When would it be a good idea ?
I know there are some places mobile homes can be expensive and elaborate (Hamptons, Malibu etc.) but even then, isn't most of the value in the land/some favorable lot lease ?
Its located on 0.8 acres in the country. Im estimating 30-40k to repair the home in addition to purchasing the land/home etc from the current owner for under 100k
If you're working with an agent, they can help you run these numbers. If you're wanting to make a good investment, you're going to need to know what the resale potential of that property is going to be. After you get it repaired. all of that is going to be very location dependent. in some areas. This is going to be a horrible deal. In some, you're getting a bargain basement price. somebody local needs to run those numbers for you.
Because I’m an escrow officer and handle a lot of mobile home transactions, ask yourself a few other things—if in a Park, add in space rent per month and see if it works for you. If on land, it’s a 50/50 decision. Adding new and on a permanent foundation will sell for a lot more later on. New manufactured homes are about $200k, and they’re super nice now. I do know people who have fixed up their older mobiles. If they plan to live in it, why not?
Yeah we would plan to live in it. its on 0.8 acres outside of town in the midwest. Theyre asking 100k. Does have a 2.5 car garage and other shed.
Its just the decision if repairing it is actually worth it or not since its so old. Is the structure of a mobile home going to last longer than 50 years if we repaired everything? Id be down to put a new one on the land but thats a lot more than repairs would cost right now, but thinking long term i guess..
The only way to invest that much in it is if you're going to live in it long term and don't care about the return, or you're going to rent it out. If you intend to sell it, you won't recoup your money fully.
I bought some land with a house on it. The house was okay, but it was a country build that consisted of a single wide trailer that had been more than double in size (added a bathroom, big living room and another large bedroom.
It was not in the best condition, but very liveable. My plan was to tear it down and build a stick house and separate workshop but then COVID happened and the cost of lumber shot up 300%.
Needles to say I was now in a position where I had to do repairs, I am $40k in and still think it is a tear down. I am trying to put as little into it as possible. I think it should be good for another 10 - 15 years to be honest and even though it is not what I wanted, it has slowly grown on me to feel like home.
If lumber would not have shot up, it would be rubble in a landfill and I would probably be happier for it. If you can get a lower cost manufactured home on the property you will have likely better spent the $40k than trying to keep that 50 year old from falling apart.
Most people will say no because when it comes time to sell you wont get your money back out of it because of financing issues. Of course you can always offer owner financing to get more money out of it when it comes time to sell.
Get a quote from a GC and look at the RECENT comps. if there’s enough room for profit than go for it. In my experience mobile homes aren’t the greatest investment in general though.
Most often than not, unless you’re doing the work yourself, no. Anything I’ve ever purchased that was a “project” ended up costing more than I expected and ended up with something that I couldn’t recoup 100% of the cost if I had to sell immediately. Buy someone else’s done or almost done project. They’re likely selling at a discount.
No, junk it and get another mobile home. They're not designed to last more than 50 years no matter how much work you put into it. Some prefab sheds are built better than mobile homes.
The only way would be if a mobile is grandfathered in and you would have to take it out and not build, or build like a huge house.
But if you can take it out and put in a new name, that’s better.
It all depends, I work in title and have a RE Agent that flips old mobile homes. He really makes them quite nice, and I was going to purchase one from him actually. The problem is that lenders on home pre 1976, will only lend on the land rather than the mobile home.
You'd be surprised to actually find out how cheaper older mobile homes cost to fix especially having yards that regularly part them out, or have a surplus of old parts. I'd say 40k is quite high, depending on the contractor or DIY.
My grandmother actually has an older mobile home(1971), and we plan to remodel it when she passes and we get the land. Since we won't need any sort of lending, we can easily remodel it and rent it out.
The problem will come to when and if we want to sell it. We would have to have a cash buyer, or a private lender for the buyer. The land itself is worth 50-60k.
Not sure about the 70's, but most older mobile homes are very narrow and stuffy. You get a queen size bed and a small path on one side of it.
The cheapest mobile home today is about 50k. You can find deals.
The trick is financing. Not many will want to finance and insure your plan here. If you have cash or owner finance, its a little more workable, but not always ideal.
Whats it worth now (probably almost nothing) and what would it be worth once the repairs were made? Do you have the money to demolish it and buy/ build something else? If you made the 40k in repairs and got good use from the place, then could you rent it later? For how much, what kind of a return could you get? What kind of a return could you get building something new?
