Anybody bought a new mobile home for your land?

[Landslide]

Around here, having a mobile home on a property actually devalues it. The reason is that most banks won't finance the land so the market is reduced. I've bought about 4 acerages with mobile homes on them, went through the trouble of removing them and sold them as raw land with a well, septic or a water meter available. Suddenly you can finance them and the price of the land goes up about 20%.

Yep, they tend to bring in the riff raff of resistance. They own their reputation

Around 20 years ago, my buddy bought around 20 acres and was going to put a double wide “modular home” basically a double wide mobile home, on the property. That didn’t pencil out very well and hard to get good financing on it. Weighed it out against building a house and the house (both were with full basements) turned out to be cheaper and a much better investment in the long run.

 

[grumpy356]

The local dealer said I could use the paid for land as collateral, get a construction loan, then have to refinance as a conventional loan in the end.

That doesn’t sound right to me.

But things vary by bank & region.

 

[Projectjunkie]

That doesn’t sound right to me.

But things vary by bank & region.

It's legit, and it makes sense, the construction loan is against the entire property including the land, the land has value, and if the assumed appraisal pencils out, they accept that

 

[Motorcharge]

Looked into this pretty heavily over the last year or so as a temporary living space while I build on purchased land. The manufactured homes are awfully hard to justify vs just building or putting a used 5th wheel on temporarily.

 

[4runner]

look around, my brother got a double wide for FREE, he just had to pay $8K to have it moved and set up where he wanted it.
this was replacing a previous DW that burned after a lightning strike...

 

[Ebs]

Put up one of them timber frame cabin kits?

 

[det107]

... If you have to have someone tear the old one down expect around $3500 for a decent insured and equipped guy to do so. I’m in an adjacent industry.

I saw a truck with a flatbed or cargo hauler(?) and it had a big ass hitch. Name of company escapes me but it was from Sullivan County. I didn't have cell with me to take pics-

Edit~ it appeared to be in the towing mobile home biz-

 

[ckupq]

I bought a nice lot in the mountains with a 1973 double wide on it. Fixing what's there doesn't pencil out, for a variety of reasons.

I'm considering buying a new 3/2 1300sf double wide.

Talking to some people, what's there is good enough that someone would haul it away for free, leaving me with a minimal mess, I'm on with that.

What are the unforseen costs of buying a mobile for land?

The local dealer said I could use the paid for land as collateral, get a construction loan, then have to refinance as a conventional loan in the end.

The town it's in is pretty minimal for "foundation " and seems to be good with some compacted gravel and some anchors, doesn't need a concrete slab.

I'm looking for a weekend getaway on a budget, not a flip

Did this in 2020.

I did a single wide to a double wide. The single wide had caved in due to a ice storm, but it wasn't occupied which made things easier. I bought a used 1998 DW from a dealer in town. I paid 55K for the house and another 20k to get the old one demo'd, set it on a concrete pad and get it hooked up. Due my MIL passing we paid cash for the whole setup.

I worked with the county to get the existing septic checked and inspected as it hadn't been used in 20+ years and had been put in 50 years ago. everything was concrete and PVC on a sand hill so it passed inspection after a pumping.

The well I was planning on replacing as it was driven steel well down god knows how deep. The pump hangs 70+ feet deep I replumbed it and hooked a generator up to it and pumped 20+ years of scale out of the bottom for 5 hours to get it to pump clear. a couple gallons of bleach and it pumped clear and passed state inspection too.

I did end up renting a mini ex and trenching in new piping under the slab before it was poured. Mine is also in 4" gas line PEX (dad was a hoarder so he had it lying around) so if needed I can swap out wiring and water piping without digging under or cutting into the slab. It came in handy when my waterline broke underground about a year later.

I did find out that in my area the only way to get a conventional loan was to put a block foundation around it as well. The way I heard it, it makes it less of a moblie home and more of a house in the bank's eyes. This is something I wish I did as I only have vinyl now a wish I would have went block.

Setting the house on a concrete pad did have its advantages. I used the space as storage for a while and I keep a creeper under there in case I need to move around. Its a lot cleaner than my current house which has a dirt crawlspace.

 

[Projectjunkie]

Financing a modern or new mobile that is legally affixed to the property is the same as a site built home, either identically, or within a half a point
it just needs to get appraised enough to get the loan, which this would

I'm not a mobile home fanboi, if I were living nearby, I'd go stick built. If I wind up moving up there, I'll buy bigger property and build, then sell this. I'm not concerned about resale, at all.

I'm concerned about starting the process of getting a 150k mobile put on my land and getting blindsided by 30k worth of bullshit, and hassles, which could tip the scales to where I should have dealt with a builder

 

[Projectjunkie]

And I will 100% have block skirting done


I would also build a deck after the fact out of pocket

 

[clodhopper]

Financing a modern or new mobile that is legally affixed to the property is the same as a site built home, either identically, or within a half a point
it just needs to get appraised enough to get the loan, which this would

Sort of. There are variations by state. But mobile homes and manufactured homes are built to a different building code standard. Many banks will not handle mortgages on mobile/manufactured homes. Make sure to ask your lender specifically if they do. They may want to know if it will still be on the wheels or they will want info from the ID plate on the house, blah, blah. And it matters if the house will be placed on a foundation or will be left on the wheels and skirted... the one on wheels is easier to steal.

 

[Rustymofo]

The town is pretty friendly, I called the permitting office when i bought the place discussing options. I have a feeling that "the guy" returned my call after fishing on his lunch break. Low taxes, cheap permits, accepting hand drawn plans, internet plans, no engineer stamp needed for anything under 3k sqft, tiny houses allowed, so Lot's of things are on the table. He offered that the new cabin up the road was from online plans, and that his detached garage was drawn by a friend of the owner.

