Thursday, January 14, 2010

"Bidding War" over a mobile home. Wow! The market is heating up this month!!

Today, I received a second loan app for the same manuf home in a park here in the Sac area.

This hasn't happened since 2005, or 2006: multiple offers pouring in for the same mobile home.

The market for mobile homes is heating up, folks!! People are taking advantage of the very low prices that we have in most parks in the Sacramento area. Many are paying all cash, but many need financing. Rates are still good, and down payment requirements are 5% or more, depending on the age of the mh.

Stay tuned......

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Sales in MH Parks "Come Back to Life" in Sac, Wine Country

I've noticed a resurgence in sales in certain parks in the Sacramento area, and in Napa.

In the last week, Sunset MHP in White Rock Rd in El Dorado Hills, CA has seen an uptick in activity. Two "high end" homes in that park have serious buyers with offers pending.

The same thing is happening with a few parks in wine country, specifically Yountville. I've got a single-wide in escrow at about $59,000, and a serious buyer looking at a one-year old multi-section home priced at $279,000, but the pending offer will be substantially less than asking price.

The really good news is that many of the potential buyers calling me are homeowners who are NOT in a short sale or foreclosure situation, whose SFR is in escrow, and actually have some funds left over for a down payment on a h0me in a park. This hasn't happened since the foreclosure tidal wave hit about four years ago.

Stay tuned....

Monday, January 11, 2010

Valle Vista in Santa Rosa: Nice land/home park, but hardly no lenders

Today, I received another call from a real estate agent with a buyer interested in Valle Vista in Santa Rosa. Valle Vista is a "land/home" community. It's an HOA, 100% manufactured homes, each with owned lot. All homeowners own their own home and lot, hence the term "land/home", vs. "home only".

The trouble with getting financing in Valle Vista is that most of the homes in this community are the original homes when the park was developed in the early 70's. "Pre-hud" homes is what they're called by people in the industry. I have a lender for pre-Hud mobiles from the early 70's, but they are a chattel lender, or "home only", and won't lend on anything with owned land. Furthermore, most of the older mobiles in this community do not have any recorded foundations (433's). There are some local credit unions that loan in Valle Vista, but they require a 433.

It seems ironic to most agents that I have a lender for the older pre-Hud mobiles in parks where you rent the lot, but the same lender won't loan on anything that comes with owned land. They are a niche lender, and they require the mobile home to be in a park on leased land.

The only way that a buyer can obtain financing in Valle Vista is to buy a post-Hud manufactured home with a 433 (recorded foundation). But due to the lot sizes in Valle Vista, which average 3200 sq feet per lot, there is a very short list of lenders. In fact, only one that I am sure of. This lender offers a 20-year loan which re-sets in five years. No 30-year fixed products for Valle Vista at this time, unfortunately. And this is very surprising to many buyers and agents, but due to the "turbulence" in the manufactured home lending arena, that's just the way it is at this time.