My partner & I locked a land + mobile home on assignment, but have not been able to locate a buyer, yet. Closing is coming in 2 weeks.
2010 Assessed value: 117K AS IS. LAND alone: 74K
List Price: $59,950
Location: 1st St, Gold Bar, Wa, Right off of US-2, Excellent Location
3 Br+2 Ba, 1334 Sq ft
Lot: 9137
Mobile: 1981 Double Wide, Fix: 5,000
Rent Comp: $950 - $1,700
Land Assessment does not include the 1200 Gallon Septic, which is pumped
Land assessment does not include the NEW drain field put in just over 1 year ago.
We have placed ads, bandit signs, but no cash buyers, yet.
People don’t buy mobile homes if they can afford a frame built. If the frame builts have come down to where they are affordable, you are going to have a hard time selling.
I’ve got a nice mobile with extra nice garage, no repairs needed at all, new paint, priced at land value only and I can’t sell it. I suspect I am in better location (ski resort town) than yours.
I just drove over to the Oregon coast to look at a mobile, land value only, and decided against it because it needed too much repair and it was too far away for me to use the workmen that I know and trust. It was possibly minor repairs, but you don’t know until you get it open.
The place on the coast had a lot of action. There were dozens of realtors cards on the kitchen counter. So there were buyers at that price range, but I suspect they didn’t want to do any work.
$5,000 repairs required on a mobile home is a lot of work and probably a lot of very visible work. You might try cleaning it up a little.
Not many people are buying vacation homes. Lots of people are trying to sell vaction homes to raise cash. If your town has work, it’s one thing. If it is a second home location, it’s going to be hard to sell.
I’ve had an endless stream of people who want to rent to own mine. I don’t carry paper, and I wouldn’t sell to them anyway. None of them have any money to put down. But rent to own is an option.
Have you put it on the MLS? Locally, I can get a property on the MLS for $295. Get it listed and offer a commission to anyone bringing a buyer.
This is an amazing business! You might have just purchased a very expensive ‘seminar’ by not preparing an exit strategy (first) before you sign and commit to a purchase. After 20 years and 400 deals, I too have purchased many ‘very expensive’ seminars! It comes with learning the business.
You do have some solutions if your property does not resell by the closing date:
find the money and close.
hopefully, you will have a weasel clause to allow you to exit unscathed.
without a weasel clause, if you don’t close, prepare to be a defendant in a lawsuit.
if your contract allows, do not close and lose your earnest money and reduce the costs of this very expensive seminar.
As I read the postings on this website forum and talk with R.E. Investors around the country who call me for the possibilities of mentoring them, there seems to be a real common theme…everyone wants to become rich, quickly, in R.E. Investing but very few want to take the time to learn how to calculate their risks…they just want the money! Bad choices that are driven by greed will product desperate cries looking to be bailed out.
Read the contract you signed…nobody on this forum can give you advice as we do not know the provisions of your agreement. You can take some of my suggestions and see if they will work based upon the agreement you signed.
For future reference, make decisions on a deal based upon the numbers, do your homework on each deal, have an exit strategy lined up with another as a back up plan before you sign a contract, and learn how to protect yourself when all else fails by adding provisions in your agreements to allow you to exit the contract without being liable for a lawsuit.
Have you tried negotiating an extension with the vendor? I’ve had a hard money lender walk away a few days before closing (with the bast-ards stealing my application fee) and I had to go back to the vendor, explain it to him and got a month extension to close it and found another hard money lender that closed. You can also try throwing in another offer like a lease option until you do find a buyer or a vendor take back or simply negotiate some kind of exit compensation for their troubles so you don’t get sued. I’ve found that vendors are generally good people and reasonable and will show you mercy if you’re honest with them and genuine with your intentions.
If you do have the money to close or can get a lease option, here’s a thought. Since you’ve identified the problem that it’s hard to sell because it’s unfinished, can you solve it by doing the work yourself to finish the building so it’s marketable? This building doesn’t sound that big. It sounds manageable to finish for two people. Can you sell your other place and move in here? In my area, a layperson can rewire their own house as long as they pull the permits with the city so an inspector can review that the workmanship is safe if that’s the issue. I suspect it would be the same in your area too. Home Depot has licensed electricians or other tradespeople who will tell you what to do to finish it “for free” if you ask. Some specialty shops like roofing and window suppliers even offer free seminars and will lend you free how to video tapes on how to reroof or install a window or whatever products they sell so you don’t void the manufacturer’s warranty on their product.
IMO, I would rehab it myself and see it to the end. You can’t get that kind of education from school or a book. I think everything happens for a reason and God put you on this path to gain some kind of glory for future success. To me, I would say this is a great opportunity to learn something new. It’s a new adventure and I would see it to the end.
I don’t know anything about the Seattle or surrounding area, but here in Central Oregon there are virtually no buyers of any sort in the winter. Buyers start moving around and looking in the spring.
March is early for real estate here, with April starting to be better and sales really picking up in May and June.
You don’t get the snow and cold weather that we get, but I still suspect that sales are slow in the winter.
A lot of $100k houses sold with the first time buyer’s credit. Your place should appeal to that crowd. Point that out, that the house is eligible, and if the credit expires (I don’t remember the date), offer a first time buyers credit of your own. People are using that credit to get the down payment on the inexpensive houses.
yes amy i understand your situation i have two sfh bank owned under contract and close in 2 weeks and have not found a buyer yet i wish you luck in the meantime i have to find buyers for my properties