Many of my park-owned trailers need complete renovation. They are located between Memphis and nashville, TN. I just recently found a dealer selling off his left over FEMA trailers for $7000 each for a single wide 12X30. Is that a good price for a bran new 2006 trailer with new insides?
I’ve only bought old trailers so I don’t have a clue.
As for my older trailers I’d like to renovate them inside to make them look bran new with new cheaper carpeting, painting, and cabinents and then sell the trailers lease/option so I don’t have to worry about tenants and just worry about lot rent.
I know Clayton MH’s works in that area, but I’ve called/emailed them and they haven’t been helpful. My new property manager has done a super job in my opinion getting everything done so I can sell them and making the park look good again. He will do some carpentry at a low rate, but can’t do everything like plumbing.
Anyone have any advice for renovating older trailers at a cheap cost to give off a bran new impression inside for better selling capability?
Thanks, Paul
Getcha the Foremost repair book, getcha some handymen/MH repair guys. You have a long, uphill battle, turning trashed MHs into like new. It wont be cheap; well, relative to stick built it will be, but without knowing what needs done, its hard to say. 60-70’ singlewide carpet will run about $1K installed. Interior paint, if paint only, will run 10 gals primer and 10 gals paint, plus whatever the labor is. Thats 200-400 for the paint only, maybe 300-1K for labor. Cabinets and counters could be done for maybe $2K. Repairs will cost according to the repair . . . so figger 1K for carpet, 1K for paint, 2K for cabs - thats $4K, so figger a 50-100% overrun is 6-8K per unit. You may be able to get better, less aged units and demo yours for that or less . Better find out.
The FEMA trailers, at 12x30, seem small - one bedroom? Travel trailer? Hard to fill; many find 2 bedroom units hard to fill. Whether 7K is a deal depends on your market. Will people want to live in a FEMA trailer for anything other than emergency housing? If so, it’ll probably have to be cheap.
All in all, ninja-san, it seems like you’ve "ready-fire-aim"ed, as my friend Tony likes to describe it. You better do some fast, quality research and get familiar with your market - NOW. Repair costs, labor costs, competition units, what things will sell for, and how they will sell compared to your competition, etc.
Good luck; we will help where we can, but YOU gotta do the legwork, to take those steps closer to your dream.