What to do when you owe too much money on your mobile home

When you owe too much money on your mobile home, it's a very common problem. For reasons I'll explain in another post, it's almost mathematically impossible to not owe too much money on your mobile home. And while it might be comforting to know you’re in good company, this is still a big problem when it comes time to sell your mobile home.

If you need to sell your mobile home quickly, it’s important that you communicate with your lender and your park manager. With your lender you need to find out what the total amount you owe is and if your loan is assumable. Most loans on mobile/manufactured homes are assumable as long as the new buyer applies with the mortgage company and qualifies. But you’ll need to more than just this.

You also need to find out all the details of how your potential buyer can assume your loan. Make sure to get a specific name, direct phone number, and email of whom your buyer needs to talk to. Mortgage companies are usually large and can be difficult to deal with.  You want this process to be as easy as possible for your buyer. Remember that most deals in real estate fall apart because the buyer cannot get financing!

Once you’ve established the process for getting your mobile home loan assumed, the next step is to talk to your park manager. Your park manager can help you sell your home because they deal with potential buyers calling, emailing, and stopping by the office all day long. And if your mobile home already has financing in place, this will give you a big advantage in being able to sell it quickly.

You can start advertising your mobile home for sale in places like craigslist with wording like “take over payments” or “financing already in place”. I recommend adding a fee on top of this in order to have some money in your pocket to help with your own moving expenses.

This will allow you to access a much larger pool of potential buyers and to jump over the biggest hurdle in finding a new mobile home buyer: getting financing on the home.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Carter Fisk