When I'm not walking through single-family house neighborhoods looking for opportunity, I walk through mobile home parks. The advantages to these excursions is that the homes are closer together and sellers are apt to be much more motivated for a couple of reasons: First, it's hard to get very high drive-by visibility for a home that's for sale in a park; particularly when park rules prohibit placing for sale signs on the homes. Second, in parks that charge high lot rents, the combination of high rents, high prices, and limited financing alternatives often drive the total monthly costs of a modern large home plus rent above that of new stick-built houses; or of new homes on individual lots in mobile home subdivisions.

That brings me back to my morning strolls. A few days ago in a park where lot rents were slightly over $500 per month I collected sale flyers just as I had for houses. When I compared the listings, I noticed even more disparity between the prices in the mobile home park than in the house subdivision. I suspect the reason is that there isn't any Multiple Listing Service per se for mobile homes to provide a ready basis for current list prices. Most States don't require a real estate license to list and sell mobile homes because mobile homes on rented ground are personal property, not real estate. Thus, if the owner is willing, anybody can list and sell mobile homes that don't include land.

To make the situation even more confusing, there are many variations in the age, quality, size, and add-on packages that can change both the desirability and ease of financing of mobile homes. Apparently those who list and sell mobile homes don't try to compare current or historic prices for comparable homes.

On my walk I saw some older single-wide units -- for which there is virtually no institutional financing -- being offered for sale at higher prices than newer double-wide units. I also found older double-wide units situated on fantastic view lots being advertised for half the price of newer units on ho-hum lots that could be refinanced much more readily. Continuing to pay high monthly lot rents while waiting for a buyer has the effect of motivating owners to make a sale. This sets the stage for creative financing with both favorable prices and terms. I also saw several vacant lots with no units on them. They had grass growing up through the gravel landscaping; an indication that they had been vacant for some time. In such a situation, park management can become very flexible on their restrictions.

In any event, there's gold in them thar hills for the person willing to seek out deals from these motivated sellers. Of course, the fate of any buyer will be the same as that of the original seller unless a home can be bought for a very low price and sold where it sits, or low enough to offset costs of relocation and set up elsewhere. Let's see if you couldn't find a way to exploit this situation to make money in your area. Here are some ideas to start your juices flowing:

Both pre-1976 units and single-wide units could be bought at low prices with easy seller financing, spruced up, then sold in place on lease Options or on installment contracts that wrapped the financing and the lot lease payments.

Bargain priced single wide units could be relocated at a reasonable cost into lower priced parks and sold on a rent-to-own program to low-end buyers.

Provided that a post 1976 double-wide unit could be bought for very little, if a vacant lot zoned for mobiles were available, the home could be moved onto it on HUD approved foundations, refurbished, converted to real estate by "killing the title", and cashed out swiftly and profitably as a land/home package. An entrepreneur with little money might Option such an individual lot and home, then joint venture with an investor who would buy the home and relocate it. Both would make a lot of money.

Other residents in the same park might be motivated to trade up to newer homes situated on better lots. They'd sell at wholesale and buy at retail to create additional trade-in profits. Their units could then be sold as indicated above.