stick built/site homes that this is not a viable option?

I am looking at what options are available to me as I really don't want to be a landlord.  Ideally, it would be nice if I could avoid foreclosing in the event of a default.  Does this leave out conventional seller financing? I guess seller financing leaves me vulnerable to Dodd Frank rules where I would eventually need to find an RMLO?  How does everyone else deal with Dodd Frank?

I am also looking at lease options as an alternative method to essentially owner finance the mobile homes to buyers.  Are there pros and cons to this method also?  Does lease option avoid Dodd Frank?

Are any mobile homes sold as Contract For Deeds where the deed is not transferred until the obligations are met?

Sorry for the myriad of questions.  My mind is just swimming with the "how to" of it all.

Thanks in advance for chiming in!

Sandy

Post: Using a SDIRA to get into mobile home investing

Sandy UhlmannPosted
  • Investor
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Posts 309
  • Votes 100

@Avi Garg Thanks for the great idea! I was beginning to wonder if I would have to have someone act in this capacity. Would be great if the big box stores allowed you to have charge cards in the name of your IRA so you could put it on a credit card and then have the SDIRA pay it off. I wish I had started with a checkbook IRA but since I didn't, I think I am out of luck. It is expensive (I believe) transferring assets from one IRA to another.

Post: Using a SDIRA to get into mobile home investing

Sandy UhlmannPosted
  • Investor
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Posts 309
  • Votes 100

@Steve Racicot I would like to owner finance them. I don't want the landlord hassles.  I know that there are Dodd Frank issues with this but if I end up doing more than the limit, I guess I will have to find and RMLO to underwrite.  I am not so naive to know that even these owner finance deals have their own hassles-default, skipping out in the middle of the night, trashing the home.  I just hope that between the down payment and the payments received there is not a ton of additional expense in order to placing the next tenant buyer in the home.  I think the key is in the screening of the clients.

 I guess the ideal thing to do is to buy cheap, sell as "handyman special" to someone who is going to fix it up and live in the home, get $1000-3000 down and charge a monthly payment + lot rent that is less than the average family can pay for an apartment in the area.   I understand the GOAL  is for the down payment and the monthly payment to make your money back in 10-12 months.  Most of the owner financing is for 5 years, more or less depending on the quality of the trailer to begin with.  Obviously, the amount you can charge above the lot rent depends on what area you live in.  Where I live, lot rents are under $200 so If I charged $500 (including the lot rent in the $500) that would be $300/month so $3,600 income in a year plus whatever I got as a down payment.  After that, it is all profit.  I can find decent mobile homes for under $6000 where I live.  

My problem will be that I actually LIKE to do (have someone else do)  some rehab but I know if I want to make a profit, I am really going to have to control my rehab impulses and go for the essential items that give the most bang for the buck.  I am sure that I will pay for my education as I go with the mistakes that I will make along the way!

Post: Using a SDIRA to get into mobile home investing

Sandy UhlmannPosted
  • Investor
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Posts 309
  • Votes 100

@Bill Neves

I contacted Equity Trust and it is not problem investing/buying and flipping mobile homes.  It is no different than fixing and flipping or fixing and renting homes.  You just cannot do the work yourself but you can hire out contractors and direct the work.  It is just the logistics in paying for the work that is a slow process as the funds have to be sent from the custodian and this takes time.

@Chris Seveney I do have several performing notes that I have purchased through my SDIRA.  Mobile home investing lets me do the two things I love the most:  Rehab and lend money and get a good return on the investment.  It seems to me like mobile homes have a lower price of entry than do most notes.  $10,000 or less will get me a good start whereas it is hard to find a good performing note for that price and the price of a servicer takes a good bite out of any profit you get.  Non performing notes have been a bit of a headache and they have servicing fees, attorney fees ect...

