Mobile Home Makeover – Before and After Rehab Pictures

Welcome back,

If you haven’t already noticed we’re a little biased here. We love mobile homes and mobile home investing. While mobile homes come in all shapes and sizes they also come in all different conditions. Ultimately, in many cases the condition of a mobile home will be a reflection of the home’s owner. This can be reduced down to 3 words…

“Pride of Ownership”

Some 1970’s mobile homes are be in better condition than a 2000’s model mobile home. Again, it is all about how well the owner takes care of their property. I say owner, versus renter, because in most situations we are purchasing homes directly from owner-occupants. If owners have money and pride of ownership they will take care of their home. Whether or not a mobile home does need repairs, a fair and friendly offer should almost always be made to help a seller.

As investors we should know and understand our reselling market. What our buyers are looking for? What our buyers are looking to spend?

Investor Tip: Give buyers what they want over and over to create a successful investing business. Always follow state and federal laws.

• In some markets repairing a mobile home slightly and reselling for an attractive price and terms may be best.
• Conversely, in other cities rehabbing a mobile home to mint condition is prudent for an attractive price and terms may be best.

Related article: Mobile Home Repair Risks

Below are 3 examples of before and after repairs made to mobile homes. These 3 examples come from active members of the Mobile Home Formula training program. These members have also taken the time to comment a few of their thoughts on each deal. What a great business to be in to restore homes and improve neighborhoods, all while creating a value for others and yourself.

Below the pictures are personal lessons learned during the rehab process by each investor.

1. Spruce Street: Money back in 3 months!

Damarice (investor 1): “I just closed on my first deal and am really excited about closing within 30 days of purchase!

We purchased this house for $500 and put in about $1,000 in paint, flooring, and building a 3rd bedroom. Based on the terms of the deal. We will hopefully make our money back in 3 months.”

“Some of the lessons I learned and will implement going forward:

• Importance of setting expectation with sellers when purchasing a mobile home, they must move out all of their stuff (as you can see in the before pics I did not). If they don’t do it, don’t be afraid to walk away until it gets done!
• Give your handyman a specific list of what you expect to get done with a timeline and don’t pay until you verify it is fully completed.”

How did you keep repair costs low?

“It’s definitely a struggle since you want it to be perfect. We made sure to just put money into the larger items where we could get the most bang for our buck. We bought flooring and paint on sale at Home Depot. The paint was a mismatched five gallon that someone didn’t want, but was a fine color for the mobile home and we only painted the ‘ugly’ walls. We hired a handyman rather than a licensed contractor to do the work. There are also a lot of used building material stores where you can find leftover tile, faucets, toilets, and doors at a fraction of the cost.

One last thing to consider, remember a good tenant buyer will likely want to make updates of their own (like my TB who wants to add Pergo over the newly done floors!!). So to save money just clean up the place and make it presentable, but let your buyers put in the details.

That’s my mindset at least when putting money in to a fix up, as I want to make my money back as soon as possible (ideally within 6 months or less). Hope this helps, let me know if I can help in any other way.

Now onto the next one!”

Great effort and work Damarice!

2. Sunshine Lane: $4,000 Immediate profit

Bill (Investor 2): “Recently completed project in a senior park. Just closed 2 weeks ago. Sept 26, 2014.

This is my wife’s 1st deal. I managed the work but she picked colors, tile, etc. Did an awesome job!

• Not for newbies.
• Too much in repairs if you’re new but I wanted to try this.

Got this 2 bed/1.5 bath single wide from the park for $1,000 with a month’s rent. $540 rent so $460 for the home. We had a lot of ‘pretty up’ to do.”

“The sellers did the demo thank goodness! Filled a short dumpster and they pulled appliances and toilets, sinks out. Saved me about $1,000-$1,500 cost to demo.

• Replaced subfloor in 2nd bedroom, half bath and master bath.
• Ceiling holes from roof leak were almost exactly the same distance from the wall and at the master bedroom end of the hall and in the living room.
• Fixed leak and put smoke detectors over the holes instead of redoing the ceiling panels.

Since the kitchen had 2 pantry closets and lots of cabinets we removed the cabinet over the breakfast bar and opened up the kitchen/dining/living room.”

Investor Tip: “If you ever have a bad spot on a counter and don’t want to replace the whole thing…. cut the spot out big enough for a plastic cutting board. Trim it around with a metal strip and it looks like a custom built in. Obviously the spot has to be in an area that will work. But saves doing the whole counter top.”

Related post: 17 Deals In 4.5 Months

By The Numbers:

“It was in rough shape and the park folks had done the demo on it already; carpet, appliances, toilets, sinks were gone.

$16,000 Total in – including labor, materials, holding costs.

$24,500 Listed and sold price
======
$20,000 cash down

$4,000 immediate profit
$4,500 future payments
$1,000 interest
============
$9,500 net”

Amazing transformation Bill! Great determination.

.

3. Chestnut Drive: 1st deal leads to many more

Tim (Investor 3): “I had to do a full renovation in this park because the park manager had a bad experience with investors in the past and he was apprehensive of letting me take this. Now, him and a lot of the residents nearby have really opened up and showed their appreciation of the turnaround on this mobile.”

Possible next deals: “There is a 3/2 in really good shape that one of the residents is offering to me for $3,500, since he just bought a new home. The manager is already pointing out to me who I should talk to around the park to purchase homes from a decent price.”

“I had to bite the bullet on this one in order to develop a good relationship with the park manager and the other residents.

Here’s what I could have done differently:

1. Only purchase mobiles under 900 sqft if they require less than $1,000 to fix up.
2. Wainscoting can cover up most messes on walls, it looks good, and it’s cheap.

Fantastic rehab Tim! Smart work making a name for yourself.

Mobile homes can be beautiful. These investors have transformed less-than-attractive mobile homes into gorgeous homes that appeal to almost any buyer. Please remember that as an investor it is very easy to over repair a mobile home prior to resale. Know your market and know what to offer sellers before you buy. If you have any questions about repairs or reselling feel free to email us at the address below.

Special thank again to Damarice, Bill, and Tim.

Love what you do daily,
John Fedro
[email protected]