San Diego Mobile Home For $ 17,000 - Good Deal??
One of my newspaper ads pulled a response today from a woman who needs to sell a 10x60 foot mobile home. She says it was built in 1959, and sits on a lot that costs her $465 a month rent. It fell out of escrow last week and the owner is a bit desperate.
I know nothing about mobile homes, but anything that costs $17,000 in San Diego county is worthy of note. Owner says she's gotten 3 appraisals in the last 8 months, and the top one said she could get $24,000 for it. Problem is, I don't know if these apparaisals are from her friends next door, or legitimate appraisers. I could find out, but the whole thing sorta sounds a bit fishy. She said she couldn't remember what she paid for the thing cuz she moved in 21 years ago, and that there were water stains on the walls but the roof was fixed, so no more water comes in. She just never got around to re-painting the walls.
On the other hand, maybe this is normal. After all, it is in the backcountry of the county, probably near to the recent fire zones. But it sits in a medium size park with pool, laundry and a clubhouse.
The thing that sorta puts me off is that the owner of the park seems to be heavily involved in deciding who can buy the property. Mobile home owner says the park owner makes everyone pass muster by filling out a 4 page credit application. I am sorta leery of buying a property that I might not be able to sell because because a third party must approve the buyer.
So - is this normal protocol for mobile home sales?
Is there anything else I need to know before driving out there to take a look? It is about an hour away from where I am, so if this sounds too hokey, I might not bother.
Of course, if I were to make an offer, it would be cash and lower than her asking price.
Comments??
Thanks for reading all this....
Marlene
Marlene,You are talking about a 45 year old wobbly box. This mobile home was built prior to HUD standards which started in 1976. This trailer at best is worth $3,000.00 and only because it is in So. Cal. I agree with your concern about the appraisals. Also another concern I would have is if the trailer can stay where it is. I would find out before proceeding any further.
Is the land under that mobile home the part of the deal or is the part of the mobile home park? Probably not but if it is, how big is the lot?
If it is not then the "box" is still good fore renting out unless is located in the "war zone" unlikly for San Diego.
Continue digging for more info and keep us posted when you learn some more.
Alex [ Edited by omega1 on Date 02/05/2004 ]
It seems that you would not be buying a mobile home, but an oppertunity to rent a lot. If the lot is where the value is, would it still be worthwhile to buy the "box", sell it to Lufos, and then put a modern box in it's place? Are lots that hard to come by that you neeed to buy an old run down mobile just to get a lot? Now, please keep in mind that I am a midwesterner, and you can't hardly give away mobiles where I come from (I've tried), and I don't know a your area at all. I'm just trying to make some sense of this idea of yours. I'm not opposed to it, I'm just trying to understand it. Z
Hi Marlene,
I'm with MichaelChandler on this one ... to a point (see below). The "blue book" for mobile's is the NADA Guide and they dont even go back that far.
I just bought a 1967 10'x55' MH in a great MH park in the Sierra foothills (CA) for $1200! I am upgrading it (tile counters, new carpet, vinyl, paint, clean everything up, etc) and can sell it quickly for $14-15K. Just a reference for you (and I got a great deal, admittedly). As an investor, your MH is probably worth more than $3K, but is not much good to you at $17K.
And yes, the key to any MH park (buying in, living in, etc.) is the property mgr. They can make or break a deal just by how they behave and what kind of rules they have.
Good luck,
Molotov
Thanks for your quick responses!
The $17,000 caught my eye because I've seen some ads for mobile homes in the area (albeit a bit closer to the beach) for $60,000 - $70,000, but then again, lot rents are $700 and $840 respectively. I couldn't believe it - but that's the average going price....
Granted, the units themselves are probably double or triple wides, and a lot newer.
As for this one, the lot does not come with it, but it is apparently a good size - she has a couple of big fruit trees planted on it, and the largest parking area of all the lots, according to her.
I also asked her if it could be moved, and she laughed when she said she wouldn't recommend it. So yeah, it's a wobbly old, probably leaking box.
The park has 70 spaces, and she says about 15 of them are empty. The park does not typically operate at full capacity - which is one of the other things that turned me off to it.
The park owner sounds like a tyrant, so I doubt that it would work well to introduce Lufos's boxes to him
I got the feeling I probably could get it for under 8 or 10k if I push hard enough. The wife told me her husband was losing his job in a couple weeks, the wife's father just died, and she wants them to move to the midwest to take care of her newly widowed mother. For all I know, they want to move to Las Vegas so she can sell cigarettes in casinos - but their story was inviting me to give them a low-ball offer.
Any other thoughts??
Thanks again.
MarleneM
Ok, I've only had about six beers tonight, so please excuse me if I am not operatng at maximun efficiency. Well, my thoughts at the moment are, if I am remembering your last post correctly, that there are some extra, vacant and empty lots in this here mobile home park in question, yes? Well, why bother with this old juker? Why not just move another, more modern, but also inexpensive mobile onto a vacant lot? I see mobiles around here (Michigan) that are only a few years old with asking prices of about 20k . If that's common to other regions, or even if it's not, I'm thinking that newer ones can't cost that much, right? That's taking into consideration that they are the same size and have the same comforts. Why not just buy a newer used mobile and pay another couple of grand to put it on one of the empty lots? Z
Ok, I've only had about six beers tonight, so please excuse me if I am not operatng at maximun efficiency. Well, my thoughts at the moment are, if I am remembering your last post correctly, that there are some extra, vacant and empty lots in this here mobile home park in question, yes? Well, why bother with this old juker? Why not just move another, more modern, but also inexpensive mobile onto a vacant lot? I see mobiles around here (Michigan) that are only a few years old with asking prices of about 20k . If that's common to other regions, or even if it's not, I'm thinking that newer ones can't cost that much, right? That's taking into consideration that they are the same size and have the same comforts. Why not just buy a newer used mobile and pay another couple of grand to put it on one of the empty lots? Z
Zach,
You've explained right. Ah, I forgot: Cheers!