Thinking of Buying a Used Mobile Home
If you want to buy a second-hand mobile home, there are a number of things to keep in mind. Buying mobile homes is not the same as buying regular wooden sticks. Before buying a second-hand mobile home, you need to know what to look for. When buying a second-hand mobile home, pay attention to the following 10 things. These tips will guide you to make the right decision and / or how to negotiate in your best interest. Safety is better than regret. I have learned a lot from my seven years of experience in the sale of second-hand mobile homes. I am now passing this information on to you so that you can make an informed choice.
1. Age.
If your financial situation is tight, don’t buy anything earlier than 1977. This is the deadline for obtaining good financing, and it is also the year in which the lender can determine whether a second-hand mobile home is a HUD home. 1976 and earlier years are registered in the DMV, but are not coded. Therefore, the lender is asking for a 20% discount from loans made in 1976 or earlier. The tenure will not exceed 15 years and the interest rate will be approximately 11-12%. Paid a lot. Versions from 1977 or later only require a 10% down payment, and you can get financing for 20 years, with interest rates cut by 1-2%. That’s a better choice. If the house is newer, the tax rate can be as low as 8%. It is best to look for a home that is no more than 15 years old.
2. The park.
Not all parks are approved by lenders. Before making a purchase offer, you must request permission for the loan for that park. If the lot rent is too high or there are too many foreclosed homes in the park, the lender can refuse to finance.
3. Rent Control
Yes or no? Most parks are, but some are not. If not, make sure you fully understand what kind of annual growth the park will bring you. You may not mind paying the extra fee each year, but for each additional space rental, the mobile home’s value goes down. It is written off as a car. However, this is still a good choice compared to renting a house together with people above, below, left and right.
Crime. Are there security procedures in the park? Is the park regularly patrolled by a security patrol company? If not, you should probably stay away. Yes, it is true, all residents must obey the rules and regulations, but if there is no security guarantee, anything can happen. Security patrols are a deterrent and crimes will be transferred to other places. Call the park manager and inquire. You can also call the local police station and ask for a crime report. Strongly recommended.
5. Pets
What is the park policy? Your 80 ldb Golden Retriever can be difficult to get approval. The same goes for your Pete bull or any other so-called “evil breed”. Most parks do not approve them. There is only one park in the Santa Clarita Valley that can accept one large dog, or even two. However, there is no “evil race”. Stupid Recently, I have a reputable dog trainer, a large deposit, and a German Shepherd. The dog was a well-trained German Shepherd, but it wasn’t and was considered “mean”. The same goes for Doberman Pinschers, Boxers, Pliers, Chow Chow and more. Consult the park before viewing a used (or new) mobile home. Check it out first and save your own time (and your agent).
6. Neighbors
Most of the people are very friendly. However, because you live in a tight spot (most mobile homes are limited in space and close together), it is best to talk to your neighbors. The next door and the doors down. A few doors down are the doors that will tell you what really happened. Perhaps the neighboring couple can no longer get along. It could be a drinking problem. Maybe the kids are playing too loud. You must know. Drive past at night and wander for a while. The same goes on weekends. Spend an hour on a Saturday night driving around the mobile home park, if it works for you now, you can do it now.
7. Administrator
Are they okay? Do they care or ensure that residents adhere to the rules and regulations?. Do they organize meetings from time to time?. Is there a holiday dinner? .Do they publish newsletters to keep you informed? Do you feel welcome at their office? Most administrators are proud of their park and are happy to help you. Make sure this is the case.
8. Trash Can
Are you in the old toilet at the end of the carport? Knee-high weeds? A car is jacked up and repaired in the carport? You don’t want this to happen. What you need is a clean, well-maintained park community
problem if the seller gladly pays. SECTION 2 are recommendations from the termite inspector of things that will need attention in the future and are not items that has to be taken care of now. Termite inspections are paid through escrow.
11. Time to order your Appraisal
An appraisal will be necessary if you are going to finance your purchase, the lender will require it. This is an expense that can not be financed and you will have to pay it upfront either by meeting the appraiser at your future home or by simply writing the check to the appraiser and let me handle it for you.
12. Your loan Conditions
When you first got pre-approved, we submitted certain papers to the lender. There might also be additional paperwork they are asking for and whatever that is, now is the time for us to do that.
13. Your home has now been appraised and hopefully
it did appraise. If not, we might need to either re-negotiate with the seller or you might have to come up with a larger down payment, whatever is the case or we might have to look for another home for you.
14. Your loan documents are now ready to be signed
and there will also be additional paperwork from escrow to sign, such as hazardous disclosures. We live in earthquake country, there are massive rains sometimes and we get flooded. You might be close to a prison or maybe an airport. These things are hazardous, we all live with them. Escrow wants you to know this, and you already do. When you go to sign all these papers, please bring your cashiers check for the balance of the down payment. Before you do, I will give you an estimated closing statement so that you know how much to bring. There will be an overage, meaning escrow will ask for a little bit more, just in case. We do not want to delay closing escrow because they are a few dollars short (maybe they needed to over-night a package twice).
15. Time for us to do a final inspection of the home
We want to make sure that everything that needed to be taken care of, has been done. We will do a final walk-through together.
16. You are now going to go to your Appointment
with the park to sign your lease, read and sign the park rules & regulations and pay your space rent and deposit. This takes about 1 ½ hour. If this is in the middle of the month, escrow will pro-rate the space rent. Parks do not take partial payment, only full. The deposit is refundable after paying your space rent on time for 12 consecutive months. You can then, in writing, ask for it back.
17. The loan has now Funded
The money has been received by escrow, every single piece of paper has been signed by all parties involved and escrow is now closed. CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE NOW A HOME OWNER.
I will give you your final closing statement from escrow and possibly a check too, together with the keys to the home, TIME TO START MOVING IN!
Again, congratulations. Let me know when the movers are coming, I want to order you some take-out and something to drink, you are going to be too busy and besides, who has time to cook while moving.
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