I was talking to a gentleman tonight about mobile home reparing . Seems there is a shortage of service men in the field . There are a lot of repos in my neck of the woods, and he was telling me lenders would pay to have them fixed and sold. Also factories are having a shortage of people in the field.
Have any of you got any experience , or knowledge about this ? Or related ??
Tim Mooney
A rear addition provides a small-scale example of how to frame efficiently.
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Replies
Years ago when the wife and I were first married we lived in a mobile home and it was the stupidest thing to work on because I couldn't get things like plumbing fittings just anywhere because they were not "standard" fittings.
Sounds like an excellent idea, just be prepared to get your materials from specific mobile home suppliers.
But maybe they've changed since then.
The reason I speak of this is [as always] because of money. Better than what we make working on the big houses on the hill. I asked the same questions you gave advice for, and you are correct, plus he gave me more on buying materials. Hes been in the business 27 yrs. He runs a fleet of trucks pulling them now. He has a lot of verifiable knowledge. I was listening.
Tim Mooney
Some mobiles are very effecienty put together and others will make you pull your hair out. I've owned a couple as rentals (never again!) and was once offered a job as the tech rep for a major manufacturer. They planned to have me spend three months in the factory to learn how they were put together, then send me out on the road to travel and work twenty hours a day. No thanks, but my point in this is that they thought it would take that long to become intimately familiar with their product.
They sure werent very smart . I think its funny what they thought.
Tim Mooney
There is a reason many service people won't work on mobile home. Misery, heartache and very little money lie in your future. Soon to become despair, hopelessness and catatonic depression. Many a good man has gone aground on those rocks. The drunk tanks and mental institutions are full of the victims of this insanity.
Working for people with no money you will try to replace impossible to get materials and reattach them to inadequately built construction while fighting the family dogs for room under the trailer. When you get out from under the trailer, and pick the fleas off, you will find your truck has been stripped and your tools hocked for crack or beer and fried pork skins.
Any cash you get will often be stained with anti-theft die bombs or come in brown paper bags filled with small, unmarked, non-sequential bills that are frequently stained with flecks of blood. Any checks will bounce and all credit cards offered will be listed in the name of "my third cousins second husband" or "Sheriffs Office for Official Use Only". A week after phoning in the charges there will be ominous knock at the door.
The alternate payment plan is along the lines of a toss in the sack with the daughter. If you worked real hard it might even be the "looker". The one with most her own hair, a good eye, and still a few teeth. You can tell when she like you. The ash will fall off her cigarette. Pay no attention to the wooden leg.
Save yourself. Don't walk. Run away from this idea.
Now that was of very strong flavor .
Tim Mooney
Strong flavor but right stew! I think I rented to some of his customers.
Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin , I have enjoyed your posts , but just as much your humor . I wanted you to know that , and to say thanks .
Tim Mooney
Same to you for quality writing and thinking.Excellence is its own reward!
Sounds like an environment up Bill Clinton's alley.
It's an excellent venture. I made a lot of money doing just what you are considering.
Just like any other remodeling/repair venture, you will have tire kickers, and people who want something for nothing. But you will also find an awful lot of people who want thier HOMES repaired, and are willing to pay to have it done right.
Also, you do NOT have to stick to standard mobile home materials, but you DO have to stick to standard installation procedures. Mobile homes are intended to be moved, and when making repairs, this has to be considered. Also remember that mobile homes are built from the frame up. This is important in the removal and replacement of key components.
Have fun, make some good money, and make some new clients.
James DuHamel
J & M Home Maintenance Service
This has been one of the funniest threads I've read in a long time! Thanks for the good laugh!!! Much of what was said is true. From my experience many mobile owners are of lower income and have no clue as to what things cost.
On the other hand, you mention repo's. If you have an owner that is a larger financial institution or get a referall from a good realtor that you do business with, things can be okay. When emotion isn't involved, like with a REO, the owner only wants the improvements made to help get a sale and cut losses short. I do a lot of work on REO's, or repo's, and it is nice to work with folks that are more often than not very emotionally involved.
Find a good parts supplier though, and be ready to be shocked every time you open one of these babies up! I recently had trouble finding a water heater that had side intake and discharge, TPR, and electrical connections that would fit into the tiny space where the original heater was housed. A good supplier finally found one. And this was on a 1988 model! The bottom of the original heater had rusted through and had been leaking onto the floor in this hidden compartment (accessed through a panel in the master bedroom) and was about ready to fall through to the space below. Of course the floor was only 3/4" particle board, which doesn't stand up well to much water.
Be sure to build in the "I can't believe they did it like that" factor when you bid. Finding parts and doing the work will almost always take longer when working on a wobbly box. You can get the cabinets that they put in these things for about $30 per foot for lowers and less for uppers. That should say something about the quality of what goes into some of these things.
You can make money repairing mobile homes, if you go about it right. You may find that doing it for regular homeowners themselves though means bidding a lot to only get a few jobs, and dealing with some folks that were obviously born to a brother/sister pairing.
What does a divorce in Arkansas and a tornado have in common?
Somebody is probably going to lose a trailer.
