$4900 Cash blowout on 2002 mobile home

[ARamirez]

Has anyone seen or heard a deal like this before? ARC is the mgmt company of this park. What they have is a Cash Blow out deal where I pay $4900 to purchase a 2002 3/2 in refurbished condition.

BUT! I have to sign to keep the home in the park for 5 years. If I decide to buy the home outright I pay for all the park rent due ($24,000 @ $400/mo). If I sell it then I believe I am still responsible for cashing them out the $24,000 or whatever is left at that point.

They did say though after talking with them about what I can do with MHs that someone else could live in it as long as they passed the application. SO! I have not seen the contract of this type of deal yet, but would I be able to work out some sort of L/O deal on a mobile home. Because if I sell it I have to work with the title which I am wondering if the park will be on the lienholder list for the 5 years. could I try leasing with the option to buy in 5 years???? Wierd.

Any ideas? As usual renting MHs in the park is a no no.

[John Hyre]

You will need to sell on contract for deed (which seems to be rough in Texas) or on L/O.....or change title, transferring the parks "rent lien" to the new title.  Whichever option the park seems happy with is the one I'd go for.  Sounds like some potentially good deals there.

John Hyre

[cainvestor]

It sounds like you can do Lonnie's deals here.  Any new status?

I have seen many MHP for sale in TX. Just curious, have you ever looked into that?

[John Hyre]

I am gearing up to buy MH parks.  TX is towards the top of the list for target locations - generally a business friendly state with a large Hispanic population.  Also, my experience in dealing with Mexican immigrants has been very positive.  If you treat them well and with respect, they will pay you on time, do more business with you and send their friends & family your way.  Lots of parks, basically rational legal environment & excellent customers - what more could you ask for?  Shiner Bock & ZZ Top are bonuses!

John Hyre

[cainvestor]

John,

How is MHP market in TX, ROI, out-of-state management (think your're in OH)?  I am also concern about their property tax(3%), too many new development out there.  

I have been talking to some brokers in Dallas, San Antonio areas regarding duplex but I am interested to get start in MHP as well.  

[shsugrad]

I bought 2 mobile homes like that from ARC, near the Houston area.  
I am in my 20's and am very new to real estate investing.  When I found out about these deals by accident by the way, I jumped on them.  
This is how it happened.  I called the community in my area and asked if they had any MH's for sale.  I remembered a while back they ran ads in the local paper for mobile homes 2000 and up for less than 10,000.  They had one 3 bdrm at the time.  I looked at it and purchased it for $6900 cash.  It was a 2001 3/2 singlewide in excellant condition.  I closed a few days later.  The next day after I closed , I called them again to ask if they had anymore available at that price or similar.  The manager of the community thought she had one coming available soon, but would let me know by the end of the day.  As it turned out, she did.  I picked up a $6900 MH for $6400, after bargaining wth them over some minor cosmetics and closed on it in a few days thereafter.  I didn't know at the time ythat another person was trying to buy the same one, but couldn't come up wth the cash as quuick as I did.  I immediately put a for sale sign in the window hoping to either rent it immediately or flip it.  I was contacted by the other buyer and ended up selling it to him fr $8000, clearing a clean $1600 profit in a mtter of about 2 weeks.  I paid no lot rent or title change fees or anything, not bad in my opinion.  

The deal with these mobile homes at this price is this: they must be owner occupied and must remain in the arc for a period of 5 years. After that 5 years, they can be moved.  Because  am in college , about to graduate in 2 months, I simply got 2 roomates, kept the rent low, lived there for free, and when I move in 2 months to Dallas/FT worth area, I let the roomates continue the lease I had signed wth them.  When they move out, I simply offer them a "cash bonus" if they find new roomates to take over, thus eliminating my time and effort with advertising expenses, etc.  I also have this MH listed for sale with a sign in the window offering owner finacing at an asking price of $16,500.  I currently have one party looking into making a deal for the asking price with half down.
This is an excellant oppurtunity in my opinion, but you can't buy too many of them.  It worked out great for e because of my situation.  I'm going to look for ARC communities in the area I am moving to and hopefully do the same thing.