EPISODE 2: Mobile Home Myths – Depreciation Part 2

Hey look it’s the Doublewide Dudes.

Mousetrap: Welcome back everybody to the double wide dudes. I’m Mousetrap and I’m sitting here with AP. In the last episode we busted the myth that mobile homes depreciate. There’s number of factors when it comes to determining whether your home is going to go up or down in value. The most important one being the initial buying price, and I know in the last episode we promised our listeners that we’re going to give them some insider information. So what do these future homeowners need to know Alberto? What are some of the things they can have in their tool belt?

A.P: Well the good news is Mauri all the power is in their hands. The biggest thing I would recommend future home buyers, is to plan ahead and not put yourself in a position where you’re forced to rush just to find a place to live. Research and really Google is your best friend. What I’d recommend is to get online search the home, find the brand, find the model, and go find ten stores that carry it and see who’s going to give you the best price. Plan ahead and set yourself up for success.

Mousetrap: Yeah, definitely don’t be in a rush you don’t want to be forced into making silly decisions, or having some sales guy pressuring you into buy a home you don’t even want. So we’ve covered time frame and planning ahead. What are some other things these homeowners can do.

A.P: So one of the other things to really keep in mind is to stay focused on only paying for what you’re going to get. And what I mean by that is as a consumer, as a homebuyer, you really don’t get any benefit for paying for a home to get delivered from the factory to a retailer, get set up put together, nice new furniture, a/c, you know electric, lights and the whole nine. Have a thousand people walk through it and then pay to have that torn down, taken apart, and hauled off to your property. So one of the benefits of making sure you plan ahead is that as the home buyer, you get to set yourself up to have your home customized, built and delivered direct from the factory to you home site. You know the shortest distance between two points is from a to b and if I’m paying the fuel and for that truck drivers time I really want to make sure I’m paying as little as possible

Mousetrap: Yeah that makes a lot of sense so we’ve discussed time frame and not being in a rush. Getting your home directly from the factory. But how important is it to discuss final price versus monthly payment? I’ve had customers calling confused saying “Hey I bought this home for eighty thousand but you’re telling me it’s worth only sixty.” How does something like that even happen?

A.P: Well, overall Mauri I’d say this industry is full of good hard working people, that are genuinely trying to help out their customers, but there are those people out there, there are those retailers that still believe in the old school sales tactics, of taking a customer’s monthly payment and raising the price of the home to meet that monthly payment and really get as much as they possibly can out of that customer and that’s really where research comes into play Mauri. You know with the internet and Google nowadays a smart consumer can take the time and do their research and find a lot of the prices online and over the phone. You know if a company has got nothing to hide and everything is above board, then you should be able to get all of that information as a potential home buyer before you even make the decision to decide whether you want to go into that retail location or not. You know Mauri at the end of the day, if you get the best price possible on the home then you’re also going to get the best monthly payment.

Mousetrap: So it sounds like the biggest hint, aside from doing your research is to negotiate the actual price of the home, and never, never on monthly payment. Sounds like these homeowners need to choose a floor plan, find a home that’s comfortable for them and the family, take their time. Don’t get rushed into doing an application or getting rushed to buy a home. Do your research on knowing where cost comes from seeing the logistic side of it. Getting the final price of the home, the actual final price, not negotiate on a monthly payment. So that sums up the tactics on what future homeowners can do, so they can make sure that they’re getting best initial buying price for the home. Alright that’s it for this for this episode. Tune into the next one to find what the difference is between placing a mobile home in a community park versus getting in your own piece of property. Thanks again for listening and talk to you again.