To Rehab or Not?

I have read that there are very few things on a manufactured home that make a rehab a bad idea. I am looking at purchasing a 1994 DW 3/2 on one acre that had some water damage due to a tree going through the roof. It would need a roof repair, new sheetrock, paint, trim, flooring and some updates. My biggest worry is the sub flooring…which part of it has bowed due to the water damage. Can that be fixed and is it even worth it? I have the choice of trying to do a rehab or demo and put a low quality 70s MH on the acre. Any ideas?

Did you get several repair estimates? Anything can be fixed for a fee and you need to evaluate that against the demo + replacement cost. The 90’s DW will likely rent for more than a 70’s SW too.

I’m in the process of getting some quotes from contractors but I’m not sure that they have ever delt with manufactured homes. I have followed this forum for years and feel you get solid advice from those who have first hand experience. Renting is a possibility but the greatest intention is to flip it.

If you intend to flip don’t remove it do the repairs. Best option would be to do the work yourself as it sounds like a fairly small job.
Based upon you actually having purchased at a rock bottom price. To profit you would need to have purchased at no more than 60% of ARV.

The numbers look very solid on it but the wild card is the flooring and if it can be repaired. I am a dentist and know this is like having a patient ask over the phone if it is possible to save a tooth without me seeing an x-ray. I am hoping to get an idea of what kind of task is involved in replacing sub flooring on what appears to be a 30 sqft area that is bowing up. The walls and the roof look as straight as straight can be. Is this likely a huge can of worms?

There are a few threads on this already. You should be able to fill this cavity. See the response from Jefferson on his costs to replace the entire floor of a 16x80 home.

On most items you will get more competitive bids from mobile home specific repairmen. Approach your local dealer and ask who performs their warranty work or find someone through Craigslist or Google to test them out in small jobs and up the ante with increasing trust in their abilities.

@Agall , as per your question:

  • “To Rehab or Not?”
  • “My biggest worry is the sub flooring…which part of it has bowed due to the water damage. Can that be fixed and is it even worth it?”

My Husband and I own 2 Mobile Home Parks.

We inherited some older, Mobile Homes (with the MHP Sale) that needed renovations and have purchased some newer, Mobile Homes that all needed renovations.

We have done lots of renovations.

Anything can be replaced in a Mobile Home, even the subfloor (just rip up the bowed subfloor and install new subfloor).

However, you first will want to determine if you can find the following who is reliable, responsible and reasonably priced:

  • “Manufactured Housing Repairer”

A regular Contractor will have no idea how to renovate a Mobile Home.

It is imperative that you get a Repairman who has lots of experience with Mobile Homes.

Water is the biggest destroyer of Mobile Homes.

You indicated that a tree went through the roof causing damage.

You will need to stop the water damage as soon as possible.

Only after the roof has been repaired should you tackle the other issues.

Our State Licensed “Manufactured Housing Repairer” has replaced and renovated the following:

  • New Roofs
  • New Subfloors
  • New Walls
  • New Closets
  • New Kitchens
  • New Bathrooms

We have a 1966 12x46 Mobile Home that we debated whether we should renovated or remove.

ONLY because we have an awesome State Licensed “Manufactured Housing Repairer” did we select to renovate.

Our State Licensed “Manufactured Housing Repairer” actually told us that we had roof leaks because someone in the past had removed a support beam to the roof. He had been in this Mobile Home model before and he knew what it should have looked like.

This Mobile Home actually had a tree growing up in the kitchen because someone had placed a metal shutter over an exterior hole. Unfortunately, the shutter did not cover the entire hole.

Thus, there was water coming in from the roof and from the side of the home.

We ended up putting a new, metal roof on it, new kitchen, new bathroom, new paint, new light fixtures, built closet, new flooring, new exterior stairs, new exterior paint and new underskirting.

Anything is possible.

You just need to find a Reputable Repairman.

If you can not find a Reputable Repairman, you will want to replace it with a Mobile Home that does not need renovations.

We wish you the very best!

Per the floor bowing. It depends on what is bowing. If it is the sub floor it is as easy as removing a old filling and putting in a new one.
If the floor joists are bowed, which is highly unlikely this would be a much more involved repair to replace the joists. That will involve root work but in construction anything is doable.

Thanks. I now have much more confidence going into this. I find someone who has done this before.

Be extra careful with any work having to do with load bearing walls, floors, or utility systems. Once you replace them or do major repairs, you step into the shoes of the home manufacturer regarding product liability going forward. Future accidents or losses associated with anything you did are likely to result in liability claims against you. The number one cause of $1m plus losses in mobile home parks are fire or electrical caused deaths in park owned or park recently sold homes. And invariably, these are older homes, usually with some rehab done on them.

If you hire a contractor to repair a rental home, have them provide you with a Certificate of Insurance that confirms they have General Liability insurance with a limit of $1,000,000 minimum. Also, have them sign our “Performance Agreement for Rental Home Contractors” (or your version of this) found on the left column, about halfway down at http://mobileagency.com/index.php/insurance-forms/ Feel free to edit it as you see fit.

What you will find with a lot of these older manufactured homes is they had particle board as the sub floor. That is probably the case here and is not a major undertaking. Replace with OSB.