Bought my first one...what a mess
Hi everybody....Well, I found this website a few weeks or so ago and got so excited that I jumped in with both feet the very next day and bought a 14x70 for 450.00! 3/2 with a very nice deck...problem was, the floors were almost totally gone. Water damage. Anyway, I bought it and figured i would do the rehab...that is why tonight was the first chance I have had to write and thank you all for your inspiration. I ordered the lonnie book and got it two days ago...only 40 pages left...can't seem to put it down. We have to put roughly 3500-4000 into this baby to get it ready, but it is looking almost brand new now. I will not do more than 1 rehab a year as this has been way more work than I cared to do. Great lessons learned though. I now know just about what everything you can do to a mobile home costs, and how to do it 
Anyone got any ideas for creative financing...(carlton way) on getting more of these beauties. I just want to flip some for awhile, but this one I have now has used up all my capital and then some, and I will probably have to finance anyway. So I will be cash poor. I know I can find a way to get a bunch of these, but I could use some fresh ideas.
I thought about buying on finance through seller at a low price, paying them a set interest rate and then turning around and "re-selling" with my own financing for a higher price and interest rate, with this work...
Anyway, sorry so long winded, but I am really excited, and (tired) and I just wanted to say, here I am...and thanks all! 
First off, congratulations on jumping into the game. There are easier ways to do what you have done, but the experience you've just had is invaluable. Lonnie's method would have been to sell this as a fixer upper with $500.00 or so down, sell for $4500.00 at 12.75% interest (industry standard) and have the new buer do the work. You would have nothing in the mobile, and a monthly cash flow. OK you have done the work. You can now sell the MH for $9995.00 with say $2,000.00 down (capital for your next MH) and x dollars per month and create another monthly cash flow. You are looking for MH's that you can get sold with $2500 or less (depending on your market area) so that you can recoup most of your investment on the downpayment.
Good Luck,
Shawn(OH)
Thanks for the reply. I couldn't in good consience have sold this one to anybody without doing some things. It had hardly any floors, literally. Have had to replace all the subfloors, cabinets, skirting, etc...a real mess. Just spent the entire day doing subflooring. I won't be doing a rehab again for a long time. But you are right. I will be able to get around 10 for it. It will be beautiful when we are done. I have a partner who is great to work with. Also, we plan to hopefully sell 80%of the note for more cash to do the next one. How does selling the note work exactly...if anyone can help me? Do we get 70 or 80 cents on the dollar? Or less...what is the average? Going to bed and sleep for two days now...nite all!
Stanley
ps. this is the greatest business on earth
Selling the note you take back will be an interesting learning experience.
, while higher than 16% indicates likely higher default risk.
The potential investor (Note Buyer) will not be looking at a percentage, per se, but instead will be looking his/her "Yield" as a function of the "Risk" involved, and comparing that with the potential other investment opportunites.
Most investors in notes will be looking for around 14% 'Yield". The 'Risk' assigned to mobile home notes is considered to be very high so the investor will probably wish for a larger 'Yield', but you can do things to lower the perceived Risk.
What can you do?
The setting for the MH should be a park with amenities (spelling?), as parks have managers who will watch the MH.
The buyer of your MH should have a 'good' to 'excellant' credit score.
Also: The following provides a few generic tips for underwriting paper that will generally sell to note buyers at a reasonable discount, preserving the profits for you:
1. Obtain down payments of 10% or greater on sales, whenever possible. 21% is the preferred down payment, but you get what you can get, right?
2. Hold the payback rate to 10 years or less, or 20 + years. Notes with payment terms between 10+ years and 20- years tend to be higher risk.
3. Hold interest rates at 13% to 16%. Lower rates lead to deeper discounts (Read that as "Yield"
4. Keep sales price in reasonable relationship to current NADA retail value at time of sale (i.e. don’t artificially hoist price and interest rate to offset low down payment… that creates a double risk of default).
5. Avoid balloon payment notes whenever possible, unless a demonstrably strong exit strategy is in place. Better to avoid altogether.
6. Sell only 1st position paper. Junior liens are not trading well in the private note marketplace in general - almost nonexistent demand in manufactured home sector.
7. Make an effort to verify the MH buyers' income (two years W-2’s, award letters, etc) and keep these records on file.
Also when you are ready to offer the note for sale try very hard not to deal with a broker (they want a commision). There are many bulletin boards to list your note on the Web, if you have a paucity of potential investors in your local.
Hope this helps , and happy investing
Rick,
Well written, are you a note broker like me.
Let me know.
Harry
**Please See My Profile**
Thank you Rick!
Very helpful information. I am printing now...I have not had the time to get on this site for awhile. But thank you!
I will do my best to get this sold and note bought. We lay carpet monday and then it goes on sale. Good thing is, we impressed the park so much that they want to work with us on many more. 500 units in this park and alot for sale.
Stanley
Mobilehomes:
I get calls for people wanting to sell their mobile homes all the time, do you have a referral program? Thanks. Please contact me.