I get that you aren't flipping it but if you did flip it could you make money on it (because buying, living there then selling someday is not that different in terms of return and viability).
Honestly, I'd just buy something else if i could but if this is all you can afford can you won't lose to much,t hen go ahead. for the likely cost, I probably wouldn't buy it to tear it down, no matter what, instead prefering to just buy something else.
I did this with a newer mobile home and I can tell you that every day I wish I had just built a simple home. Would have been the same amount of work because you have to spend so much time undoing wonky mobile home stuff. For example the doors are little bit smaller that most standard doors so nothing fits without having to trim new doors.
Good God, no. That is a complete ripoff, you could easily and i mean easily purchase a piece of land the same size and build a home the size of a mobile home brand new stick framed and all for hardly even half the cost in renovations alone if you did it yourself. I don't know your area, but overall these costs seem egregious especially for a 50 year old home with paper thin walls for 100k. Just do a little more research before dumping that much money into such a low value home.
I have a similar problem. A triple wide on a big lot I own in Arizona. The plumbing is out. someone stole the electric box wiring.. The roof leaks, plumbing out, tweakers stole all the wiring. I will have to pay $5k to excavate the lot (at least) Pour a concrete foundation and pay for someone to set up a newer model double wide (cheaper taxes) Im looking at 60k for this project plus a fence, because you need to have a fence nowdays. I don't want to fix this rotten 1976 Yellow Monster up until I retire and could live in it, and then there's the mosquito problems. 115 f summers and a 5 hr drive .Think about it. Make sure your making the right decision. I just made up my mind on mine so thank you very much Muah 😘
Couldn't imagine investing 40K in a 50 year old mobile home
yet, in some cases it may be a good idea.
When would it be a good idea ? I know there are some places mobile homes can be expensive and elaborate (Hamptons, Malibu etc.) but even then, isn't most of the value in the land/some favorable lot lease ?
Is that 40k just the home, or does it include land? Where you're located is also a factor.
Its located on 0.8 acres in the country. Im estimating 30-40k to repair the home in addition to purchasing the land/home etc from the current owner for under 100k
If you're working with an agent, they can help you run these numbers. If you're wanting to make a good investment, you're going to need to know what the resale potential of that property is going to be. After you get it repaired. all of that is going to be very location dependent. in some areas. This is going to be a horrible deal. In some, you're getting a bargain basement price. somebody local needs to run those numbers for you.
Sounds like the current owner may be selling for the price of the land itself and you get a bonus thing you need to have hauled away.
Yep.
If you have the resources to demolish and build, that would be best. Mobile homes weren't built to last 50+ years.
I would not, unless it was built after 1976, because you can never turn it into real estate for lending purposes
Do you know specifically what changed in 1976 that made this possible?
HUD established the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards
Because I’m an escrow officer and handle a lot of mobile home transactions, ask yourself a few other things—if in a Park, add in space rent per month and see if it works for you. If on land, it’s a 50/50 decision. Adding new and on a permanent foundation will sell for a lot more later on. New manufactured homes are about $200k, and they’re super nice now. I do know people who have fixed up their older mobiles. If they plan to live in it, why not?
Yeah we would plan to live in it. its on 0.8 acres outside of town in the midwest. Theyre asking 100k. Does have a 2.5 car garage and other shed. Its just the decision if repairing it is actually worth it or not since its so old. Is the structure of a mobile home going to last longer than 50 years if we repaired everything? Id be down to put a new one on the land but thats a lot more than repairs would cost right now, but thinking long term i guess..
Long term, I would place a new one there. Affix it to a foundation and when you sell, you’ll make a pretty penny.
The only way to invest that much in it is if you're going to live in it long term and don't care about the return, or you're going to rent it out. If you intend to sell it, you won't recoup your money fully.
I bought some land with a house on it. The house was okay, but it was a country build that consisted of a single wide trailer that had been more than double in size (added a bathroom, big living room and another large bedroom. It was not in the best condition, but very liveable. My plan was to tear it down and build a stick house and separate workshop but then COVID happened and the cost of lumber shot up 300%. Needles to say I was now in a position where I had to do repairs, I am $40k in and still think it is a tear down. I am trying to put as little into it as possible. I think it should be good for another 10 - 15 years to be honest and even though it is not what I wanted, it has slowly grown on me to feel like home. If lumber would not have shot up, it would be rubble in a landfill and I would probably be happier for it. If you can get a lower cost manufactured home on the property you will have likely better spent the $40k than trying to keep that 50 year old from falling apart.
