Investing is no walk in the park. Before you begin investing, you need to know where to invest or what to invest in. Before you can actually invest, you need to have a sense of direction.
You’re here because you want to know whether you should get into mobile home investing or traditional stick-built home investing.
In your research, you’ll find that either path boasts of numerous success stories. That’s consoling, right? But you’re not here because you want to play Russian roulette with investing. You want to know the similarities and differences of either path so this knowledge can, in turn, help you figure out where you fit when it comes to investing.
Good for you. Research and knowledge will equip you for success!
Mobile home vs stick-built investing
First of all, we need to define mobile homes and stick-built homes. What are they, and are they different?
Laying out these definitions will assist us in the subsequent conversation, ensuring we’re all on the same page.
What’s a mobile home? What’s a stick-built home?
A stick-built home is a traditional home — it’s built on location. That’s a key fact to keep in mind as we begin to discuss mobile homes.
For a stick-built home, where you build it is where it stays. Such a home is largely built with lumber for the framing. It can take several months for a stick-built home to reach completion — or longer, depending on finances and plans.
Now a mobile home is a whole different animal — it’s built on a chassis, in a factory. This type of home is built to be moved to the home owner’s location of choice. It could be moved into a mobile home park or onto private land. Turnaround time for a mobile home is, on average, two weeks. This is because it’s all built in a factory setting and materials are on hand — the assembly line construction ensures a quick turnaround.
The similarities and differences
Now let’s look at the similarities and differences of mobile home vs stick built investing.
Cost differences
To get started, there’s a lower cost threshold with mobile homes compared to stick-built homes. You could snag a mobile home to flip for a few thousand dollars.
For stick-built homes, you’ll want to have at least $25,000 on hand. That’s a big difference.
Maintenance differences
If your angle on mobile home investing is flipping the homes to buyers and renting out the lots they sit on, you’ll have less in the way of maintenance to contend with. If you’re an investor renting out stick-built homes, you’ll have more maintenance work on your hands. That means less money in your pocket.
Financing differences
It’s harder to acquire financing for mobile homes than it is for stick-built homes. Note, it’s not impossible — but it is a bit of a hangup.
However, there is a bright side to this financing challenge. Due to the comparatively low cost of purchasing a used mobile home, finding a buyer is likely not going to be a major challenge. The low cost will mitigate a buyer’s need for financing — it will also help you find a buyer quickly.
Renter similarities
In both mobile home investing and stick-built investing, you need to have a process for finding the right renter. You need to know what questions to ask and you need to understand that your role is to be fair while finding the best potential buyer or renter. (Remember to treat every potential buyer or renter the same — you don’t want to violate discrimination laws.)
You can rent out or sell either housing type
Investing options abound for either type of housing. You can rent out mobile homes or stick-built homes. Alternatively, you can flip mobile homes or stick-built homes. It’s up to you to determine which route is best for you.
Learn the pros and cons of doing business by selling versus renting. You may find that one style of investing suits you better than the other. And who knows — as you grow in your investing endeavor, you may eventually find yourself trying both investment mechanisms.
Mobile home or stick-built — your choice
Now you know some of the similarities and differences you may encounter when investing in mobile homes or stick-built homes.
We hope we’ve helped you come closer to reaching a decision on which type of investing is best for you. Feel free to visit other articles on our website — we have plenty to share when it comes to mobile home investing.
If you’re living in a mobile home and wondering if it’s time to renovate or sell, we can help you, too. Let us walk you through how to decide it’s time to renovate or sell your mobile home.