Sell all Park Owned Homes for $1 to current tenants? Crazy?

As the title says, has anyone had success selling all of their park owned homes for cheap/$1 so now they are all owner occupied?

Am I crazy for thinking this or would the tenants have no “pride of ownership” since they received them so cheaply?

Thanks!

Depends on the person. Not many people really appreciate something for nothing. Especially that demographic. If they walk away from the unit now you have the title hassle again.

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I do remember Frank mentioning this in the study guide. I believe he said ensuring they sign a long term lease so they cannot pull them out or re-sell them

Having no equity they will simply walk away when ever the whim hits them.
It is not advisable as the majority will not have the ability to maintain them and the place will fall down around them. What you will get back will need to be scrapped.
It is a much better plan to sell the homes at market value to people that value what they are getting and have put the effort into saving the money to own it.
The type of owner that gets the home for free are not the type you want in your community.

You are getting ready to go into tax season right now. Selling homes for a $1 makes absolutely no sense considering that in about 3-4 months, your buyers actually have money. We’ve had a lot of success selling homes during that time for $3,500 to $8,000 cash. Selling for $1 at this time of year isn’t a brilliant idea considering that in 3-4 months you will have buyers flush with cash.

Additionally, Greg is spot on about the type of person you’ll attract with such a deal. The person you’ll attract is usually one step away from living under a bridge somewhere. I sold a home yesterday for $4,500 out of one of our parks. It was a 1960 2br that was actually pretty nice on the inside. It sat vacant for quite some time while I searched for my perfect cash buyer. In that same park, we have a very nice remodeled 1979 3 br. It has been vacant for 2 months now but we’ll get our price of $7,500 once tax time rolls around. My thought process is that there is no need to rent to own this home when I know I can sell it for cash within 6 months.

This park cash flows very nicely so I can afford to hold back some of the nicer homes from the rental portfolio and wait a few months for a cash buyer to come along. It saves money when you consider what the average renter can do to a home. If you have some homes like that, then you might consider keeping them vacant until tax time rolls around, then ramp up a marketing effort to get them off your books. Certain homes should be on rent credit and your nicer homes should be in the pool of homes where you’ll only accept cash for them.

Pricing a home at $3,500 to $8,000 is a great deal for a buyer and it also gets them to put skin in the game to ensure you have sustainable income from the lot. Homes that should be priced higher than that have financing options through 21st mortgage. Hold back inventory and be patient. That would be my advice.

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@flsupraguy , as per your post:

  • “Sell all Park Owned Homes for $1 to current tenants?”

@Louvie , @Greg & @CharlesD gave you wonderful advice.

I agree with all of them.

At $1 the “New Owner” has no ‘skin in the game’. They will walk away in a heartbeat and you are now left with “No Lot Rent” & “No Mobile Home Title”. You are now in a worse position than before.

@CharlesD , makes a wonderful point:

  • “You are getting ready to go into tax season right now. Selling homes for $1 makes absolutely no sense considering that in about 3-4 months, your buyers actually have money.”

I would also add to watch these particular Tenants for the next 3-4 months.

  • Are these people that you even want as Tenants?
  • Are do they cause issues for you or the other Tenants?

Sometimes no Lot Rent is better than a bad Tenant causing issues with your good Tenants.

We wish you the very best!

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