Thinking about adding mobile homes to your portfolio? In this episode of The Land Academy Show, Steven Jack Butala and Jill DeWit dive into what to do—and what to avoid—when investing in mobile homes. From recognizing the red flags to understanding the unique challenges of buying mobile homes on their own land, they’ll break down the key strategies to help you navigate this niche market with confidence. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to expand your real estate investments, this episode is packed with valuable insights you won’t want to miss.

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Key Pitfalls To Avoid When Adding Mobile Homes To Your Portfolio

What To Avoid When Buying Mobile Homes

This is Episode 2,117. Jill and I are talking about what to avoid when adding mobile homes to your portfolio. What are some of the things, like the red flags, that would smack you in the face when you are trying to add mobile homes to your portfolio? Don’t do that. We’ll talk about it.

Don’t buy mobile homes in parks.

Don’t buy property that’s too expensive. We’ll talk about it. There are a lot of questions about this because, in the acquisition, when you are buying a mobile home on its land, on its APN, it’s two transactions. I will cover what that’s all about and why. It’s Mobile Home Week.

Like Shark Week.

Mobile Home Shark Week. Feeding mobile homes to sharks. That’s a show I would watch. Feeding an old mobile home to a shark. What if you took an old mobile home packed it full of rotten fish, and dumped it into an area where there’s a bunch of sharks? I would watch this. Each day on the show, we answer a question from our Land Academy member Discord forum and take a deep dive into land-related topics by popular requests.

From Blink, “We are trying to make our first-ever purchase for a property in a certain county in Ohio. We are purchasing for $1,800 and need to do a notary close to protect our profit margin.” We need to close anyway with a notary. “I’m having a hard time getting information on what documents are exactly needed. I have contacted the county recorder and they neither gave me a straight answer. They suggested that I get an attorney.” I understand this. “Can anyone offer some advice on what is typical for a notary close?”

The Basics Of Closing A Property Deal With A Notary

I am guessing this is on the free-to-the-public side of the Land Academy Discord forum because we talk about this in great detail in Land Academy. You have to have a notary anyway because to purchase a property, the seller has to sign a deed, and it has to be in front of a notary. That’s the main thing. Then you have to conduct a payment option.

Why do I need to do that? A deed. That’s it. I can see why the county’s like. You set off some red flags too, Blink because they are picking up that you don’t know what’s going on. It’s very true. The county will very nicely say, “I’m not allowed to give legal advice. I can’t tell you.” That was smart of them to say, “Call an attorney,” or they could have said, “Call an escrow agent, and they can get it done.” You’re right. You are buying the property from the seller. What has to happen? They have to deed it to you. You need to make payment to them, and then you want to get it recorded with the county. There are documents that go with that, and I’m happy to help you in Land Academy. Is that fair?

Yeah. In the simplest form. Most people don’t know. Most real estate agents don’t know this. Ninety-nine percent of the real estate agents I have ever talked to do not know this fact. I can convey property to Jill by creating a deed in Microsoft Word, copying the exact deed that’s already there. It’s in my name. Changing my name to the grantor, and putting Jill’s name as the grantee. The seller signs the deed and gets it notarized, Jill without her knowledge now owns the property. If there’s somebody in your life that you want to punish, you could buy a bad property like a gas station, and deed it to them.

That’s not okay. That’s not a good thing.

A deed is not a contract. A deed is a conveyance document. All you technically need is that conveyance document to get the property from your name to another person’s name. You don’t need a real estate agent, and you don’t need an escrow agent.

There’s one thing to avoid—one single thing—and that's a high price. Share on X

It’s not just property. I could put down money, and I can go and make a deposit into somebody else’s bank account. They will take the money and you won’t know how it got there. I could buy a car and put it in your name. There are all kinds of things you can do. Now, then it needs to get registered. The main thing is with the property. You’re 100% right. It’s not as tricky as you think it is. However, there are steps in doing it right.

I built an entire company on this. Exactly what they are saying here. Finding a seller who’s willing to sell a property, and sending them the deed packet, we used to call it, which is a deed that’s all completed. Requesting that they sign it and have it notarized in front of a notary. In the packet is a cashier’s check. They send the signed packet back and deposit the cashier’s check, and I now own the property to resell it. I have done 10,000 to 12,000 probably plus transactions like that. It’s not as prevalent any longer because of the types of properties. We did very well doing that, but I will tell you, I probably make ten times the money now doing it the Land Academy way, which is using an escrow agent.

