Posted by LK Lorton on September 07, 2001 at 24:29:35:
As the great baseball pitcher Dizzy Dean said, “If you’re doin it, it aint braggin”
LKL
Do Lonnie deals work for you? - Posted by Rich
Posted by Rich on September 06, 2001 at 11:41:33:
Hello,
I’ve read Lonnie’s book, “Deal On Wheels”. I liked the book – easy reading, yet detailed and full of great ideas. I can see – in my mind’s-eye – how a good deal might play-out and that, if repeated regularly, one could sock up a good deal of cash flow doing those “little” deals.
Question is: does anyone here really do these Lonnie deals, en-masse? I mean, there seems to be so many newbe questions posted (such as how to go about that “first deal”), or questions wanting info on this or that detail of a particular deal(s). And, there seems to be lots of “pros” ready to chip in and answer these questions, which is all well and good, by me – I’m a newbie and need all the info/help I can get.
But – I don’t see much info regarding the dealing/numbers of the “pros” on this site. Like: How many deals have you done in the last three years? How many deals do you keep up at one time? Do you have any regrets of getting into this business? Do you make more on your Lonnie deals than you do at your day job? Has your income from this “wheel estate business”, as someone called it here, allowed you to quit your day job altogether? What are some of the pitfalls of this business that no one talks about – surly there are some, right?
Just curious as to what the pro’s out there are doing. Any takers?
Good luck in your note-making and thanks for your response!
Best,
Rich
Re: Do Lonnie deals work for you? - Posted by Chuck (AZ)
Posted by Chuck (AZ) on September 06, 2001 at 15:04:51:
Here’s how it went for me.
- Found this website.
- Read until my eyes bleed.
- Got Lonnie’s book and later a few others.
- Applied what I learned.
- Accumulated a portfolio of mobile home notes.
- Traded those as down payment on a mobile home park.
- Used the profits from the park to make other investments.
In a very short 4+ years I went from a $10/hour blue-collar worker who couldn’t stay ahead of the bills to a business owner/investor who’s “passive” income (money earned from my investments) is now more per month, than I use to make in a whole year working for someone else.
Obviously it works, but only IF you apply yourself to it… which is where most people fail take action.
Get off your butt.
As always Chuck… - Posted by Kevin (OK)
Posted by Kevin (OK) on September 06, 2001 at 21:41:31:
Thanks for the inspiration…Kevin
MH note portfolio qst - Posted by Robin (AZ)
Posted by Robin (AZ) on September 06, 2001 at 21:17:37:
Dear Chuck,
Hi from another AZ person! I have heard other people talk about selling their “MH note portfolio.” I will be going to the MH convention in Atlanta in Oct., and assume I’ll hear all about it there, but would you mind explaining that? Do you take all of the individual notes you have, amd sell them for $.xx on the dollar to someone else? How many notes constitutes an attractive portfolio? How mature do the notes have to be, seeing as many of Lonnie’s el cheapos are 3-4 year notes? Where do you find note buyers? And, if it isn’t too personal to ask, did you have MH/MH park management experience prior to beginning your investments in RE? Or were you able to learn enough to successful buy a park in 4 years (my dream 
)?
Well, that’s probably enough for one posting!! Thanks!!
Robin (AZ)
Re: MH note portfolio qst - Posted by Tim (Atlanta)
Posted by Tim (Atlanta) on September 07, 2001 at 19:41:16:
I certainly don’t want to butt in here, but I have a few ideas on selling mobile home paper you might not have thought of.
First, who buys mobile home paper? Well, there a lots of people who buy mobile home paper. Me for one. You can also ask around. Do you know of some people that have some savings just sitting in a bank earning 2%? Or if they have it in a CD, maybe 6%? How about your accountant, dentist, doctor, lawyer anyone who might have some ready cash? Wouldn’t those people be happy to get a consistent guaranteed return of say 12%? or perhaps 15%? Couldn’t you buy your mobile homes using the Lonnie formula, sell those notes to the note investors, guarantee the note personally, and everyone comes out happy? You get more cash to do more deals. The note buyer gets a great return guaranteed by someone they trust. But you have to perform. If a note goes bad, you have to make good on it. The first time one of your note buyers looses money on one of the notes you sell, you are done. That kind of bad news travels fast.
