Need Help Making Sure Land is Suitable for MH

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newmanbuyer
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2016 9:03 pm

Need Help Making Sure Land is Suitable for MH

Post by newmanbuyer » Mon Jun 06, 2016 9:24 pm

I need a lot of help. I'm a first time buyer of any real estate. I'm in the process of finding land in which to put a manufactured home. I need help in knowing how to select land and I'm totally clueless about everything. I need help for sure. I'm thinking of hiring someone to help me who knows what they are doing but how to find him? Should I look for a real estate attorney? Or a realtor? (the realtors in Ventura County are non helpful, it's difficult to even get them to return calls) Or should I contact the manufactured home dealers and ask them for a referral to a 'land specialist' or something?

My story: my wife and I were looking for a mobile home to buy in a park. Prices for houses here are surreal. 600K minimum. We are in Ventura County California. We are both about 50, our kids are grown and gone, we have ZERO debt, our FICOS are at around 800, combined income of 110K. We are currently renting. We have about 30K saved up now and are saving about 3K a month. At first we looked at senior mobile home parks but I'm not happy with the space rent they charge which is at around 800 to 1,000 dollars a month. And the new manufactured homes sold in those parks go for 200K.

Wouldn't it make sense for me to find my own lot of land and buy a manufactured home from the manufacturer and put it there? That way, I won't be throwing away 1K a month on space rent (and who knows if they will increase it) and I can have an investment too. Seems to me that the payment on buying the land will be less than the space rent at the mobile home park! Right?

I found 1/3 an acre of land listed for sale through a realtor with a great view at the top of a road with many homes along the way. A mixture of home, some were even manufactured homes and there's even one manufactured home two blocks away being installed. Funny thing is that some of the homes are obvious million dollar homes too. I think it's a great opportunity to get this plot of land and put a manufactured home there. They want 125 K for the land and the owner says that the gas, power lines, and water and sewer is all connected and paid for. I visited the land and there is a sloping driveway (dirt) leading up to a flat piece of land. We both really like it because it has a wonderful mountain view and is isolated and quiet but not too far from civilization. We like the eclectic houses that are up there too.

My question is what do I do now? I know that may sound sill but I don't know what to do next. How can I find out if I can put a manufactured home on it? What surveys, permits, etc. need to be done? How does it get done? How can I make sure that I don't buy this land and find out there is a problem and I can't put the home on it? There's no way that I can learn all this on my own in a few months.

I see that there are manufactured home dealers in Perris, CA which is 110 miles away who can deliver homes and they list for 90K or so. I'm guessing with upgrades it's more like 120K and then there is delivery and installation.

Also what about the loan? Does the land and manufactured home loan go together? What should we expect?

I would totally appreciate any help from someone. I'm completely lost but I think I'm on the right track here. I just don't see paying 200K for a manufactured home in a MH park and then paying 885 space rent. Seems to me I'm better off buying the parcel of land for 125K and the manufactured home for 120K and even with the all the other expenses of permits, site preparation, etc. I'm still better off.

Am I right?

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