Need to sell your mobile home in Texas? Things will move along much more swiftly and smoothly if you are prepared from the start by organizing all of your documents. Journey Mobile Homes has been buying used mobile homes in central Texas full time since 2020. So if you don’t want to deal with the headache and want a fast easy solution to selling your mobile home give us a call at 210-504-8388! If you just want to learn more about the process please read on…
Paperwork is a given during legal transactions and it’s no different when you’re selling your mobile home in Texas. You’ll want to have the following 5 documents in hand, which are ordinarily required in the mobile home selling process before you put your property on the market. Also this specific process is aimed more towards people ONLY selling their mobile or manufactured home in Texas. That can be a home in a mobile home park, or a mobile home being sold off private property that is going to be moved. The main difference is mobile home only VS mobile home and land together.
#1 APPLICATION FOR STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP
In Texas, the title for your mobile home is called the “Statement of Ownership”, the 2 terms are used somewhat interchangeably but it helps to know the actual name of the document. As the owner of the mobile home you should have a Statement of Ownership, aka the title. When the time comes to actually sell the mobile home. You and the buyer have to fill out a document called the “Application for Statement of Ownership”. That document gets mailed to the TDHCA for processing. After it is processed the TDHCA mails a copy of the new Statement of Ownership to the new owner of the mobile home with their name and information on it. This can be confusing for people if it is their first time purchasing a mobile home in Texas. They want the title in their hand as soon as they have paid for the home! Which is understandable… 🤷♂️ That’s is where a Bill of Sale comes in handy. A little known fact is that in 2012 Texas moved to an electronic title system. Which means you don’t really have to have the paper copy. The ownership record can be found online on the TDHCA website. So don’t worry if you are the owner and lost the paper copy. You can simply go on the TDHCA website and print another.
#2 BILL OF SALE
The Bill of Sale is your peace of mind while the application for Statement of Ownership is mailed off and processed. You can think of it as a receipt that you purchased the home. Mobile and manufactured homes in Texas when by themselves without land are considered personal property. Like a car, boat, or an RV. Hence the Bill of Sale. Often times at closing there will be 2 copies of the Bill of Sale. One for the mobile home buyer to keep and the other to be mailed to the TDHCA along with the Application for Statement of Ownership for processing. Sometimes the TDHCA will request the Bill of Sale as a supporting document if it is not sent, sometimes they don’t. We, Journey Mobile Homes, always provide 2 copies when buying or selling as a best practice to keep everyone safe.
#3 CURRENT YEAR TAX STATEMENT
This is probably the most confusing part of selling a mobile home in Texas. 😂 We recently added a more in depth article about tax statements. It can be found here. No matter what time of year you sell the mobile home in Texas, you have to send in a document showing the taxes are up to date or have been prepaid and escrowed. The state does not say who is responsible for paying these taxes ahead of time, which can be confusing depending on the time of year you sell your Texas mobile home. A method we have found that can work well is to prorate the current years taxes between the buyer and seller from the date of the transaction. Unless they have already been paid then it is sort of a moot point. Either way, it is required that a statement from the County Tax Office has to be mailed with the Application for Statement of Ownership to the TDHCA for the title to be transferred.
Here is a break down of what the TDHCA requires according to date of the sale of you Texas mobile home:
‘Jan 1st-June 30th: The previous year’s taxes have been paid. The present years taxes have been PREPAID and ESCROWED.
July 1st-September 30th: The present years taxes have been PREPAID and ESCROWED.
Oct 1st-December 31st: The present years taxes have been billed and paid.
Ok there ya go, you’ll want to head to the county tax office to get this document before closing.
#4 MONEY ORDER
Here’s a good part! The cost to transfer the title 💰is….. drum roll please…. $55….
Yep that’s it $55 for standard processing. Pick up a money order for $55 and mail it along with a copy of the Bill of Sale and Application for Statement of Ownership. Standard processing is 15 days. There is an expedited option as well for 7 days, if that is what you want you’ll need a $110 money order. Either option is pretty affordable but be prepared for delays. After being in the business of buying used mobile homes in Texas for 4 years I can comfortably say 30-60 days is more common. If you’ve never used a money order or need a refresher, here is an article explaining money orders.
#5 RELEASE OF LIEN
So #5, the Release of Lien, is only necessary if you have a mortgage that you are paying off at the time of sale. You will need to contact your manufactured home lender and request a pay off statement. Often times this number is not the exact amount based off your last statement, so it’s important to request this when selling your Texas mobile home that still has a mortgage. Once you receive the pay off statement and make the payment you will need to request that they send you a stamped and sign copy of the release of lien. Once you receive it, put it in the envelope along with your application for statement of ownership, bill of sale, $55 money order, and current year tax statement/receipt, then mail it to the TDHCA. Then you’re done!
That about sums it up! If you follow these steps you should have a successful sale and transfer of ownership on your Texas Mobile Home. Now you might ask how I know all this, fair question. My name is Paul Russell, half of Journey Mobile Homes based in central Texas. San Marcos, Tx to be exact. My business partner Eric Lee and I have been buying and selling used mobile homes all over San Antonio, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Seguin, Austin, Kyle, Buda, and the surrounding areas for 4 years now. We absolutely love this business. We love helping people solve their mobile home problems wether it’s repossession, eviction from a park, moving to another city, behind on taxes, home needs to be moved off property, inherited homes, hoarder mobile homes you name it, we’ve probably done it. We’re a small local Texas business that knows the market inside and out. We make cash offers for used mobile homes all over central Texas. We buy in parks and on private land, home needs to be moved? Not a problem we’ve done it many times. If you are ready to sell your Texas Mobile Home and don’t want to deal with all that annoying paperwork, give us call! We handle everything and can close on your Texas Mobile home anytime.
Don’t wait! Call Eric and Paul at Journey Mobile Homes 210-504-8388 now or send us a message at any time!
We love taking homes that need work and breathing new life into them. So they can be a safe affordable housing option for the next person or family that needs it. Enjoy!