Post: Using a SDIRA to get into mobile home investing

Sandy UhlmannPosted
  • Investor
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Posts 309
  • Votes 100

I would like to get into mobile home investing. With a lower price point of entry as compared to fixing and flipping brick and mortar homes it seems like it would be something that would be ideal for using a SDIRA. It seems like this would be much easier if I had a checkbook IRA but being that I have a custodian, Equity Trust, it seems like it does make things a bit more complicated.

Custodian has to approve purchase ahead of time, takes time to issue check to seller.

To move a home I would again have to request the funds to be sent to the mover and then again to the electrician, plumber and  handyman to pay them for the hook up of the home as well as for rehab of the home.

Additionally, I am not allowed to do any of the rehab myself so that is an additional cost to pay the handyman or other vendor.

Does anyone have any experience or advice in using a SDIRA to invest in mobile homes?

I guess another option is to be a money partner with someone who is already in the mobile home arena.  The drawback to that is that I really like to see the before/after rehabs first hand and it seems that getting your initial investment back seems slow.  The very real possibility of the tenant/buyer defaulting is ever present then we are back at square one with additional expense in cleaning up the mobile home, doing repairs in preparation for another tenant buyer.

Does anyone have an experience using their SDIRA to invest in mobile homes?  If so, I would like to hear your stories and advice.

Thanks,

Sandy

Post: Bidding Guidelines for Notes?

Sandy UhlmannPosted
  • Investor
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Posts 309
  • Votes 100

While I am sure this topic has been discussed, for some reason my search of bidding guidelines for notes has not yielded any information other than for bidding on HUD homes.

I have traditionally focused on NP junior liens. I am a newbie when it comes to bidding and buying NP firsts.   I have recently seen a lot of tapes come across that are for re-performing firsts.  Does anyone have any general rules of thumb for how much these go for?

Most of the ones that I have seen on these "re-performing" tapes are making some payments but are far from being considered performing notes.  Some are BK with good payment records at present presumably because the trustee is making the payments, the majority of others have been sporadic payers.

As an example, I see a note with a low UPB of approx $15,000 payoff with a low LTV of approx 25% at a rate of approx 14% that is in a rural area. It had a long history of no payment but it has had approx 5 months of regular payments. Of concern is that its maturity date was in 2012. Is purchasing a note that is already past its maturity date ever an issue? What is an appropriate bid for this note? Its rural area makes it a risk if it ever goes non-performing as I think it would be hard to re-sell.

Additionally, does anyone else avoid these low UPB notes because they find that the servicing fees eat up a significant portion of the monthly payment that you receive?

Any insight anyone could provide would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Sandy

Post: Carpet or woodfloor for rentals?

Sandy UhlmannPosted
  • Investor
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Posts 309
  • Votes 100

All of my current rentals have hardwood floors that have been refinished.  The look is awesome and it does attract a higher quality renter if the rest of the home is also done nicely.  For the most part it holds up well but I have had one incident where tenants had heavy furniture with bun feet that gouged the floor all the way past the poly and into the wood.  Extremely noticeable because the hardwood was stained a deep walnut.  Very frustrating.  

I think your choice of flooring may depend on the type of renter you are attracting.  With these particular renters I wish I had used the vinyl plank (wood look) Allure-type flooring so that if a strip got scratched or damaged I could just replace the strip.  I would then consider removing the flooring and possibly refinish the hardwood floor if I ever wanted to sell the home to a retail buyer.

I tile the floors of the bathroom and the kitchens as this has held up very well and tends to attract better quality of renters.  This being said, I would not hesitate to install the vinyl flooring in these areas as they are durable, water proof, very popular and come in a wide variety of tile and wood look. 

Post: Carpet or woodfloor for rentals?

Sandy UhlmannPosted
  • Investor
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Posts 309
  • Votes 100

@Deanna McCormick I have a wood floor that I refinished a few years ago that has lost its sheen.  What kind of poly do you recommend?  I even used a poly with a color built in over my floors and It looked great!  I will have to see how it holds up over time.