Zillow Advice: Buying Foreclosures - How can you tell how much a trailor is worth?

LC: Land in the right ...

Mon, 11 May 2009 17:19:00 GMT

LC: Land in the right location, location, location, location is what is of value....will it produce income for you without a tenant? Only when land values appreciate and you can borrow against it.

Believe it or not there is ...

Mon, 11 May 2009 15:32:00 GMT

Believe it or not there is a psychology to the science and culture of the "Manufactured Home Industry". If you refer to a home as a "trailer" you have just labled it intrinsicly as such in the minds of potential buyers and thereby limited your access to viable candidates who are in the market to purchase a "home".....not a "trailer".

Just for the record and FYI a trailer is generacally regarded as an 8 foot wide by ? that you can hook up to your vehicle and tranport at will from one location to another for a temporary stay. Or it is a "mobilehome" that was built before June 1976 that was built like a trailer. Today's "Manufactured Home", especially homes built from the 80's to date, are built to the same standards as those of a site built home and should be regarded as such.

The big difference between a chattle and a manufactured home on land is whether or not it has an engineered certified foundation system anchoring it to the ground it sits on and if it has been properly permited and signed off as such.

Unfortunately the media doesn't help the industry much when disaster strikes and wreaks havoc with trailer parks and manufactured home developments alike. They are all labled by the media as "trailers" or "mobilehomes". It has been an Uphill PR battle but slowly the Manufactured Home Industry is gaining ground. Pun Intended.

As a MH contractor and a licensed dealer and developer for the past 3 decades I have seen many deals blown and values lost by homeowners who set themselves up from the get go by promoting their perrfectly legitimate "Manufactured Home" as a "trailer". Hope this helps.

FYI: when a bank is foreclosing ...

Mon, 11 May 2009 14:43:00 GMT

FYI: when a bank is foreclosing on a property they often times do not attach a value to the trailer depending on the year it was built, of course recent ones are built a little nicer and better.

Still Linda........not all should be investors and if you are you need to make sure you have $$ to be in the game. It was not cheap to have this trailer torn down and hauled away. Insurance paid for the "value" of the trailer, but it didn't cover the cost to buy another one to put on the property so my mom used it to pay down the loan.........but at least my mom didn't get ravaged by this like many a newbie investor or one that doesn't think of the worst case scenario......and this was indeed worst case don't cha think?

The trailer had to be torn ...

Mon, 11 May 2009 14:38:00 GMT

The trailer had to be torn down because the city said so.......so now my mom has a property with nothing on it making no money......great investment don't cha think Linda........

This is an actual insurance ...

Mon, 11 May 2009 14:37:00 GMT

This is an actual insurance photo of a trailer my mom had that was a rental property.....the renter moved out and did not notify her, she went to check on the property when the rent check never came.....the house had been stripped of everything and anything........

We have a 2 bedroom trailor ...

Mon, 11 May 2009 13:48:00 GMT

We have a 2 bedroom trailor that is a 66 Old I know. LOL but we had no kids at the time and now we have two so we need a 3 bedroom. They sent me pictures and I made an offer on this one. We have credit cards to pay off and want to get some digging done behind our trailor we have now. plus movng and blocking it up and the cost of the place would be around 17k. I did not know if the we could borrow that much against one. It was a price of 5000. and I offered 3500 because someone else offered 3000. so I think we are going to go look at it and see if we like it and it is worth that to us.

Linda, you are just too ...

Mon, 11 May 2009 06:07:00 GMT

Linda, you are just too precious!

I had recently met a lady ...

Mon, 11 May 2009 06:05:00 GMT

I had recently met a lady at my nail salon and we started chatting. She told me she had dated a man who lived in a trailer at a trailer park...when he passed away his son came to take care of things...he indicated to her that he didn't want the trailer or any of the belongings in it and she could do with it what she wanted...she took it over and fixed it up and sold it for $18K more than what she paid to fix it up within 6 weeks...nice return...what is your plan?

Generally I only answer questions ...

Mon, 11 May 2009 05:56:00 GMT

Generally I only answer questions that I can offer some legitimate help. But god bless you Linda, you are just too easy a target.

Back to the question; I searched online but didn't find anything as handy as Kelly Blue book for cars. You might try a local bookstore for a price guide to mobile homes.

KBB.com claims to have prices for mobile homes, but I don't think they have it on their website. Meaning you would have to buy one of their guides or persuade your local RV dealer to let them have a look at their copy.

Golly gee wiz Mike...who ...

Mon, 11 May 2009 05:54:00 GMT

Golly gee wiz Mike...who said REA aren't bright.