Sell mobile home (not parks)

I find it difficult to find real estate agents to list a mobile home (not parks, just homes) for sale. Anyone have any advice on effective ways to sell mobile homes? Where do you advertise it?

Depending on the value of the mobile homes you have for sale, you may not find an interested real estate agent. If your used homes are $1,000 to $20,000, an agent will not be interested at a 7% commission. A $70 commission hardly pays for the gas in the car to take the prospect to your home, and at the high end a $1400 commission is chump change. In fact the expected commission of a real estate agent may exceed the value of a home that you have for sale.

However if you are in a market where the average mobile home is $200,000 then an agent may be interested because that is the same price as a single-family house in other markets and commands a higher commission.

Also, real estate agents are in the business of selling real estate. Mobile homes are commonly personal property that sell with the transfer of a title. This is a different transactional structure.

Word of mouth is best, but you can advertise too. We commonly use Facebook marketplace and craigslist to drive phone calls. Also you will get walk-through, drive-up, and word of mouth traffic.

Make sure you have for sale signs in your windows and in front of the properties. We put feather signs along the street and bandit signs in metal holders highlighting the way to the homes that are available for sale.

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We’ve had no problems and love using Realtors as they add another level of screening and professionalism. That said, like mpark mentioned, if you’re selling $20,000 homes it will be tough to do. Check Zillow for For Sale and Recently Sold with home type = Manufactured and you’ll know soon enough if there are folks in your area that sell them.

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Most Realtors will pass on a MH sale. Why would they sell a home for$20,000-$100,000 when they can focus on $500,000+ SFRs? The commission is way better on a SFR. I live in CA so the average SFR price is very high.

I have found that working with MH dealers is more effective. Do a google search for your local market to find who the MH dealers are. See if they are willing to list your used homes. I typically pay $6,000-7,000 in commission to sell a home. If your price point is less than $30,000 then maybe you should sell them yourself. Not much room to pay for a commission on the smaller deals.

One of the best ways I have found to market homes is to pay a referral fee to existing residents.
Resident Referal Flyer.pdf (309.0 KB)

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Several times I have used a realtor to sell mobiles in the $35,000-$75,000 range. There is one in my area that charges a flat $4,000 commission. He specializes in mobiles and gets it done very quickly. Last night we settled on one that sold in 2 weeks @ $45,000…It is hard to pay out almost 10%, but the quality of the tenant is good for the entire park

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Some places its just easier to FSBO it in the craigslist or something. As stated, most brokers don’t want the tiny commission if its a low cost home. If you have a one off (not like doing this monthly it requires a dealer license if that is the case) then stick the FOR SALE sign in the window, with a contact name and phone and bedroom/bath count, a neighbor will know someone and calls will start flowing. a bandit sign out front of the park too (assuming its in a park) with a name and number to call and size of home / dimensions also helps. and the ad in craigslist. In washington once you do the bill of sale, you go to licensing and transfer title and pay excise tax, doesn’t require a realtor. One caveat, if it’s not your park and you are selling in a park, get clearance from the manager on whats’ approved for the signage as well, some have stipulations on size and location of signs in the lease, also, sometimes the park ownership will want to buy on first right of refusal, if it’s on private land and there is a good road near by… use all the tricks you got.

@Jhu79 we have had luck on Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, MHGiant.com, word of mouth is huge(!), open houses hosted by our Property Managers. When we had a large amount of brand new houses to sell, we advertised in local print opportunities & website ads (we’re in Florida) and even did a few billboard advertisements.

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