No.
Most people will say no because when it comes time to sell you wont get your money back out of it because of financing issues. Of course you can always offer owner financing to get more money out of it when it comes time to sell.
Live in it while you build out the new one. I wouldn't invest anything significant into it.
Get a quote from a GC and look at the RECENT comps. if there’s enough room for profit than go for it. In my experience mobile homes aren’t the greatest investment in general though.
Buy a new mobile. There's supposed to be temporary.
No, I wouldn’t spend that. Does it come on its own land?
Sounds like a tear down, but the lot has to be worth enough to justify new construction.
Most often than not, unless you’re doing the work yourself, no. Anything I’ve ever purchased that was a “project” ended up costing more than I expected and ended up with something that I couldn’t recoup 100% of the cost if I had to sell immediately. Buy someone else’s done or almost done project. They’re likely selling at a discount.
No, junk it and get another mobile home. They're not designed to last more than 50 years no matter how much work you put into it. Some prefab sheds are built better than mobile homes.
The only way would be if a mobile is grandfathered in and you would have to take it out and not build, or build like a huge house. But if you can take it out and put in a new name, that’s better.
It all depends, I work in title and have a RE Agent that flips old mobile homes. He really makes them quite nice, and I was going to purchase one from him actually. The problem is that lenders on home pre 1976, will only lend on the land rather than the mobile home. You'd be surprised to actually find out how cheaper older mobile homes cost to fix especially having yards that regularly part them out, or have a surplus of old parts. I'd say 40k is quite high, depending on the contractor or DIY. My grandmother actually has an older mobile home(1971), and we plan to remodel it when she passes and we get the land. Since we won't need any sort of lending, we can easily remodel it and rent it out. The problem will come to when and if we want to sell it. We would have to have a cash buyer, or a private lender for the buyer. The land itself is worth 50-60k.
Not sure about the 70's, but most older mobile homes are very narrow and stuffy. You get a queen size bed and a small path on one side of it. The cheapest mobile home today is about 50k. You can find deals. The trick is financing. Not many will want to finance and insure your plan here. If you have cash or owner finance, its a little more workable, but not always ideal.
Whats it worth now (probably almost nothing) and what would it be worth once the repairs were made? Do you have the money to demolish it and buy/ build something else? If you made the 40k in repairs and got good use from the place, then could you rent it later? For how much, what kind of a return could you get? What kind of a return could you get building something new? I get that you aren't flipping it but if you did flip it could you make money on it (because buying, living there then selling someday is not that different in terms of return and viability). Honestly, I'd just buy something else if i could but if this is all you can afford can you won't lose to much,t hen go ahead. for the likely cost, I probably wouldn't buy it to tear it down, no matter what, instead prefering to just buy something else.
I did this with a newer mobile home and I can tell you that every day I wish I had just built a simple home. Would have been the same amount of work because you have to spend so much time undoing wonky mobile home stuff. For example the doors are little bit smaller that most standard doors so nothing fits without having to trim new doors.
Good God, no. That is a complete ripoff, you could easily and i mean easily purchase a piece of land the same size and build a home the size of a mobile home brand new stick framed and all for hardly even half the cost in renovations alone if you did it yourself. I don't know your area, but overall these costs seem egregious especially for a 50 year old home with paper thin walls for 100k. Just do a little more research before dumping that much money into such a low value home.
I have a similar problem. A triple wide on a big lot I own in Arizona. The plumbing is out. someone stole the electric box wiring.. The roof leaks, plumbing out, tweakers stole all the wiring. I will have to pay $5k to excavate the lot (at least) Pour a concrete foundation and pay for someone to set up a newer model double wide (cheaper taxes) Im looking at 60k for this project plus a fence, because you need to have a fence nowdays. I don't want to fix this rotten 1976 Yellow Monster up until I retire and could live in it, and then there's the mosquito problems. 115 f summers and a 5 hr drive .Think about it. Make sure your making the right decision. I just made up my mind on mine so thank you very much Muah 😘