Thanks for the reply.
Tim Mooney
Predjudice seems to be a virtue around here. Although I agree with some of the problems, people are still people. No customers know what things cost, rich or poor. And the richest people can be the tightest too. My gripe is with the products. As long as the bank approves these homes as permanent housing. They will be an option to everyone for all types of reasons. The problems are that this may become the only type of housing that is affordable. And In 20 years they will be worthless. Not A good long term investment. The banks don't care. The builders don't care. most of the people, don't care. It solved there imeadiate problems. But the carpenters who will be hired to squeeze more life out of them in the future will be frustrated. If the can be fixed at all It's not like fixing up your old truck. "I was born in the country, razed in the city, I'm a natural born shaker from my hips to the ground"
Hey Edgar, how is the view up there on your high horse?
Not all contractors don't return calls and don't show up for weeks on end. There are certainly a lot of good natured jokes about it though. Next time a customer jokes with me about that subject I guess I better call them a prejudiced jerk and see if they want to go on Jerry Springer!
Of course not all customers have a clue what things should cost, heck we don't even know what things are going to cost some times until we check in to it. I was merely pointing out that I've had a higher percentage of mobile owners be blown away and upon getting something like a $700 bid to replace a complete dry rotted bathroom floor say things like "wow, I thought I could get it done for a $100 or so!"
You are correct about mobile homes being all some people can get themselves into. I have a good friend that is a lender, and he has said that a lot of it is because of horrible credit history in many cases. (note I said MANY not ALL). People think it's a tragedy that these folks are paying 12% interest plus having to pay space rent if they're in a park. Well let THOSE people loan money on a depreciating asset to people that have a history of not paying their bills.
I guess let me throw my hat in this .
I live in a place where there is not much money. A lot of poor retired people. Young poor people too for that matter. Seems to blow people away at the low cost of building here. But what blows me away is the lack of money here. Any way I was looking at this market mainly from the stand point of working for lending institutions . Also buying from them. I'm a house trader and I thought it might be time to include mobiles. I don't think I would like trying to work mobile home owners . I don't see a future there at all. As long as I'm making good money , messes don't bother me. I already have rentals and I get to clean bathrooms now , so I don't really care about that. The man I was talking to was saying they could be bought cheap. This was what I was really interested in, but those would have to be cleaned and fixed also.
Our housing market is pretty tight right now , and I was looking for a less followed path. Every one told me horror stories about rentals before I had them . They were wrong , at least in my case.
I think you were pretty dead on in what you said . I've heard I need a good supplier. I know you cant be long on a used mobile home. But , however : have you figured the pay back on them used as rentals ? I will tell you something . My banker said"Tim, why don't you do mobiles ? The return is excellent !!!!" The return in houses is low but steady over a long period of time. Surely not money makers considering maintenance.
Tim Mooney
Not all that new of an idea , these moblie homes. Possibly it is just wrong. The idea of making a house for a specific "class" of people maybe houses should be made like houses are made. I always Perceived Wright as an arrogant S.O.B. Becareful this is America!
http://www.pbs.org/flw/buildings/usonia/usonia.html
"I was born in the country, razed in the city, I'm a natural born shaker from my hips to the ground"
Edited 8/15/2002 2:59:03 PM ET by Edgar76b
http://www.pbs.org/flw/buildings/usonia/usonia_response.html
On Frank Lloyd wright
He loved the idea of the people so long as the people were loving him. But the fact that...what the people really wanted was a little brick Georgian house or a little Cape Cod cottage or something drove him crazy. He hated it. And so then, of course, he turned against them and talked about how they were the mobocracy and this was this, you know, this tyranny of terrible taste and so forth. He couldn’t accept the idea that middle-brow taste was what it was and that he was really beyond that and that his own work appealed to much more sophisticated people.—Paul Goldberger,
"I was born in the country, razed in the city, I'm a natural born shaker from my hips to the ground"
Edited 8/15/2002 3:12:59 PM ET by Edgar76b
if you were doing warrantee work through the mfgr then maybe because youre more likely to get paid on a schedule rather then when they get around to it... But if youre doing it as free lance, remember. People who generally live in affordable homes dont have a lot of liquid assests handy and dont like to part with it w/o a fight. many times credit was issued to these people when most wouldnt give them credit.
This isnt 100% but a rule to follow or be mindful when you make calls.
However if there is a huge need in the market for this skill then its worth considering.
"However if there is a huge need in the market for this skill then its worth considering."
I found a man that thinks similar. I'm the goofy one around here sometimes.[ideas] I'm always looking for a better way , and I don't care if its unconventional. I think what people do should have reason. I hope I never become closed minded, as its too much fun to be a free thinker. I never wanted to sit in a mold. People told me that I wouldn't be successful at what I'm doing now. I'm glad they said it . I'm thankful for what encouragement I did get also.
I have seen what everyone has said. I chime in agreement at the different points taken, although they were different. I have not done this and I dont know squat , but I have found that some people make hog raising profitable and some go broke. [for example] Most of business is the business man being able to handle the business chosen. I wouldnt be very good selling Avon Im sure !
Tim Mooney