If you’ve been driving around in San Antonio, chances are you’ve seen some yellow signs stuck in the ground, bill boards, or maybe even on Craigslist advertising companies that buy mobile homes.
Often times they say things like “We Buy San Antonio Mobile Homes!” or “We Buy Mobile Homes-Fast Cash!”.
Are These “We Buy Mobile Homes in San Antonio Companies” Credible?
How do I know if the local mobile home buying companies out there are honest and credible?
Well… sometimes they all look the same at the start… but below we’ll walk you through some things to look for in a local mobile home buying company before you should work with them. It is worth taking the time to get who you will potentially dealing with in my humble opinion.
Buying and selling mobile homes is a valid and respectable profession that can help communities and mobile or manufactured home sellers in many ways. But just like any other line of work – a minority of mobile home buyers in any market are the ones who make the rest of us look bad. Some people treat it as a hobby but here at JourneyMobileHomes it is our profession and our business. So for us it is important to treat as such, seriously and with respect…. But we still like to have a good time doing it 🙂
There are people who are really great, ethical folks who improve their neighborhoods one property at a time. We considered our business JourneyMobileHomes, among this group.
And then there’s shady, dishonest people who put money ahead of the well being of their clients and who would sign the contract to sell their own grandmother with one hand while stabbing you in the back with the other – as long as they were making enough money. Which is sad but it’s reality.
Yes, they are out there.
We’ll help you avoid these “shady mobile home buyers” so you can work with honest, ethical, and reputable local companies who can buy your mobile home for a fair all cash offer and close on your schedule.
But let’s not focus on the negative – at least not yet.
First, let’s cover exactly what the best mobile home-flippers are doing.
What Reputable San Antonio Mobile Home Buyers Are Doing
- Helping folks improve their lives by accessing the money they needright away. People often need the cash in their mobile home to cover unexpected medical expenses, or to relocate to be close to a relative. We can make that happen in just a few days, and we deliver peace of mind.
- Helping sellers get rid of a burdensome property without the hassle of having to list it with a broker and wait months and months for a sale. We sell mobile homes for clients from time to time but only if we are fully confident we can close within 30 days. But we prefer to just purchase the mobile home directly with cash.
- Creating local jobs. We hire plumbers, contractors, electricians, brokers, title reps, loan officers, administrators and many other folks along the way. The average real estate transaction involves 86 people from start to finish. That number would be lower for mobile homes in parks as they are personal property. So title companies and a few other things are not needed, but there is still ALOT that goes on behind the scenes from the before we purchase your home, have it renovated, marketed, and sold again. It is a big boost to the local economy and community. Our investments help create real jobs for people around San Antonio, Texas. They also provide badly needed affordable housing to the next person that ends up purchasing the home and we really take pride in that.
- Buying US products. We spend tons of money on materials that are made right here in the USA – Home Depot and other local mobile home supply stores looooove us 😂, that creates jobs in our timber mills, factories, supply shops, distribution centers and more. The US economy depends on steady improvement, and that requires investment from folks like us.
- Increasing the value of San Antonio and central Texas neighborhoods and mobile home parks. When we improve a mobile home, we’re helping to increase the value of the entire community. We often repair abandoned and neglected manufactured homes, turning them into beautiful mobile homes for families. That activity strengthens San Antonio and the surrounding communities. We also purchase mobile homes around Seguin, San Marcos, New Braunfels, etc.
- Increasing the tax base. When a new buyer takes over one of our properties, they’ll pay a higher tax rate based on the new and improved value. Those taxes go to pay for our schools, fire, police, libraries, streets and other valuable pieces of infrastructure. Again, improving our neighborhoods.
Pretty awesome stuff, right?
Lots of people think of mobile home-flipping as a get-rich-quick scheme. That’s fueled by silly “reality” shows that amp up the drama because the reality of what we do on a daily basis is actually pretty boring.
Most of our work is coordinating with lots of people to make sure things are happening on time. We have to keep track of lots of moving parts and make sure things are done correctly up to our standards. Starting from lead generation, talking to people, viewing homes, checking title and tax records, making offers, preparing closing documents, hiring contractors, paying bills, doing walk throughs, making sure licenses are up to date, tracking receipts, marketing and showing homes, talking to potential buyers, creating more closing documents, selling the actual homes….. and process starts over like a conveyor belt.
So let’s get back to how you can use this information to find out if someone is a credible investor, and not just pulling a mobile home buying scam.
How To Ensure You’re Working With A Reputable Local Mobile Home Buyer
When you talk with a local mobile home buyer to potentially buy your mobile home… ask them some of the questions below to ensure they’re reputable, knowledgeable, and honest.
Ask open-ended questions like:
- How do you help your clients?
- What do you do for people?
- Can you tell me more about your services?
- How long have you been in business?
- Are you licensed?
- What aspect of your business makes you the proudest?
- How would you describe your investment philosophy?
- How can I know that you’ll close on my mobile home when you say you will?
Second, look for tell tale signs of tactics that those few shady operators tend to use.
- “Kitchen table closings” – If a property buyer tries to get you to sign the deed (ownership) of your mobile home over to them at your house, rather than a professional place like a closing attorney or title company… be leery. Most reputable manufactured home buying services will perform the actual closing of the sale at a neutral 3rd party place… like a title company. This ensures everything is done right and on the up and up. This is true for mobile homes on land attached to private land. However this not true for mobile homes in parks because they are titled as personal property, not real property aka real estate. Just make sure you are working with someone that is licensed through the TDHCA to buy and sell mobile homes. Then it is acceptable to close at the kitchen table, or it could be the park office, or another location that everyone agrees on. If the home is being financed there should definitely be a Notary Public there to notarize all of the documents.
- Pressuring you into a fast closing – If a mobile home buyer tries to pressure you into selling your mobile home and says that you have to make the decision today, be leery. At JourneyMobileHomes we don’t use high pressure sales tactics. We prefer to educate you on what your options are and leave you to make your decision. Most reputable mobile home buying services will make you and offer and that offer will be on the table for at least 2-7 days (minimum) for you to make a decision. The reason reputable mobile home buying services like ours at JourneyMobileHomes do place deadlines on our offers is because the market changes and values can change depending on other sales in the area, also… we buy multiple mobile homes a month and when we make you an offer we’re assuring you that the cash to purchase your mobile home is ready and we’ll reserve that cash for several days so if you do want to sell your mobile home, we can close on your schedule. If you feel the offer isn’t a fit for you, then we’ll assign those funds to help another seller with their mobile home sale.
Most scammers are looking for a quick score, and not an in-depth interview.
Chances are good that they’ll find excuses to get off the phone and move on to someone who doesn’t ask too many questions.
True investors who run honest and ethical San Antonio mobile home buying services, however, are building long-term businesses based on relationships and community development.
So when you’re looking at one of the “we buy mobile homes in San Antonio companies“… never be afraid to ask questions!