Is this home a deal or not?

I can get the home free if I move it.

But, it is missing an axle, an axle bracket needs to be welded, 2 flat tires at least and the tail end is touching the ground so mover can’t raise the tongue. Have to jack it or drag it forward away from grade first. Tires have settled in about 6 in. My park is 90 miles away.

How much would you invest in moving this before it is no longer a good deal. Only mover who has looked at it says $3000 to $5000 by the time he gets a portable welder person there, checks the brakes, gets the axle on, drags its. etc. Seems way out of line, still, he says it will take a day to get it ready and a day to move.

14x70 1985 pitched roof, siding. Needs 3 windows, carpet stained, 2 square of siding, and a square of shingles. Been sitting 2-3 years. Usual trash, broken doors, crayon on walls.

Is this home a deal or not?

Nearly every “Free” home I ever got cost me as much, if not more in the end than just buying a decent home that needed less work.

The only way to determine if this one is still a deal is to add everything up and decide if you are still getting a good home (once moved and fixed up) with a good floor plan that will do well in your park (so far it sounds like this one has the potential).

Try calling a couple of other movers for quotes. The best advice with movers is to find out who other folks are using regularly and call that mover. In our area, movers are here today, gone tomorrow.

The are (in most cases) absolue magicians at moving problem homes. I live in the mountains of NC so nearly every move is a problem move. Narrow roads, many trees, quick dips and hills, hard climbs, small turnarounds if any, small lots with even smaller widths and then they are terraced one above another… yet these guys get them in. I just don’t like being there to watch. It is the most frightening thing I have ever seen (bear in mind I was a beat cop for 11 years and saw my share of ewwwwwky and scary stuff). This act beats anything Vegas has to offer.

It is common for my mover to have to hire a welder, typically to weld a hitch back onto the home. In nearly every move, our movers have to use their own axels and wheels. It is just part of the move cost.

For a single wide like this in my area I would expect about $2k to do this but again, so much varies by location and mover.

Tony

I agree with Tony , add everything up and see if it still comes out to be a good deal. Sounds like your quote on moving is high! In our area movers have a wholesale and retail price. Sounds like you got a retail quote. Get three or four bids and let them know that this is not a one time deal. They will work with you on price if they know they will get regular business from you.

Sounds like I'm in God's country when it comes to moving homes. I'm in the middle of Illinois where the ground is flat as far as the eye can see. Our typical move is $400.00 for up to 25 miles, $2.00 per mile after that, however we put them up on wheels and block and level them when they are set on the pad. It really isn't too bad to do the prep and set work. This way all the mover has to do is hook-up and roll, and jockey it on the pad to square it up once it gets into the park. It takes about six hours for our maintenance man to prep and set.



After it is blocked and leveled it needs to be tied down which is about $150.00 in materials and 3-4 hours work. It costs me $150.00 a year for our maintenance man to be licenced to do this, but as you can see it helps us tremendously in keeping our cost of moving controlled.



 If your going to move 3 - 4 homes a year I would check into dismanteling and setting homes in your area. 



 Sounds like this could be a great deal for you if you can keep your moving cost down.



 Also make sure you caulk all windows and doors and roof edge after move. Sounds like this home might get twisted when put back up on axles and wheels. It has been my experience that this needs to be done on homes that have been subjected to twisting. 



Good Luck !!

Dan, thanks… I should have pointed out that my estimate of the move in my area DID include the setup on blocks, tie downs, leveling and not just the move.

Good point.

Tony

You are solving a huge problem for the present owner. You should be compensated for doing this.

We are offered 10-15 homes a month “for free” and they never are.

Tony gives sage advice. You will probably spend more moving and rehabbing than finding a nice repo to buy. Not to mention the time spent.

Turn this around and go out of the box. Tell the Owner you will accept this home with clear title but he needs to pay you XXXX amount of money to solve his problem.

We take three or four homes a month this way…folks paying us to remove homes they want gone. We resell at profit. Our charge is our actual cost to set up on our lot (a zero basis).

If they balk, move on. We do removals and resets like this in FL for $3,500. In Ga we see prices of 2K.

Greg

Greg,

Numbers are coming together. Another mover should be around $2000. Big difference between pro-movers with portable welding equipment and their own axles verses a local.

Market is different in Maine. Repos are hard to come by and everything is always 100 miles away it seems. I could try charging $1000 splitting the moving cost. Thanks for the idea. She will probably have someone tear it down for $500 if she has to pay to have it moved. People will do that around here.

I figure to have $4000 into it, $2000 to move plus $2000 repairs and set up max. I have a double wide concrete pad vacant in a singlewide park. There is no market for DW lots. Put this home on it, sell for $6000 handyman’s special and get lot rent. Make any better sense? Appreciate your frank advice.

Andy, it sounds as if there are better opportunities to put deals togather 100 miles away. I have similar challenges (not many repos) as you are dealing with. I would suggest to not spend to move an old fixer-upper. Instead Lonnie Deal these types of homes where they are, and when you find a steal of a deal on an especially nice MH, move it to you park.

As an aside, I have moved in two used homes and offered them for sale here in my park, for the past week every person looking wants to buy them for cash and move them from my park to their land…of course I had to say no. Demand sure is strong for these used wobbly boxes.

if you have folks willing to pay cash and go to the expense of moving to their Park, you are probably selling too cheap.

Long distance advice is usually worth what you pay for it, but anytime we get multiple offers on a home or L/H pac we are usually selling too cheap.

I have had folks move intop my Park, buy a LD we had set up and in a year cash it out and move onto there own land…it killed me.

I jacked up the price and increased term so if the next one tried that, there was PLENTY of money left on the contract…worked for me

Greg

Hey Andy,

A tear out here on MDI is running $1500 - dump fees are pretty high for anything you can’t salvage/recycle. If it is only $500 in your part of the state then she should pay you $500 to take her problem away - same as she would pay someone else to tear it down.

Karl

PS-Nice to be back in ME!

That is good advise Greg. actually, I had been having pretty good success with attracting good long-term residents by providing the best value possible on homes offered for sale, but I clearly should raise my price now.

I just can’t imagine these ads that start out WILL FINANCE! attracting multiple cash buyers; you never know for sure how things will work out.

Guys, you were so right on this one. I went back and told them they should contribute $1400 toward the moving cost. It would cost $2800 to disposed of it at the transfer station. This home is not an easy move. They passed. I don’t feel bad. It was a marginal deal otherwise. If they don’t meet your price - move on.