3 Options for Buying Land with Your Mobile Home

Have you ever wanted a little piece of America all to yourself, cutting out the typical close neighbors, traffic, and noise? For many folks, this dream is the ultimate goal! Of course, with anything worth having, there is always the challenge of deciding which route to take in order to hit goal.

In this case, a great place to start would be to learn the options available to buy both the land and home together. To some folks, this can be an intimidating task, but we are here to help with any guidance needed in order to decide what route best suits their needs.

Feel free to call us, but if you are interested, we have prepared a crash course below in order to help you decide, as well as some tips to make the process go as smooth as possible! Let’s get started!

Buy Land from a Manufactured Home Retailer

Did you know that it is quite common for Manufactured Retailers to buy land, and have it available for resell to potential customers? This process may be one of the quickest options to obtain land, as it cuts the added “window shopping” right out! Of course, with every upside, comes a downside. The retailer has bought the land at the same price that it would have been available to anyone, so in order to profit from this sale, the retailer will inevitably sell it at a marked-up price.

Long story short, sometimes saving time will end up costing you more money, so if you have the resources to search for the land, along with a bit of time and patience, another option may save you the extra expense.

Owner Financed Land

Usually, a route for people with a “less than perfect” credit score, some folks buy land through owner financing. Owner financing means that the current owner of the land also becomes your lender.

If you have bad credit, sometimes qualifying for a bank loan for your land can be especially difficult. If this is your case, a choice would be to find a piece of property that the owner will handle the financing of the land with a low-down payment. Depending on the seller, you may pay a little more in interest, but in the long-term this could be a great benefit! Looking forward, when applying to qualify for a loan from the bank, the rate will be much lower. In the short-term, owner financing the land will help you to own the land immediately.

Owner financing isn’t just for those with “poor credit.” Sometimes a family member with land is willing to sell you a piece of their land, and they will setup a loan agreement directly with them to save you interest or hassles of borrowing from the bank for your land. A great example might be that Grandpa is selling you 10 acres off of his ranch to keep the land in the family.

To get the seller to hold the land while you go through the approval process for buying your factory-built house, you can often leave a down payment, or “earnest money” (just be sure to document these transactions to keep record).

Key Point: You do not want to finalize the purchase of the land until you have closed on your loan with the bank for your home. Trust us, things will go much smoother for you!

Let a Realtor Help You Find Land

The ideal option when finding land would be to use a realtor that is familiar with the area you want to live. This third choice knocks out most of the downsides mentioned in the earlier two routes. By using a reputable realtor, you’re sure to avoid:

• Paying a Higher Cost Due to Retailer Markups
• Paying a Higher Interest Rate for Owner Financing
• Paying an Out-of-Pocket Contractor Bill Upfront

Now, in order to continue on this route, you will need a pre-approval from the bank you are planning to finance your home purchase. But first, circle back with the Sales Representative who’s helping with you through the buying process. Be sure to mention that they’ll need to include the land with the loan of the home, as well as inform them on the desired location and land size needed. This information will help the Sales Specialist estimate how much the total project will be, and get you pre-approved from the bank, which is a crucial step in this process.

Once the approval has been obtained, the realtor will take on all of the hard work from there and narrow down a few options to look at within the desired area. Usually, the manufactured home retailer will have relationships with realtors that they trust. If you decide to use your own realtor do not do an application with them, as most the banks do not work with manufactured home loans, and very few realtors are familiar with the manufactured home loan process. Let your mobile home retailer be the expert when working with the banks! We’re here to find you a better way home.

There are other important aspects of what to look for when shopping for land. Check out our Things to Know About the Land: Braustin Academy page with videos you can watch to make you smarter and hopefully keep you from making a mistake that could cost you tens of thousands of dollars.

So that’s it: 3 Options for Buying Land with Your Mobile Home. This blog has been revised to keep the information and images previously shared, current. Follow the links in this page to read more information on each topic. We would love to chat with you on our Facebook page or through our Contact Form.