Nice!

I did some digging this morning and my comment yesterday was off base. There are a handful of municipalities (like Phoenix) that make you pull permits through the state, but there are many that have kept the power in their own hands. Sounds like you're in one of them which is awesome.

Here's a snippet of the retardation I experienced many years ago. City and state permits for a fawking old shitty trailer that my boss wanted to get permanent power to so we could stop running off a generator

 

[crispins]

Sort of. There are variations by state. But mobile homes and manufactured homes are built to a different building code standard. Many banks will not handle mortgages on mobile/manufactured homes. Make sure to ask your lender specifically if they do. They may want to know if it will still be on the wheels or they will want info from the ID plate on the house, blah, blah. And it matters if the house will be placed on a foundation or will be left on the wheels and skirted... the one on wheels is easier to steal.

I have not seen a mobile home on wheels in 30-40 years

The wheels are attached to the axles and are only mounted to the house to transport it. The same with the hitch, that is bolted on for delivery only and does not stay on the house.

Getting financing for them is easy as long as you stick to lenders that deal with them

The dealer you use will have a list of lenders they use.

This isn't as hard as it used to be

The delivered price included piers sitting on footers, skirting and a set of stairs and that is typically it.

Hoping up to water, septic, and electricity is on you as well.

 

[clodhopper]

I have not seen a mobile home on wheels in 30-40 years

The wheels are attached to the axles and are only mounted to the house to transport it. The same with the hitch, that is bolted on for delivery only and does not stay on the house.

Me either. However, did a refi on my manufactured home a few years back and answered a whole bunch of questions on mobile home stuff. Started asking how common leaving the wheels on a mobile was, and stuff like that. I was told that leaving the axles and wheels under it isnt all that uncommon and frequently enough a hole is dug and the mobile backed down into the hole so it appears to be on a foundation or something, but the axles are still down there. I have never seen one like that. Dunno how common the practice is, but common enough for the bank to include it in risk evaluation.

 

[crispins]

Me either. However, did a refi on my manufactured home a few years back and answered a whole bunch of questions on mobile home stuff. Started asking how common leaving the wheels on a mobile was, and stuff like that. I was told that leaving the axles and wheels under it isnt all that uncommon and frequently enough a hole is dug and the mobile backed down into the hole so it appears to be on a foundation or something, but the axles are still down there. I have never seen one like that. Dunno how common the practice is, but common enough for the bank to include it in risk evaluation.

Because they got scammed a couple of times so now they are looking for it.

I'd say 99% of them have the axles and hitch removed and even with that it is not hard to put them back on.

 

[Gots_a_sol]

There is a double wide on our property that the FIL lives in. When we were looking at this place, the insurance guy brought up the trailer having its axles/tongues still attached. Apparently here they are insured and taxed differently with vs without, aka still mobile or a permanent structure.

 

[Projectjunkie]

All the hitch and wheels stuff is a totally different deal, that's regarding 2 separate "assets" the land is one thing, and the trailer is another. On my last place I bought the land and got the title to the manufactured home. I paid cash for all of it.

I paid 2 separate tax bills, real estate and personal property, both cheap.

Insurance wasn't bad, maybe 950yr

When I sold it this spring to a guy financing it, I had to surrender the title to the state and do a bunch of paperwork to legally "affix" it to the property. So that if the guy didn't pay, the bank would get the land and the mobile.

The axles still happened to be under it, and was noticed on the inspection, so I had to crawl under and pull the shackle bolts to drop them. It passed inspection and sold fha.

I'm sure taxes will be way up this coming year

It was sold as a house on land, one piece of real Property. Next time it sells, it'll be the same thing, just an address and how many sqft


It seems that the standard process for what I'm looking at is agreeing to a mobile and a price, probably a deposit, qualifying for a construction loan, using "land in lieu" for the 20% down. Probably having to agree to a timeline of having the current mobile removed. The home and installation costs would be rolled into the construction loan. Once completed, I'd have a certain time period to refinance into a traditional loan, which would be with a bank that wrote mortgages on manufactured homes on land, maybe half of the lenders do.

This lot has septic, tested and passed, and utilities. Those hookup costs could likely be rolled into the loan, paid out of pocket, or sweat equity. I'm putting those costs in the negligible category, for now

The ones I looked at ship with a gas furnace, and no ac. A propane tank and an ac install would be on me





Really I'm just looking for info on the unforseen stuff, or shady fine print

 

[SomeGuyFromOlympia]

I have a family member that just purchased a Mobile Home. He was all vocal about it being 'the way'
I penciled it out and I couldn't see the math. If I am going to dump that much money into a project I need it to go up in value
By the time he got his decks, parking, detached garage, the total price was getting further and further away from his memory. The fucker knows to the penny what his stocks were purchased for in 1983, and not you can not tell me what the total price for your project is that you are currently working on?
It is because he is embarrassed to share the number, and that answered my question

Nice place
but you walk in there and you still know it is a mobile home by how everything is put in there (heating/venting and such)

 

[Projectjunkie]

I have a family member that just purchased a Mobile Home. He was all vocal about it being 'the way'
I penciled it out and I couldn't see the math. If I am going to dump that much money into a project I need it to go up in value
By the time he got his decks, parking, detached garage, the total price was getting further and further away from his memory. The fucker knows to the penny what his stocks were purchased for in 1983, and not you can not tell me what the total price for your project is that you are currently working on?
It is because he is embarrassed to share the number, and that answered my question

Nice place
but you walk in there and you still know it is a mobile home by how everything is put in there (heating/venting and such)

Yeah, a the cost of adding a 2 car garage makes a lot of mobiles in the desert (flat hard land and cheapish labor) not pencil out versus stick built

I'm expecting high labor prices up there, and will shake the tree for builders before committing to a mobile