Is it really still worth the time? Nevada Lonnie deals

Real Estate Investing Mobile Homes & Mobile Home Parks
1

Hi,

I have been reading everything I can find on the famous Lonnie deals. I think they would be a great way for my wife and I to get started in some low financial risk real estate investing. But I am truly getting discouraged, Nevada appears to be one of the worst states as far as SAFE act implementation goes.

I am yet to find any official rules but I found a topic on here that wasn’t good news.

Is it really still worth investing in books and other things in order to get started or should I just not bother with seller financing (which is where all the money is at)? I am perfectly happy to be patient and wait until I have more money that I can allocate to a real estate venture but Lonnie deals just seemed like the perfect idea.

Until I read about the SAFE act …

Is anyone on here successfully doing Lonnie deals in Nevada?

2

Anyone have a link to a useful summary of the SAFE act?

3

Can’t help you with the state of Nevada but I do know Ohio was the first state to be on the SAFE Act warpath. If you can buy wholesale and keep your retail sale price within reason (see below) AND charge 0%, it would be hard for anyone to say you were defrauding the consumer. The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB), created from the SAFE Act is charged with “protecting the consumer”.

Here’s the rub: In the real estate industry, comparables or “comps” are made to your home by a licensed independent appraiser to come up with a “fair” retail price. There is no such animal in the MoHo industry (a large reason for the myriad of problems in the industry). So how do we "prove’ to the CFPB we are charging a “fair” retail price? I have no good answer for this other than to use the NADA values and stay below them, which is easy in most cases. But any bureaucrat with two brain cells rubbing together knows even the NADA is way off the mark.

Steve

4

Hello, I am in the same boat as Chancard. I am recently married, we are in our early 30’s and both professionals with good income. I have been wanting to do “LD’s” and RE Investing for years, but am only now in a situation where it is feasible for me to do so.

Of course, now I am entering the game right on the heels of SAFE and Dodd-Frank, and it appears the rules have completely changed in regards to owner financing (and no-one seems to know what the rules really are…)

I live in the Land of Enchantment (Entrapment as it is called locally) and cannot find any information from SAFE or Dodd-Frank that has been boiled down to the state level. I have read extensively about these acts up to July 2011, but any info beyond that seems to have fallen into a black hole. I read HUD’s interpretation of these acts, and they do include MH’s and owner financing as being under the umbrella of “Mortgage Loans”. Some sources say you can do 3-5 deals a year without being a MLO, but again, no confirmation from the state level.

Probably the best information I have come across is from a local Note Buyer who studied the act and blogged on its contents and effects:

http://www.securityescrownews.com/2011/01/how-the-safe-act-and-wall-street-reform-act-affect-owner-financing/

From what I can tell, Main Street Ma and Pa are being regulated (punished) for the result of the government’s creation of the housing bubble and Wall Street’s rampant greed thereof.

I prognosticate that this is going to lead to a black market in the cheap used mobile home business and other areas. The SAFE/Dodd acts basically forces owner financers’ to do the same paperwork and qualification process that bank/mortgage originators need to comply with (in the face of 25k fines per deal). Is a buyer of a 5-10k mobile home really going to choose to go through the intensive screening required of a regular mortgage? I recently got my first mortgage and my rear still hurts…

Please keep in mind that this post is “My Opinion”, and is based on what I “think” to be true based on the reading/research I have done.

I see the great potential of owner financing especially in today’s tight credit markets. The SAFE/Dodd acts seem to completely choke off our only real alternative to institutional credit.

Well, next time someone wants to borrow 20 bucks I can say it is not worth it. Becoming a MLO and complying with the regulations are just too stringent.

Ok, so it appears the game has changed. How do we play now?

Howard

5

SAFE state-by-state

I’ve found it simplest to just Google “state SAFE Act” and that state’s SAFE law will sppear.

6

Thanks John.

I did finally find what I was looking for. New Mexico state has enacted SAFE in regards to mortgage loan originators, but has exempted those regulations from people selling personal property with owner financing. There are some more federal efforts to at least restrict owner financing to 3-5 deals a year, though NM has not yet enacted any of those.

So for the time being, NM is a LD friendly state. Although you do have to have a dealer’s license if you do more than one deal per year.

I am going to act before the rules change and try some LD’s to get started.

I have already run some “test” ads on craigslist, and called most of the MHP’s in my area to get a feel for how they operate. It appears the parks are 98% occupied, which indicates high demand and low supply. Also looking into land/home deals, but am not sold on that strategy yet. Interested in Tony’s book but waiting to see if drops the price. :wink:

Got Lonnie’s book on the HP financial calculator. I found an app for my droid that replicates the HP, so no need to carry around another device.

Contacted local licensing authorities about getting a dealers license and plan to start preparing for that.

Lots to do, but excited to do it.

Howard

7

Go, go, go…

Howard,

Done correctly it sounds like you have a green light. Keep us posted.

Good luck.