A man inherited his dad’s MH and lot. The lot transferred just fine. The loan for the MH was paid off by the estate to Bank of America. I guess the MH and lot were probably together. BoA can’t find the MH title. Also, supposedly there is some lien on the home from a prior situation. They say the lien was satisfied, but not removed.
Is there a way to make this work? For example, buy the land, rent the home and if they ever come for the home, let them have it?
Call the DMV and ask how you can clear the title. There is a way, and will most likely involve posting a legal notice. It will cost a few dollars, but it’s like a towing company would do with a car that isn’t picked up.
This has happened to me in the past and with my experience of investing along with administrative procedures, I can offer a couple of viable options.
If you cannot get satisfaction through DMV, you can file a UCC 11 to see if the lien is of public record. If you have proof the lien was satisfied and the lien claimant will not cooperate to remove, you can fill out a UCC 3 to cancel lien as debtor…yes, most people do not know that there is a provision on a UCC 3 for the debtor to cancel a lien…check it out!
In my case, when I purchased one of my mobile home parks, there was an abandoned mobile home on my property and the former owner of the home was in arrears over 1 year on the lot rent. What I did was an administrative procedure to obtain title to the home.
Essentially, I did a search to find the former owner, sent a registered mail package with a contract offer for them to cure the arrears on the lot rent. In that offer, I gave them a period of time to respond with instructions for sufficient response and the provision that an insufficient response would be a ‘tacit agreement’ to grant me specific power of attorney for the ownership of the mobile home. When they did not respond, I had an affidavit prepared for their non response, gave them a Notice of Fault and Opportunity to Cure by giving them another chance to cure the problem. When they did not respond, I did another Affidavit of Non Response as well as an Affidavit of Non Performance, thus awarding me through their default a specific power of attorney to the transfer of title of the mobile home.
Although at first reading, the above seems unusual and potentially complicated, it is simple, a legal process, and Administrative Judgments are equally powerful as Judicial Judgments, if you know what you are doing.
Was the effort worth it? I think so; I resold the mobile home with owner financing, sold the note for thousands of profit, plus I now have lot rent income on my dirt that is underneath this mobile home.
Learn contract law and you can solve most any problem, even on the title to a mobile home. Hope this helps.
Rob
Wow, I am impressed, you have to be long time in this business, Rob … How long all the procedure took you ?
An administrative process can take many months to complete. Once done, you will have all the paperwork necessary to satisfy the state motor vehicle departments requirements for a newly issued title. Just make sure if you have not yet done a process to clear the title, that you disclose the pending action for the title and the buyer holds you harmless and put that in your agreement with new buyer…if they do not cooperate, then sell to someone else who will cooperate. You can and will eventually get a new clear title.
Hope this helps.
Rob
The man, I assume, inherited the property and MH from the death of his father. He should be able to go to the DMV with the death certificate and MH VIN nbr and apply for a lost title. When he gets a copy of the title it will show what leinholders are in play. Depending on the county he can look it up on line. But he wants to get a copy of the title.
Next, the man can go to the DMV with a copy of the title, the death certificate and the letter stating he has inherited the MH. He can apply for a new title in his name.
What might get in the way is the states law on probate and closing out the estates obligations. I would accomplish the above until that comes up.