Expert: Dick Dennis - 6/29/2009

Question
I own a mobile home that I put up for sale. I found another home on property that I want.  The new property is $139K , the one I own now I expect to get at least 50K for and was going to use that as money down on the new place.  The bank is willing to give me a loan for 83,400K which is short of the 89 that I was asking for....how do I make this all come about?

Answer
The question you ask, Barb, is one that has been a problem for home buyers and sellers for time immemorial. How to buy before I sell? Especially in this kind of down market, it is verrrrry difficult.

First of all, you most likely will not get what you think for your mobile home. That is a market that is almost dormant. People would rather buy regular homes on land they own than to buy a mobile home on land they don't own and have to pay rent. Mobile homes have always been the last to sell in any kind of market. People have been buying mobile homes in the past only because they couldn't afford regular homes. This may have been your problem when you bought yours, in which case you can expect a big problem . . . unless, you agree to sell yours for substantially less than you anticipate.

Now, if you have a very knowledgeable Realtor who knows about making exchanges, that person might be able to make an offer on the house you want to buy (or one that is similar) and use your present mobile home as the down payment on the house you want to buy. That will be successful only if the seller of that property is very desperate to sell. But it isn't going to happen for you if you at least don't try. In other words, let the seller of the house you want to buy worry about how to sell your mobile home. This can happen if you also can include some cash along with your mobile home downpayment.

I do wish you well, Barb.

Dick Dennis