Afternoon all,

I just got back from a great “surprise” meeting with the seller of a 1984 single-wide; 2 bedroom 2 bathroom mobile home in a family mobile home park.  The mobile home has been owned by the same owner for the last 20 of the homes 26 years in existence.  She is asking $9,500 but she says she is “Willing to negotiate.”

I found this property by driving inside of a park I had been meaning to check out since I got to Texas.  I had to get out of my car to double check if I saw a tiny “FSBO” (for sale by owner) sign in the living room window. As I was looking at the sign my eyes naturally wandered to view the inside of the home.  Once my eyes focused inside the dark home I was locked-eyes with Gladys (not her real name).

After screaming from surprise I laughed and walked around to the front door where I was greeted by Gladys. Gladys is a heavy-set middle aged woman with a severe case of diabetes and must struggle to get around her home.  This is the main reason she is selling and moving to a more accessible apartment closer to her daughter in the city.

Inside Condition: #2 On my scale (There are 3 types of mobile home property conditions: 1 = "Nice", some cosmetic repairs, painting, etc.   2. = "Fair", cosmetic and some minor floor or ceiling repairs needed, etc. 3 =  "Bad news", major damage!)  I should only need to get a few cosmetic items fixed, clean and de-funkify (febreeze) the inside of the mobile before it would be ready for sale.

Outside Condition: #2 Same scale as above.  Minor cosmetic work needed to sell and clean up only.

Park: Decent condition. Pool and activities house. No gang signs.  Kids and pets allowed. Lot rent $410.

Resell potential: $30,000 @ 10%+ interest.  $1,500-$4,000 down and $800 month (including lot rent)

My Ideal Purchase Plans: $3,500 (cash) upto $6,000 (payments)

Negations: Gladys and I spoke for almost 2 hours.  We talked about her problems, her life, my weekend plans, her future plans, etc.  The point I am making is that we spoke at length and established a relationship; this will hopefully help in later negotiations.  Without too much pressure I asked her how close she could come to $2,500 ‘All Cash’. She looked at me with surprise, thought for a moment and said, “You are not going to get my house for $1,500!  I won’t sell it for anything less than $7,000.”

Are you kidding me, in 10 seconds I was able to knock off $2,500 dollars.  Imagine what would be done with a few more times asking.  I asked Gladys why she looked surprise when I asked her how low she could go in price was; she told me she was surprised that someone was making an offer, a low one, but an offer.

I did not want to press too hard today on price so I told her I would show the pictures I took to my partner and get back to her with an answer within 24 hours.

I will let you know what I say in my next post.

Until then, John

Mobile home investing usually happens one of two ways; you invest in mobile homes attached to “land you own” OR you invest in a mobile homes that are “not on your land” (typically land rented in a mobile home park).  Today, let’s talk now about mobile homes located on rented land (in mobile home parks)!

Click the link below to read more about ...

No Closing Costs -

Free Bird dogs – 

Avoid the crowds - 

Got 50 Bucks? –

Going, Going, Gone! –

Click here to read my article on biggerpockets.com

John Fedro

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About 10% of the mobile homes and manufactured homes I purchase I resell for little to NO money down.  Remember, we usually sell investment mobile homes via a non-refundable down payment and monthly payments for the balance owed.

So why on Earth would anyone want to purposefully sell an investment property or little to no money down?  That doesn’t sound like a good business strategy to most investors.  A rational person would want to collect as much moolah down as possible.  9 times out of 10 you would be correct.

About once 6 times a year for the past several years I will purchase homes that need to be renovated before they are able to be considered “livable.”

Livable: as I define it.  Livable is a description about the condition of the home in discussion.  One person’s definition of livable is not necessary another person’s definition.

About 6 times a year I offer mobile home housing “Rent-to-Own” with nothing required to move in. I love these deals! Why?

I love these fixer upper deals (handyman special) deals because if you know what repairs are no sweat than you can purchase homes that need repairs but will sell in a matter of days not weeks or months.

Why not do the repairs yourself and get more money down?  Again this comes down to personal preference.  How is your time best spent?  Do you currently have the money to fix a property to livable condition? Do you like doing repairs?  Can the property start cash-flowing today if you put a qualified tenant-buyer in the home to pay you monthly?

I currently have a waiting list of over 225 names and families that are eagerly looking to give me money each month for a “Rent-to-Own” property that they can use sweat equity in replace of a cash down payment.

I would rather get a mobile home in need of repairs sold so that the home can start producing cash-flow rather than spending time fixing the home and worrying about holding costs adding up.

Sell the home, collect your monthly payments and continue making deals!!! That’s my motto…

It is important to remember that some of these “handy buyers” may not have great past credit or rental history. So screen your all your tenant/buyers well.

-         John

Hi gang,

About 3 weeks ago I began writing a series of mobile home investing how-to articles for Biggerpockets.com (a great site for everything real estate). 

The topic of the article series is the “5 Main Ways to Profit Big with Manufactured Homes, Modular Homes and Mobile Homes.”  Seems pretty straight forward right? You may be shocked by what you read.

This post can be viewed here.

Whether you are a seasoned investor looking for more bird-dogs/ants, or you are looking to make easy money with mobile homes without lifting a finger; this article is sure to help rev up cash-flow for your mobile home investment business.

Enjoy,

John Fedro

Fast tuning or flipping real estate for a hefty profit has been over glorified in recent years by the main stream media.  In recent discussions with over a hundred newbie real estate investors I have learned that “flipping” residential real estate is often times taught to death.  Many investors think they know all there is to know about fast-turn investing.

The typical scenario being something to the end effect of:

1. Find a motivated seller of a property with equity
2. Purchase and close on the property
3. Make all necessary repairs
4. Sell property for substantial profit

Below are two examples away from the norm.  In both examples mobile homes were purchased and sold; no closing costs paid out, and no repairs were made.

Click here to read full article…

-    John Fedro

Above is article I wrote for biggerpockets.com (An amazing site for everything real estate!)