Lease to Own (Lonnie Deal) Mobile Homes and The Safe Act

Real Estate Investing Mobile Homes & Mobile Home Parks
#1

I am just starting my intro to Mobile Home Investing (you can tell because I screwed up my profile name), I have read Deals on Wheels and Make Money with Mobile Homes three times each, Mobile Home Wealth twice, and Invest in Mobile Homes with Land only once (sorry Tony) I think it was John Fedro who says you should look at something like 30 to 100 mobile homes before you make your first bid.

I wanted to start doing that and went to the mobile home park near my home on Saturday. I planned to start there and work my way into Tulsa Oklahoma, but when I went into the first Mobile Home Park and told the manager what I wanted to do she told me that no one is allowed to do the Lonnie Deals anymore because of the Safe Act. I asked what the Safe Act was (I felt really stupid) and she did not seam to really know anything other than a Mortgage Originator and lawyers had to be involved and that cost is killing Lonnie Deals.

I came straight home and have been trying to find information (here and other places) since Saturday afternoon …it looks like a whole lot of people standing on two sides of a fence each taking a side but not knowing what the issue really is.

I know there has to be a way around this, but short of paying a real estate lawyer (and I really don’t have the money to do that, I am working 12 hour days to save up the money for the Lonnie Deal that gets me started, and that’s hard enough with a one hour drive each way to work and back) I see that Rachel Hernandez on her blog Adventures in Mobile Homes doesn’t really address the issue other than to say she has some way of dealing with it that she can’t get into.

I guess to make a long winded question longer… Is There Anyone who is really doing Lonnie Deals who knows anything about the Safe Act and how it effects Lonnie Deals, Do I have to pay some Mortgage Originator and then facture that in to the price by extending the time or charging more? I know I am doing this all backwards. My plan was to buy a couple mobile homes and then use that income to buy a mobile home investing courses but now I’m even more confused. Can someone help me understand?

Thanks,
Wade

#2

[QUOTE=So new is squeek;882639]I am just starting my intro to Mobile Home Investing (you can tell because I screwed up my profile name), I have read Deals on Wheels and Make Money with Mobile Homes three times each, Mobile Home Wealth twice, and Invest in Mobile Homes with Land only once (sorry Tony) I think it was John Fedro who says you should look at something like 30 to 100 mobile homes before you make your first bid.

I wanted to start doing that and went to the mobile home park near my home on Saturday. I planned to start there and work my way into Tulsa Oklahoma, but when I went into the first Mobile Home Park and told the manager what I wanted to do she told me that no one is allowed to do the Lonnie Deals anymore because of the Safe Act. I asked what the Safe Act was (I felt really stupid) and she did not seam to really know anything other than a Mortgage Originator and lawyers had to be involved and that cost is killing Lonnie Deals.

I came straight home and have been trying to find information (here and other places) since Saturday afternoon …it looks like a whole lot of people standing on two sides of a fence each taking a side but not knowing what the issue really is.

I know there has to be a way around this, but short of paying a real estate lawyer (and I really don’t have the money to do that, I am working 12 hour days to save up the money for the Lonnie Deal that gets me started, and that’s hard enough with a one hour drive each way to work and back) I see that Rachel Hernandez on her blog Adventures in Mobile Homes doesn’t really address the issue other than to say she has some way of dealing with it that she can’t get into.

I guess to make a long winded question longer… Is There Anyone who is really doing Lonnie Deals who knows anything about the Safe Act and how it effects Lonnie Deals, Do I have to pay some Mortgage Originator and then facture that in to the price by extending the time or charging more? I know I am doing this all backwards. My plan was to buy a couple mobile homes and then use that income to buy a mobile home investing courses but now I’m even more confused. Can someone help me understand?

Thanks,
Wade[/QUOTE]

I don’t want your question to go unanswered but I am not the person to address this question. I would recommend Karl Kleinder in Ohio if you can email him from his posts here you might be able to get a better idea.

For the last 10 years I have focused on renting mobile homes and as such I have not had the need to investigate these concerns.

You mention that the park is aware of the issues and is concerned so let me ask what are they doing to solve the problem of vacant homes in their parks? Parks like these may need to see the value in allowing the investor to rent homes since this may be the solution that gives both the park and the investor the greatest control and keeps lots (income) filled.

Tony

#3

[QUOTE=So new is squeek;882639]I came straight home and have been trying to find information (here and other places) since Saturday afternoon …it looks like a whole lot of people standing on two sides of a fence each taking a side but not knowing what the issue really is.

I know there has to be a way around this, but short of paying a real estate lawyer (and I really don’t have the money to do that, I am working 12 hour days to save up the money for the Lonnie Deal that gets me started, and that’s hard enough with a one hour drive each way to work and back) I see that Rachel Hernandez on her blog Adventures in Mobile Homes doesn’t really address the issue other than to say she has some way of dealing with it that she can’t get into.

I guess to make a long winded question longer… Is There Anyone who is really doing Lonnie Deals who knows anything about the Safe Act and how it effects Lonnie Deals, Do I have to pay some Mortgage Originator and then facture that in to the price by extending the time or charging more? I know I am doing this all backwards. My plan was to buy a couple mobile homes and then use that income to buy a mobile home investing courses but now I’m even more confused. Can someone help me understand?

Thanks,
Wade[/QUOTE]

It depends on several factors. Does your state follow the federal regs for SAFE? Does your state have their own interpretation of SAFE?

If I were you I’d contact your state MHA (Manufactured Home Association). Many of them have posted rules to follow in lay terms. I have done this in NC and the rules to comply with SAFE as far as getting the MLO certification are not that strenuous as I first thought. But every state can be different.

This manager has obtained just enough information to make them dangerous. I wouldn’t take any park manager’s word for anything related to SAFE. It can be highly complicated and your state MHA will provide (hopefully) information you can action.

Good luck.

#4

If you really want answers that matter, and assuming you are in OK I would suggest you contact the Oklahoma Manufactured housing association. A couple of years ago when SAFE was foisted upon us, I contacted the Missouri Association as per the Director of finance it is a non-issue here.

I would also like to add this: As long as you are doing business there is a risk that a government bureaucrat may put you out of business. You simply can not operate and totally avoid that risk, this has been the case for a long time. Personally, I think your risk is small, mainly because you are not affecting State revenues…unless there is a license requirement in OK. Even though the Park Manager’s opinion may be wrong - you will get nowhere going against it. As for this park- right now, I would move on.

In Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged,” a state scientist quips: “Did you really think we want those laws to be observed? We want them broken. … We’re after power and we mean it. … There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them.”

#5

The manager of the park told me that I could not invest because of the SAFE ACT, and then as a side not she told me the park would not let me invest anyway because they buy the homes, fix them up and flip them as a part of their business.