As far as selling your notes for xx cents on the dollar, it doesn’t work that way with mobile home notes. Mobile home note investors are looking for a certain yield. Not discounting the note by a certain percentage. Say you have a note that is $8000, 48 months, 12.75% interest, $213.63 payment. If your note buyer wanted a 18% yield, they would pay you $7272.46. If you only had about $4000 in the home, that is quite a profit for you. Now you can use that $7272.46 to go and buy two more mobile homes. Or maybe you buy one home and keep some of the cash in reserves in case something goes wrong.
As far a seasoning, and note maturity, most of the note buyers that you will find won’t really know or care much about that. They are investing in you, not necessarily the note. The collateral is good to have, but you are personally backing the note.
Now if you wanted to sell the note on the larger corporate type market, then seasoning and size of the portfolio do matter. Most note buying companies won’t look at notes until they are 12 months old. And the note portfolio needs to be sufficiently large. So guess what notes they buy most often? That’s right, notes on new mobile homes! As far as I am concerned, that is the absolute worst note to buy. I never buy those large notes on new homes. The default rate is about the same as the older homes, but the older cheaper homes don’t depreciate nearly as fast as the new ones. So if a default occurs, you can normally sell the home again fairly quickly for the same or greater amount.
There are a few smaller note buyers that are looking for good quality notes. Those people are more likely to be more sophisticated, and may want to buy a few partials from you to make sure you perform before they buy the whole notes.
Hope this helps.
BTW, Chuck (AZ), congrats on your success, you have obviously done well for yourself. But I find that your answer to this post to be lacking in details on the question asked. I too don’t care about whether it is bragging or not, but you wrote a fairly large post, and used one cryptic sentence to attempt to answer Robin’s questions.
Re: MH note portfolio qst - Posted by Chuck (AZ)
Posted by Chuck (AZ) on September 06, 2001 at 23:42:56:
Most of what you asked about has been covered in previous posts I’ve made to the forum… but I’ll give you a brief synopsis.
Blue collar worker until the age of 42.
Found this website, got an education.
Did a no money down deal in Indiana, walked with $17k and 5 acres free and clear at closing.
Immediately quit my JOB and moved west, landed in California (near Lake Tahoe), then Reno, Nevada, and currently in Tucson.
Accumulated a portfolio of MH notes along the way, traded those and some cash as down payment on a 55+ park.
Used the profits from that to do other deals.
My current passive income is over $30k a month, as opposed to the $28k a year I made working for someone else.
Former manager of a 5-star MHP in Reno.
Former manager of a 650-space RV park in California.
Owner/Manager of a 60-space 55+ in Arizona. (I also have a small 9-space nearby).
Currently moving into NNN-leased properties and land development. My current project involves 766 acres in California, I’m real close to posting about this one, and it’s a doozy.
To answer your questions in the order you posed them…
Usually, it varies with their value, 6 months, you ask.
In differance to those here, who think I brag too much… shove it. I obviously don’t give a damm what you think, and I’m not about to start anytime soon.
Re: MH note portfolio qst - Posted by k greene
Posted by k greene on September 07, 2001 at 13:52:57:
You have a great success story to truelly be proud of. Isn’t it great to be an American. Where else can you accomplish what you have?
Re: MH note portfolio qst - Posted by Tony-VA
Posted by Tony-VA on September 07, 2001 at 11:11:29:
I agree, when Asked, it is not bragging. It is a motivating success story that may well inspire others to accomplish what they otherwise may not have.
And when Not Asked, we could not give a Damm either.
Congrats on your success.
Tony-VA
Re: MH note portfolio qst - Posted by Robert(NC)
Posted by Robert(NC) on September 07, 2001 at 07:10:53:
Chuck,
If you have done the work, and become a success and people ask you about it, it isn’t bragging …
Bragging, is always reminding folks about it if they don’t ask : and on here, we keep asking for your success story … Gota get busy on my 5 year plan…
good luck and good investing…
Robert