Leads In the Pipeline: 3/2 Singlewide Mobile Home In a Park

When I was in corporate sales, in order to be successful I always had to work a steady stream of leads. Some would pan out faster than others. Though, for the most part it did take some time to work these opportunities.

Just like my job as a business-to-business sales executive, I also have to do the same when working mobile home leads — there must always be a steady steam in the pipeline. Not every lead is going to turn into a sale. Though, there will be many leads that will turn into opportunities — the key is in the follow-up.

So, I’ve decided to create a new series called “Leads In the Pipeline” to show you how I do things when these opportunities come my way.

This lead (pictured above) came in through a park manager. The manager called me to let me know this seller wanted to sell their home due to a downsizing situation — the seller was planning to move in with relatives.

(Note: Since I have a good relationship with the park managers I work with, they already know my criteria of what I look for when buying. In the long run, this saves me both time and money!)

After getting all the information from the park manager, I called the seller and arranged a time to see the home.

(Note: The seller already knew I would be calling via the park manager — my call was expected. In sales, we call this a “warm lead” via a referral versus a “cold lead” with no referral.)

Upon inspecting the home, I knew it was something I wanted to buy. I asked the seller when they were looking to move. The seller told me “immediately.” So, we did some negotiating and came up with a price. I had the home under contract that day.

(Note: To get a better idea of the my criteria when buying mobile homes, you may want to check out my case studies. Thanks for reading!)

To be honest, it all happened pretty fast. Nothing really alarmed me as I’ve done these kinds of deals before. Though, I received a call from the seller about a week after — there was an issue.

Turns out, one of the seller’s sibling had called the seller after we had things under contract — they were planning to come into the area and wanted to stay with the seller for the time being. Unfortunately, the seller’s plans were to move in with relatives which was not an issue before the fact. Though, with the seller’s sibling’s plans it would not be a feasible situation — there just was no room.

To make a long story short, we worked on a couple different scenarios. The seller thought maybe they could just get a place temporarily with their sibling to make the sale go through. We went to various property locators to help the seller find a place in their budget. Unfortunately, they could not find anything in the seller’s price range.

(Note: The seller mentioned their sibling would probably not be contributing to the household during their stay. This definitely made things much more challenging!)

We told the property locators to stay in touch with us should they find something that fit the seller’s criteria. Apart from that, we also looked at some “For Rent” ads — none of them fitted the bill either.

(Note: Property locators are folks who find places for other people to stay. It’s no money out of pocket for the consumer. Usually, they get paid a commission from landlords and/or property management companies by filling vacancies.)

As a last resort, the seller thought maybe they could buy an RV and live in it on a rented lot. Though, even the price of RVs were out of the seller’s reach.

In any case, we decided to just keep in touch. The seller apologized and told me once the seller’s sibling was no longer there anymore they would give me a call. Again, I asked if the seller really wanted to sell — the seller told me “yes.” Being who I am, I gave the seller the benefit of the doubt.

(Note: I talk more about working with sellers in my book. There are times when sellers really want to sell and there are times when they do not. The hard part is figuring out if and when they really do!)

After this debacle with the seller, I immediately updated the park manager of the situation. The park manager told me they’d continue to talk with the seller and put in a good word for me. I thanked the park manager for the lead who in turn told me, “You’re the first person I call when I hear about a home for sale.” Always music to my ears!

Once these leads become opportunities, I have to watch them and of course follow-up. The park managers are usually good at letting me know what’s going on but sometimes I do have to remind them with the amount of work they do.

In any case, this is just one of my leads in the pipeline. I will continue to update you all with more of these case studies.

Happy Investing!

p.s. Feel free to leave comments on my Facebook Page. Comments are always welcome, thanks for reading!