fix or demolish?

[Christine MacKinnon]

I own a 1970's-era modular home (essentially a doublewide on a permanent foundation) in Lexington Park, Md., that I rent out. Last summer, water got under the roof and damaged the ceiling and walls of the bathroom. I've been trying to find someone to fix it, but no one in the area wants to do the work. At the same time, the floors are warping, the siding is rotting and the whole roof needs to be replaced. I'm considering demolishing the old home and replacing it with a new one, but I'm not sure how to go about it or whether I can get the mortgage refinanced to do that. Does anyone have any experience with this, or does anyone know someone who is willing to work on modular homes in Southern Maryland? Thanks for your help!

Christine

[Tom]

Christine, its not an easy question to answer. What you basically need is to have the place inspected by a competent MH repairman. Then you can take that estimate and decide if the home is worth keeping. No bank is going to refinance the home itself, its too old, so it would have to be done on the land I would think. Im assuming you own the land here.

Here are some tips to find a repairman. Look in your phonebook yellow pages under manufactured homes/service. If your in a small town, go to the next larger one. Contact MH park managers for a referrel, they are an excellent source of information. If there are MH parks in your area, someone is repairing the homes. Tom