OT anyone knowledgeable/good with real estate stuff?

[sweetangel7]

Hi ladies, OT but just wondering if anyone was in the real estate biz or knew something about it:  My mom is looking to buy a mobile home in a park very close to my home (which is nice!)...my husband and i bought our house last year without a real estate agent, it was a fsbo, and we wanted the home so bad, we paid asking price because we were afraid to play games...well, my mom doesn't NEED this place, so we can afford to dicker a bit and see if they will come down a bit (why pay asking if you don't have to-right?)  The price is fairly low to begin with, it is 59,900 for a 2 br, 1 ba mobile home with 950 sq ft. of living space...it has a car port, new roof (3 years old), shed, a decent sized yard...how much lower than the asking price should we put in the offer to buy at?  I was thinking of taking 10% off and putting the offer in for 53,910...OR going down to 50,000 because they'll probably try to come up from the offer and by going lower on purpose then we'll counter act it??????  Does anyone have any opinions or personal experience? THANKS for anyone who took the time to read this and perhaps post!!!!!

[Brittney11]

My husband and I have been looking for a long time and have finally found something we like its a 3 bdr 2 bath on 2 acres for 53,000 so i would try to talk them down at least to 54 or 55 and they will probably go for it if they want to sell the property fast. so good luck.

[spade22]

After buying a home a few months here are a few things I learned from extensive research and my Realtor:

1) Something to consider is that mobile homes are extremely poor investment choices.  They almost certainly depreciate considerably over a few years and because they are manufactured cheaply and they almost certainly require some work.  60K for a 950 sq ft mobile home seems very excessive to me.  How old is the home and why did it need a new roof?  How much would a NEW mobile home of similar size cost?

2) Check out realtor .c o m    This website lets you get an idea of what other comparables are being priced at in your area.  

3) My Realtor suggesting putting in an offer 20% below asking price since this is very much a buyers market.  However, you should find out how the the place has been on the market and approximately its appraisal value (or tax assessed value) before putting in an offer because if the house is, say, 30% above appraisal value.  This information will be readily available from your Realtor.

[spade22]

- opps.  For point 3) if should read how LONG the place had been on the market.

If it were me and the place was actually worth 60K, I would start at a bid of 48K.

[sweetangel7]

I just went to look at it and the owner was there...cute from the outside, 1950's inside...brown orange and yellow swirl shag rugs, mint green appliances, wood paneling walls...definitely not what I had imagined!  HOWEVER  as I was leaving I saw another 'home' which actually had a larger corner lot with landscaping, and trees and it looked like a little ranch...much more money though although my mom could afford it...this one was built in 1986, 2br, 2 ba, open floor plan, double wide, HUGE master bedroom with one of the bathrooms and a walk in closet, modern appliances, 4 season sunroom with skylights, deck...its a double wide...this one has been on the market for 268 days-getting close to a year!  Asking 79,900.

Brittney: up north, land and homes are EXTREMELY over priced...my husband and I bought a house last year, 2 acres, 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2 half baths for a steal of $226,000!  That was with the market on the down swing!  You can't touch a decent home for under 200k so that is why I am trying to get my mom into a mobile...she is a single woman, was a single mom...and her landlords at her townhouse are unreasonable and the wife of the landlord thinks my mom has the hots for her husband so she is always accusing my mom of looking out the window at her husband so now my mom just keeps her shades drawn down to avoid looking at anything outside!  The payment on a mobile would be similar to her rent so I figured that maybe it would be better for her and then she doesn't have to worry about them upping her rent or asking her to leave or whatever...

[LauraB78]

My personal opinion in this current market is as follows;

a.) I agree with the above poster that mobile homes are a bad investment and depreciate rapidly.

b.) If she doesn't "need" to move immediately and the mobile home is f.s.b.o., she can make an offer she's comfortable with and they can always reject it. If she decided she loves the place, she can always counter something higher.

c.) If they are asking 59,9.. I would offer 43. The market is horrible everywhere right now, so if the sellers need to offload the place, they will accept anything that will solve their immediate financial issues..(If it pays off their mortgage, they will likely accept.)

Also, has your Mom (or do they have them in your area?) looked into townhouses? I only suggest that as an option b/c if your Mom is single, they are usually associated with a condo. association and have "handymen" on staff, etc, so your Mom wouldn't have to worry as much about repairs as she would if she outright purchased a home..

Good luck and keep us posted.. Sounds like your Mom should make a move though to get away from the landlord's looney wife!

[sweetangel7]

No condo like townhouses with associations around here and I want to keep her nice and close-she has some health issues (she just had her 5th brain surgery in October...but still works as a teacher, so she's not mentally impaired or anything...just needs people around sometimes for help if she gets sick).  I'm not concerned about the upkeep, my husband and brother in law can be pretty handy (install windows, roofing, drywall stuff, small electrical problems) so they can take care of any maintenance that comes up...Even though the mobile home depreciates, I'm thinking of it as more of a security...she'll have the same payment every month and know she doesn't have to move and she'd be like shouting distance from my house...the park is three houses away from me...we have pretty big yards so I can barely see it, but its close!