They are more profitable properties. That’s the thing too. I hope, Blink, that if you are buying it for $1,800, I hope it’s worth at least. I hope you are going to sell it for $5,000 because it’s worth like $8,000, $9,000, or $10,000. Then it makes sense. That would be good math. Buying for $1,800 to sell it for $3,000? Not a good math.

Our topic is what to avoid when adding mobile homes to your portfolio. I thought about this for a while with this topic, and I can think of one thing to avoid. One single thing, and that’s a high price.

You want to understand the story behind a property. You want to know what you're getting into and avoid any surprises. You need to get some eyes on it. Share on X

That does mess up any deal.

Can you think of one negative thing when you get a mailer back that’s signed, and you find out there’s a mobile home on there, what do you do?

What to avoid when adding mobile homes to your portfolio? Don’t skip an inspection. You want some eyes on it. It doesn’t have to be a formal BOG, but I like to get some local person there, presence, getting some eyes on it. You could skip an inspection if you are buying it at the price of dirt, because no matter what, it’s worth more if that makes sense. I’d buy the dirt for $5,000. It has a mobile on it, and I’m still paying $5,000. I don’t care what it looks like. I would like to get some eyes on it. I don’t need an inspection.

Importance Of Property Inspections And Understanding The Property’s History

When these properties come back, there’s usually a story or a circumstance. With land, the story is simple. “My dad died. We inherited it and I never wanted it anyway. It always made my mom mad when it came up at Thanksgiving, and so we’d love to sell it to you. Let’s get the deal done.” With the mobile home, it could be completely vacant. It could be bombed out in the back like half of it’s missing. It could have been a target practice for the last twenty years for somebody.

There could be a renter in there, or it could be amazing. It could be an amazing property of 1 of 10 that a deceased person has. These are all real examples of deals that Jill and I have done. You want to get the story. You want to know what you are getting into. You want to avoid any surprises. What Jill’s saying is correct. You got to get some eyes on it. Google Earth is getting amazing. It shocks me. It used to be ten-year-old images.

A deed is not a contract. It is a conveyance document, and all you technically need is this document to transfer property from your name to another person's name. Share on X

Now it’s like it’s like a month. I’m like, “That was taken in December.”

You want to get somebody out there, maybe a drone person, to take a lot of pictures so you can look at it. What I don’t want you to do is be turned off if it’s a terrible mobile home. We see that with new people in Land Academy a lot. It usually comes in the form of a question like this, “I got this piece of property, they signed the offer, and how much is it going to cost for me to remove the mobile home and the four classic cars behind it?”

To which Jack says, “I will buy it off you right now.”

Those are all huge. Even if there’s a bunch of trash on there, those are huge attributes. They are not bad things. Those people are usually young real estate agents who are wired to try to get a listing on a property that’s pretty, and that’s the exact opposite here. We want ugly and cheap.

Trying to think what to avoid would be like your preconceived notions of what people want. Avoid that. My best advice is to portray exactly what it is. I have never been there. Imagine this scenario, because this does happen. You could buy the most amazing property. You would have spent $10,000 on the dirt, and now it has a mobile on it and you don’t even know what’s in it. You’ve got pictures of the outside. It looks okay. You are thrilled. This is a positive. This is providing more value now.

When you turn around and put it up for sale, I don’t even know what’s in there. There could be a safe in there, and I haven’t found it yet and that’s all yours. People have found weird things. In mobiles, we find out later on like I found silver in there. It was furnished because so-and-so had passed on, and he left everything, and it was in great condition and they could move in. You have all kinds of scenarios. You want to, as best you can, the condition as you know it in pictures and sell it.

There’s a massive DIY community out there that loves to go in and rebuild things if it’s going to clean them up if it’s financially feasible. That’s the market that you are selling these properties to. You are not selling it to a young couple with a baby. Join us next time where Jill and I talk about tips for marketing and reselling mobile home lots. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. We are Jack and Jill. Information and inspiration to buy undervalued property.