It looks to me that we have to become dealers these days if our plan is to unload POH’s.
Is this accurate?
In many states this is true. If you sell homes, you must be a dealer. You might need to have your manager become a salesperson as well.
Thanks Jim
From my experience the government officials are not enforcing unless someone tips them off and then you can be given a cease and desist order and or jail time.
Yeah, I think I’ll take the course. Lol
From our experience we had to have a sales lot and a different phone than the park and our current type of operation no insurer will insure us with our operation with having a sales lot. The whole problem as I understand it is DEALERS ASSOC. wanting to rid the world of carpetbaggers and them only selling mobile home since they had invested greatly in their operations. It is more complex than getting a passport and costly.
I wonder if there is an arrangement one could make with a local dealer.
From my read in Ok you need a sales lot but it is worth a try.
It depends on the state. In Texas, you should get a RBI dealers licence. The class is a few days long, and the info will keep you out of trouble. YOu register, buy a bond and your in business. In Colorado you just pay a fee and buy a bond. My take on it is if the state requires it, do it. Defending yourself because something goes wrong is much easier to do when you get to the stand and the jury sees you have done everything right. If something goes wrong, maybe you do not know the home is set up wrong- and you would have known it if you took the class, and someone get injured your problem might go from being insured and liable, to being uninsured and negligent. The latter will pierce your corporate vale and everything you have is now on the table. Remember this- every tenant in your park gets free legal service because, well… the can. They will try to get funds from deep pockets- which is you. If they can get your park, your house, your car and every cent you have, they will. Might not be your fault, but maybe you should have known better. Get the licence, get the insurance and sleep well at night…
Thanks Jim
Freakin me out. Lol
liability can be covered with insurance, you do everything right and bad stuff still happens. It is when people know they should be doing something,a nd they choose not too- that is negligent. Insurance can not cover what you should have done and just ignored doing. Look at something we all deal with every day- car insurance. If you drive down the road and get in an accident your insurance will cover the claims. Even if someone looses their life. Maybe the accident happens because something happens out of your control, like there is something on the road from a previous vehicle, your car has a blowout and hits another car. Now- take the same situation and remove something. You never got insurance. Maybe you should have been wearing corrective glasses and made a choice to drive without them. Maybe you were under the influence of a drug, a painkiller maybe, and had a drink at dinner as well. All of these things might take that accident and change it. You might be liable for your damages and negligent. Now lets relate this back to mobile home parks. Many, many owners try to get around workers comp insurance by calling the managers independent contractors. The manager get hurt… they go to the hospital and the injury requires surgery, a hospital stay and they can never work quite the same ever after. If you had insurance you would be covered, for all of it. You still need to cover it so they look to your entity to cover the costs. Maybe your park is not worth enough- so they work the way up the line of ownership and operations. The will end with your house, cars etc… You did not get insurance, and did not classify your employee as you should. Why, to save some money I guess. For what ever reason, you did not. And if things go wrong, and they will- trust me- it is a hard landing… If you follow the rules you do not need to be scared. You will sleep well at night and when the crap hits the fan, you will call your insurance agent and they will manege the fallout.
Nice comparison. Thanks
Where do I look to find out my states requirements? Thanks!
The state sets the regulations. Most states have a mobile home park associations. try this link. The info is on The Mobile Home Park Store…Manufactured Housing Associations
Most states and insurers no longer require a licensed retailer to have a true “dealer lot.” However, you generally will need a physical location. Your park or house can act as that physical location. Historically, many dealer groups didn’t want the competition, so they made the licensing (and bonding process in some states) more involved.Most states also allow the sale of a few homes per year without requiring you have a Manufactured Home Retailer / Dealer license. I agree with Jim - the best place to find out the rules is to call (and join - they offer great legal forms/closing forms/advice) your state’s MH Association. Your insurance agent/bond agent should be able to help you to do this too.As for selling homes while not licensed, most state laws say that if you do so, not only are you subject to a civil fine, but each and every deal you did is voidable by law at the consumer’s discretion. Thus, they could come back ten years later and say, "You weren’t licensed. Give me my money back. What’s left of your home is at my cousin’s farm."Kurt
Thanks Kurt