We Buy Mobile Homes all the time. A lot of people want to knock them. “Oh, why would I want to rehab the mobile home?” Or, “I don’t want to do that.” I see it a little differently. When you’re looking at these mobile homes, lots of times they’re really nice, or they can be really nice. Plus, if there’s a buyer for that product, why do you care? We can rehab it, very similar to when we buy a single-family home in San Antonio and it allows us to buy more deals that other people might pass on.
There are some things we want to make sure we cover, but lots of times we can get a product that’s perfect for our end buyer because a lot of the mobiles that we buy are on a bigger piece of land. This one’s on over half an acre, which is big for some of our clients. And when we come in and go to repair it, we’re still putting down floors, we’re still painting, we’re still checking the electrical, making sure the plumbing, so everything’s good. Very similar to what we would do, but lots of times we can get them at a lower price.
Now, what I would caution you on is, the rehabs, sometimes they can be a little less than full cost, but don’t think just because it’s a mobile that it’s going to be cheap, cheap to finish it out. Because lots of times, depending on how big it is and how damaged it is, it can be similar to what we’re doing on a single-family house. Now, if you get it a lot cheaper and you know what you can sell it for, what does it matter? Just run your numbers. It just happens to be a mobile home.
The things you got to watch out for, are some of the doors. Doors will be a different size, so you can’t just go to Home Depot and buy your standard door and put that door in here. One that surprised me is these outlets. These outlets are different than what you’d find in a single-family home. And you can’t just run to Home Depot and buy them. Not only are they different, where you’re getting a 10-pack really cheap for a regular house, but these are also a lot more expensive. It’s like six times the price. So if you’re looking at that, there are things that you want to learn as you go through mobile homes, so you factor in at different costs.
You want to check the septic, because a lot more of them are on septic, and that can be a huge cost so making sure it’s good is very important. If you have to change out all the electrical, factor in which pieces of that electrical is going to cost a lot more. The flooring that we put in them, is very similar to the flooring that we’re going to put in our other houses. It’s still going to cost us the same, so you can bring that cost over. But when you look at a lot of people, very happy with them, especially if they’re on a bigger piece of land. This one, as I said, is a half acre. We just did one on a full acre. We’ve done some on two, or three acres. There are a lot of people that really want that land, and if you give them a really nice mobile home, they’re happy to have it.
So, I would say, don’t just turn them off just because they’re mobile homes. And then, if you’re going to do it, either talk to somebody who’s done it before, who knows where some of those cost differences are, some of the things to look out for, but then factor that in there. And if you get it at the right price, it might be a great idea to take one on. And then you can buy some things that other people wouldn’t do, and then you can do some deals that you might miss out on because some people say, “Oh, I don’t want a mobile home.”
I hope this helps. If we can do anything for you, give us a shout. (210) 201-6644, or on the website, sellmysanantoniohouse.com.