Selling mobile homes, which are today more commonly known as manufactured homes, is both like and unlike selling a traditional site-built home. And the differences get even wider if you don’t own the land your mobile home sits on. So let’s take a look at the 6 most common questions people have about selling a Lafayette mobile home.
1. How Do I Price My Mobile Home?
Pricing correctly has been called your most effective marketing tool. And so it is, but pricing mobile homes/manufactured homes to sell can be a bit more challenging. Pricing either too high or low can cause your home to languish on the market unsold – which can greatly reduce your chances of selling at all.
An additional consideration for pricing a Lafayette, LA, mobile home is whether it is real property or chattel property. If you own the land it sits on, it is the former, and if not, the latter.
Also, you have to keep in mind that (typically) manufactured homes depreciate over time while land appreciates. This makes pricing a mobile home correctly a little tricky because you have to balance the mobile home depreciation against the land appreciation in the pricing equation.
Very often, a viable solution to avoid this pricing dilemma (particularly if you need to sell your Lafayette mobile home fast) is to go through a reputable Lafayette mobile home buyer.
2. How Do I List a Mobile Home?
Listing a mobile home is done much like listing a traditional home, with a few minor differences. The mobile home market is highly competitive, so your listing and marketing tactics will likely have to be more inventive and more aggressive. Certainly, you should use the Lafayette MLS, but you also need to take advantage of all the other possible listing venues, especially the big online listing sites.
If you decide to do this yourself, you should be prepared to do a lot of legwork and put in a lot of effort. And then if your mobile home is in a mobile home park, matters get even more complicated. The park owner/manager will likely have some say in how and to whom you can sell.
3. What Kinds of Buyers Are Looking for Mobile Homes?
Most of the time, there is a different demographic of buyers for manufactured homes. Many of them will not be the typical buyer who goes down to the local bank to get a mortgage loan to make the purchase. Two common kinds of alternative buyers for Lafayette mobile homes are:
Payment Buyers
These are typically people who can’t qualify for a standard mortgage and are looking for an owner-finance deal. If you decide to go this route as a seller, you need to make sure you get a fairly large down payment as a safety net in case the buyer defaults. And you will usually charge a higher interest rate as payment for the financial risk you’re taking.
Cash Buyers
And then there are cash buyers, which is more common with mobile homes. Lump-sum cash payment can look mighty attractive, but you do need to be cautious. Many cash buyers are small investors looking for a great deal – usually a low-ball offer to the seller. Just make sure you’re dealing with a Lafayette mobile home buyer who will give you a fair offer.
4. How Do I Close on a Mobile Home Sale?
As with any real estate transaction, there will be closing. Closing will take place – if your Lafayette mobile home falls into the category of real property – after the inspection process takes place and the funding is in place. At closing all the pertinent documents are signed, money changes hands, and the title is transferred.
If, however, you don’t own the land your mobile home is on and it is thus considered chattel property, there won’t be a formal closing like this. Instead, the finalization of the sale will proceed much like it would for the sale of a car. In fact, you may even have to visit the DMV with the buyer to get it all done.
5. What if I Need to Sell My Lafayette Mobile Home Fast?
It may happen that you need to sell your Lafayette mobile home fast. In that case, there are a couple of scenarios that may be in play here – depending, of course, on exactly what you mean by “fast.”
If “fast” means selling within 90 days to 6 months, you can breathe a little easier. With this timeframe, you should have ample time to go through the process of listing and marketing. You also have time to lower the price slightly if you don’t get enough bites early on. You may feel a little rushed with this timeframe, but it is all doable. Another issue is what if your mobile home has to be moved quickly?
But if you need to sell within 90 days, then things can be a little dicier. This scenario often occurs because owners are being evicted from a park or have already moved to a new home and can’t make payments on two homes. If you are in such a situation, you can sometimes sell your mobile home to a mobile home park or to a repo dealer. But the best option is often to sell to a reputable cash buyer – a cash buyer who will give you a fair offer and isn’t out to lowball you.
6. What is the Easiest and Quickest Way to Sell a Lafayette Mobile Home?
These are the 6 most common questions asked about selling a Lafayette mobile home. Sellers usually have many more, though, because the sale process can often be so long and complex. If, like many manufactured home sellers, you need to sell your Lafayette mobile home fast, consider selling to a top-notch Lafayette mobile home buyer.
