As with any home, mobile or otherwise, years of everyday activity can take a toll on floors, walls and appliances. In addition, a growing family might make it necessary to add room or reorganize the interior space of a mobile home.
As the homeowner reviews just what needs to be renovated and considers what can realistically be changed, there are some differences to consider between a "permanent" home and a "mobile" home. While it may not seem to be a plus, having no structural support beams or walls in the center of the home can actually make renovation go more smoothly. In a traditional home, interior walls can also be support walls. This has to be considered when removing or cutting through a wall to change a home's floor plan.
It may be the case that a wall separating the living room from an end bedroom could be removed, without worrying about losing ceiling support. This could make the living room larger. On the other hand, if there is no end bedroom and the living room is large enough, a "false" wall could be installed to create a small bedroom at one end of the mobile home.
There is something else to consider when making major changes to a mobile home: Unless the home was placed on a basement or concrete foundation, homeowners should be careful not to create openings in the floor or along the walls that could allow cold air in during the winter. These unintended openings can also be an invitation to a prowling cat or small dog that might be seeking a hideaway. You may also want to use an to clear away any small trees growing close to your mobile home.
Mobile home residents should also consider that removing a wall, even if it does not support ceiling weight, can expose a weaker section of the floor. This can also be a problem when nails or screws are removed from the floor. Care should be taken to inspect these exposed areas to be certain they support foot traffic. In addition, any exposed holes should be properly filled and finished before installing new flooring. If the removed wall was attached to an outside wall it will also be necessary to refinish the exposed places on that outside wall.
If the renovation plans include adding a porch or small room outside the mobile home, it is best to check with local officials so that the homeowner understands the building regulations and code requirements. Many communities have rules that won't allow a structure to be too close to a property line, for instance. Extending the outside dimensions of any home can be limited by these local rules.
If the plans include putting a porch on the mobile, it may be best to treat the porch as a separate structure that is attached to the outside wall. Some contractors urge homeowners not to try to permanently incorporate the porch into the outside structure of the mobile home.
In April of 2005, my Mom (who, like me, is also a real estate agent) was looking through our local ?Thrifty Nickel? weekly classified ads newspaper. She saw a very interesting ad and brought it to my attention. The seller who placed the ad offered to sell six mobile homes, all on their own lots. The mobile homes were real property, not mobile homes located on rented lots. They were all being offered with seller financing.
The seller lived out of town and when we called him, he told us the mobile homes had been empty for a couple of years. He said to drive by them and then call him back if we were still interested.
Of course we, (my Mom, Dad and I), went to look at them immediately. One was occupied by a transient squatter, so we couldn't get in to that one. Four were literally falling apart from rotten roofs and all the rain we had been getting. The last mobile home was in good enough condition to consider. We called the owner and asked him to meet us, so we could get in to look at it.
Our initial inspection revealed outdated appliances (think yellow and avocado colors). There was rotting under the kitchen sink, and an ugly master bath shower that had been painted in order to make it ?look better?. There were different types of carpeting in each of the rooms, and there were water leaks in the roof in various places.
Of course if you have ever worked on a fixer-upper you know that what you see on the surface is not the only work that needs to be done and we took that into account.
We went ahead and bought the mobile from the owner for his asking price of $65,000 by putting $5,000 down and creating seller financing for the balance at 8% interest for 30 years with no balloon payments. I think our payment was about $500/month.
We put about $10,000 and a ton of sweat equity into the property over the next 90 days.
As we were working on the mobile home, we found lots of extra things that needed to be fixed. For example, we took out the old shower stall in the master bath so that we could put tile in. After it was out, we found that the flooring under the shower and under the hot water heater, located directly behind the shower, were rotted through. The rotten flooring had to be replaced, and then the hot water heater had to be replaced. Those were just one of several unanticipated costs and repairs.
Other items of repair or upgrading included:
?Replacing all of the carpeting. ?In the kitchen: replacing the kitchen sink, repairing the rotten floor, painting the walls and cabinets, adding a dishwasher, a disposal, and then replacing the stove and the refrigerator. ?Repairing the roof and then painting the ceiling where the water staining had occurred. ?In the master bathroom we replaced the vanity, the mirror, and the lights. We also tiled the shower and tiled the floor. This work is what really sold the home'it looked awesome! ?Outside we cleaned up the knee high weeds, removed dead bushes and trees, trimmed the over-grown shrubs and then planted lots of flowers. ?The home also included a sunroom which had rotten walls, and ceiling from the leaking roof. The sunroom was also heavily infested with termites. This room had to be almost totally rebuilt. Termite eradication was $500. ?We also hauled away seven large trailer loads of trash and remodeling debris. ?Nearly all of repair and remodeling work was done by my dad. (Way to go dad!)
When finished, we ended up putting the mobile home up for sale at $130,000. This was three months after we bought it.
We had it for sale for about three weeks and then withdrew it because we started thinking about using it as a rental. It would have rented for about $800/month giving us about $300/month positive cash flow, before expenses.
The day after we took the home off the market, we received an offer from a buyer for $120,000, cash, which we accepted.
After the remodeling dust had settled, we made $45,000. This was a tidy profit for 90 days of fix up work. We haven't been able to find anything like this deal since then, but we keep looking!
Both Ray Walberg & St. George Realtor are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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