Does it Look Like a Deal?: 2/1 Mobile Home In a Park
Since I receive a lot of requests for more case studies, I thought I’d make another post for “Does It Look a Deal?”
(Note: While the “Deal or No Deal” case study series focuses on the mechanics of my thought process of evaluating mobile homes from beginning to end, this new case study series, “Does it Look Like a Deal,” will focus more on a quick outside evaluation of mobile homes – I use this evaluation to prioritize the leads I pursue.)
This lead simply came from driving around in a lower end park where I have moved homes out. If I find homes in this particular park that meet my criteria, my goal is to move them out and place them in my favorite parks.
(Note: Before pursuing any opportunity, it’s always best to have an exit strategy as well as a back up plan if things should fall through).
Regarding the park itself, this is not a park that fit my criteria in terms of the types of parks I prefer to keep homes in. From the picture above, you will see the yard is not kept up which is usually a reflection of the management as well as the types of residents who live there.
(Note: I’m not saying it’s bad to work in low end parks – many fellow investors do business in these types of parks. Though, working in lower end parks just don’t fit for me and my personality).
Getting back to the home itself, I knew from driving by it was not a home that fit my criteria. For one thing, it looked like an older home – I now only pursue newer homes. The reason being is that older homes usually need more fix-up work and many times have more issues than newer homes, in general. Plus, the folks who live in older homes sometimes do not take care of the home as well as they should be which leads to deferred maintenance issues.
In any case, since there was a sign on the home I called the number out of curiosity. Sure enough, it was a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, mid 80s home. When I asked the seller about the condition of the home, the seller told me it was “livable” meaning there was probably a good amount of fix-up work needed in the home.
As I talked with the seller, I found out the seller lived out of town while the son was living there. The seller’s asking price was in the low twenty thousands, a sign of an unrealistic seller out of touch with the prices in the area.
(Note: This is one of the reasons why I advocate building a network to increase your chances of finding better opportunities. The best deals I’ve found are not advertised and have been a result of my network. When others are talking about you and urging sellers and buyers to work with you, it puts you at an advantage. People would rather work with folks they know, like and trust).
So no, this was not an opportunity for me. Had it been, I still would have pursued it even if the price was too high as it’s not always about price.
(Note: I talk more about the negotiation methods I use with sellers more in my book).
I hope you enjoyed this installment of “Does it Look Like a Deal?” and has been helpful to give you some useful information.
Happy investing!
p.s. Feel free to leave comments on any post either here and/or my Facebook Page. Comments are always welcome, thanks for reading!