Posted by Chuck (AZ) on July 31, 2001 at 16:02:37:
Don’t you wish they were all that easy?
Deal on a Silver Platter - Posted by Karl (Oh)
Posted by Karl (Oh) on July 31, 2001 at 12:21:19:
About 3 months ago a family in my pet park called me asking if I would do an appraisal on their grandmother’s old 12X60 mobile home. She had passed away and they were trying to settle the estate. They were hoping for a low number, because one of the grandchildren wanted to buy the home later. They really just needed an outside party to throw out a number. I asked the PM about the trailer, he had just been inside and said it was in very good shape. So I wrote a letter for them to give to their attorney stating that I was a mobile home investor (not a real estate agent or an appraiser), and based on the age, size, description of the home, and the park it was in, I would typically pay around $1500 for that home if it was for sale. I had just purchased a nice 12X60 for $1500, so I referenced that as a comp. (I didn’t mention what I sold it for.)
Last week the two granddaughters went in to see the park manager with a problem. The first granddaughter had inherited the trailer. She had taken out a small loan to pay for the burial, and needed $1000 cash to pay it off. The other granddaughter was living in grandma’s trailer, she’d been paying the lot rent on time for 6 months, and wanted to buy it from the other, but didn’t have that much cash. They asked the PM if he thought I would pay the first grandkid $1500 for the trailer (since thats what I had said it was worth), and turn around and sell it to the second grandkid on payments. He told them no way, it wouldn’t be worth my time. The only way he believed that I MIGHT be interested is if I could buy it for $1000 cash, and sell it for $2000 on payments. They agreed. The PM called me to ask if I was interested, I drove over to the park, and wrapped up the deal in about a half an hour. The PM made $100 for putting it all together. About 2 hours of my time, and 95% yield on my $1100 investment. (If I have to repo a home soon, I hope that’s the one. I could get a lot more than $2k for it.)
That’s the first deal I’ve ever done with a trailer sight unseen, where my buyer, my seller, the trailer, the terms, and the park manager’s approval were all in place before I even heard about it! I guess you’d call that the beginnings of a system.
Karl Kleiner
Re: Deal on a Silver Platter - Posted by Bobby White TN
Posted by Bobby White TN on July 31, 2001 at 19:59:42:
Congrats Karl
Now in Lonnie’s immortal words Do It Again!!! LOL