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When you hear the words “mobile home”, what do you immediately think? Hillbillies with rebel flags in their windows? The show “Cops”? Sure, that’s the stereotype, but the truth is that a huge number of Americans– about 20 million of them–live in mobile homes. And the demographic make-up of this group is not much different from normal residential subdivisions and apartment complexes.

Another little-known fact about this niche is that you can make excellent returns by investing in them- with amounts as low as $5,000 to $10,000. Returns in the neighborhood of a steady 10% to 20% per year. Compare that to your recent successes in the stock market and the rate on CDs at your neighborhood bank and you’ll see that those type of year-over-year returns are really pretty extraordinary.

So how do you invest in in this area successfully?

Get an understanding of the product.

Mobile homes are not constructed like the type of traditional “stick-built” housing that you are more familiar with. For example, a mobile home has no load-bearing interior walls. It is like a shoebox–only the exterior walls are load bearing. In addition, the utilities normally follow certain “troughs” that allow for easy access. You can find some cut-away drawings of mobile homes on the internet and you will be shocked at their simplicity. This simplicity, however, pays big dividends when it comes to repairs and remodeling. Unlike traditional home construction, a mobile home allows for an amateur to do a perfectly fine job.

You should go to a local dealer and walk through some homes–including some older trade-ins that are probably at the back of the lot–to get a feel for what the product is.

Get an understanding of what the customers’ needs are.

These type of homes are the least expensive form of detached housing in the U. S. As a result, they appeal to lower-income Americans- often folks who earn minimum wage. This group is not nearly as demanding as buyers with higher earnings who are looking at much more expensive housing options. That’s not to say that they have no standards, because they do. But their standards are much lower and much easier to satisfy. Many of the cosmetic issues that you would find unacceptable in a $100,000 house are perfectly fine in a $10,000 mobile home. These include stains on flooring, wall taping and bedding, quality of paint job, condition of appliances, etc. These reduced expectations make the investor’s life much easier, as it takes less to make this type of investment ready for sale, and it is much easier to meet the demands of the customer.

You should look at some of the mobile homes for sale in the newspaper to see what is offered in your market, as well as the price points. You will be amazed at how “rough” many of the offerings are, and how low the price points are.

Team up with a mobile home park owner.

Many owners would love to work with investors to buy and sell homes in their parks. These types of relationships are essential, as a successful investor will need certain concessions from the park owner to ensure that they get a good return on their investment. These concessions include free lot rent at any time that the home is vacant, help on marketing the home, and sometimes financial bonuses for each home sold.

Start small and add-on based on performance.

The proof is in the pudding. Start off with one investment in a mobile home- maybe $10,000 to buy one home. From this one investment, you will learn a tremendous amount about the process, from choosing a decent home to marketing and real-life profit and loss. A normal deal will have a return on your money of 10% to 20% per year. There are certain instances when you will have a much higher return- 50% or more- but these are rare and should not be taken as the norm. Anything less than 10% is unacceptable and you should analyze what you did wrong and learn from it.

When you “partner” with a mobile home park owner, they will take a vested interest in your success and your odds of making a higher return are much greater.

Conclusion.

There are few options today that offer 10% and greater real returns on your investment dollar. One of the safest is mobile home investing. It’s a simple product that appeals to a simple customer. It is not subject to changes of technology that render it useless, or to changes in taste that make it no longer attractive. It has been around, undisturbed, for over 60 years.

Jeff Foxworthy makes very funny trailer park jokes. COPS has a heyday filming scenes of intoxicated people at some of the worst mobile home parks in the U. S. But you have to understand that these are promotional stereotypes–and not the norm. The normal mobile home park resident is just a regular person making their way through life–and offering you a very handsome return on investment.

Manufactured homes may be the best-kept investment secret in real estate. While many investors struggle to raise funds and pay taxes for a single high-end property, manufactured home investors can make easy money and gain quick equity on a collection of homes. It’s also easier to plan ahead with manufactured homes since they’re less affected by changes in the economy than other real estate markets.

Investing in manufactured homes is relatively easy if you’ve got cash flow. The first step is overcoming any negative assumptions you may have about manufactured housing, whether you view it as poorly built, or simply too generic to warrant a long-term purchase. The fact is there is a big market for these homes, with buyers and renters waiting to enjoy the affordable, flexible lifestyle they afford. Manufactured and mobile homes also look a lot different than they used to – many have features like spacious patios and sun rooms areas that add style to daily living.

Many people also assume manufactured homes decrease in value over time, but this generally isn’t the case. A manufactured home may double in value over a decade like any other piece of real estate, especially if it comes with property. This brings us to another advantage: investors can maintain a valuable manufactured home property without the high costs and mortgages of a regular home. These homes can also be moved offsite or disassembled at a fraction of the cost of a regular house.

There are a variety of investment scenarios that can generate a high return in the manufactured home market. The easiest and fastest is to simply buy stock in a publicly traded manufactured housing company, or get involved in a real estate investment trust that specializes in manufactured homes. Another profitable option is to buy a manufactured home and rent it out. You won’t be able to charge as much to rent your mobile home as you would a regular house of the same size, but it won’t be that much less. For example, a $50K mobile home may rent for $600 a month while a $200K regular home rents at about $750 – you’ll be making a comparable return on investment for much less money up front, and smaller monthly mortgage payments. An obvious third investment scenario might be to buy a mobile home, live in it until the mortgage is paid off, and then sell it – in this scenario you’ll spend much less money on repairs and upgrades before the sale than you would with a regular home.

Another pleasant surprise of mobile home investing is how quickly the houses can be paid off. Smaller loans mean smaller interest charges, and faster equity in the home. That also means you can move on to your next real estate investment faster.

If you are interested in foreclosure home investing you are not alone. There are hundreds of people in every state that buy foreclosed homes and sell them for profits. This has been proven as a great way for anybody to make money in the real estate industry. If this sounds like something that is interesting, you are in luck. There are tons of resources that are available on this industry, and anybody can get started in no time at all.

Getting started in foreclosure home investing is not a difficult task. The first step that you must take before getting started is obvious; you will need to determine what you can afford. By setting your budget, you will ensure yourself of staying within your limits and never over extending your means. The best thing to do is only look at properties that are within your budget. This will go along way in making sure that you do not get enticed by a property that you cannot afford.

After you have set your budget, you will want to determine which areas are appropriate for foreclosure home investing. In other words, if you live in the city, you may not want to buy a home that is two hours away and in the middle of a farm land. But on the other hand, you may be looking for a change of pace and decide that the best situation for you is to find a property that is not like the other ones that you own. There are no hard and fast rules for where you should buy foreclosed properties. It all comes down to personal preference, and what you think will fit in best with your current situation.

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When you hear the words “mobile home”, what do you immediately think? Hillbillies with rebel flags in their windows? The show COPS? Sure, that’s the stereotype, but the truth is that a huge number of Americans- about 20 million of them- live in mobile homes. And the demographic make-up of this group is not much different from normal residential subdivisions and apartment complexes.

Another little-known fact about mobile homes is that you can make excellent returns by investing in them- with amounts as low as $5,000 to $10,000. Returns in the neighborhood of a steady 10% to 20% per year. Compare that to your recent successes in the stock market and the rate on CDs at your neighborhood bank and you’ll see that those type of year-over-year returns are really pretty extraordinary.

So how do you invest in mobile homes?

Read the rest of this entry »