Trailers / Mobile Homes

Hi everyone. I was just looking at mobile homes for sale for the purpose of living in one.

I came upon a site that had listed some mobile homes for $100. They were all between like 1968-1975.

The idea hit me that maybe I could buy it for $100 and scrap the metal.

How much do you think I could get for scrapping all the metal in it?

Will it justify having to pay to haul the rest of the non-salvageable parts (wood, plastic, drywall, etc) to the garbage dump?

I understand some of the wood may be the formaldehyde kind from way back then, and it cant be burned, and the wiring may be aluminum.

But all the same, how much can I expect to both net and gross?

If I ever do this, I'll be sure to visit this forum to learn as much as I can about this part of the economy I knew nothing about before.

I wonder if I could make a business out of this....


Thank you all in advance for your answers.

BW

I read through that twice.

It didn't answer my question.

I just need a ballpark estimate of how much.

$500? $1000? $2000?

How often does a park let you scrap a home on site?



Thanks

You should call the park and ask them if you could disassemble the trailer on site. Also see if there is a limited time frame that they will allow for disassembling. If you can do it onsite, ad have the time and resources, you should make more than $100, though I can't give a good estimate.

BoyWander, If you have no experience with scrapping metal, I suggest you start with something smaller than a whole trailer. Maybe go collect some small things like appliances people are throwing out? Do you have any proper tools? Have you sold metal to a scrap yard before? Do you know the prices?

Once you get a better understanding of the process and prices, then you should take on a big project. That could mean that you spend about 2 weeks learning before you get yourself into a mess. You'll find you can make about $1000 in 2 weeks. Either way, Good Luck!

Thanks, Irrationalist.

I guess I may be "irrational" for wanting to undertake a big project like that, but I have a couple of people who might want to help that know what they are doing with those also. I am a big thinker and like to go after the big bucks, but am not sure about actually going out and looking for scrap metals. I live in Mid Michigan and I always see ads for people wanting to take your old appliances etcetera so I think maybe the market is saturated here, especially because of the horrible economy in this state. It is worse here than it most places.

I think I have the brains to be able to do this, especially after the first couple of trailers, I would get an efficient system going to where we could dismantle them quickly and get the most profit out of them as possible.

Oh and another quick question my dad asked, is about asbestos. Do older homes like from the late 60's / early 70's still have asbestos in them? This trailer park has a crapload of them for sale for $100, and they are actually trying to sell them as handyman fixer-uppers. Do they legally have to have the asbestos removed before they sell them to live in? If not, how would one go about safely and legally disposing of the asbestos?

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Originally Posted by BoyWander

Thanks, Irrationalist.

I guess I may be "irrational" for wanting to undertake a big project like that, but I have a couple of people who might want to help that know what they are doing with those also. I am a big thinker and like to go after the big bucks, but am not sure about actually going out and looking for scrap metals. I live in Mid Michigan and I always see ads for people wanting to take your old appliances etcetera so I think maybe the market is saturated here, especially because of the horrible economy in this state. It is worse here than it most places.

I think I have the brains to be able to do this, especially after the first couple of trailers, I would get an efficient system going to where we could dismantle them quickly and get the most profit out of them as possible.

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No problem. If you can get a few hands to help you when you are first starting out, that would be best. When you explain it like that, I think you should go for it! You will get more than $100 for the scrap meta for surel, but I'm just not sure how much more. Please post a picture of the trailer so people can be more definitive with their answers. possibly give a picture of the inside too.

I know how much trouble michigan's economy is in, I have family living in Flint. Where are you from?

I am from the Flint area, same county, just south of Flint. I actually have been living in Kansas driving a truck for the past few months, but am back up here in MI for the holidays to visit family. I'd like to stay in MI so I can be around my family, but no trucking jobs here at the moment. And yes Flint is in bad shape. The whole state is in bad shape at that.

The website I found the trailers at, they only have 1 picture of each trailer. There are 51 trailers for $100 scattered between 3 different parks. Another 49 going between $250 and $750. I think 51 trailers would give me work for a long time...but I just need to be sure I would make something.

They are old trailers, most of them like 12x60. I would only take the ones with aluminum siding, obviously.

I don't know about MI, but in Indiana, if you buy a house with asbestos and you know it, your stuck buddy. Plus if you plan on renting it out, you HAVE to remove the asbestos. So, if the laws are similar there, either way it is your problem to dispose of. To do it it properly is big money down here. Improperly........not so much. I hate housing laws. They create niches in business and you pay an arm and a leg for following those laws.

So they trailer park would have to have it removed before they rent it out or sell it to anyone...thank you!

I got a reply from the trailer park. They won't allow anyone to buy any of the $100 50 year old trailers and scrap them, or even remove them from the park. They have 100 of them for sale - isn't it obvious no one wants to live in them? What a nasty trailer park this place must be.

So they are selling them.....but you can't do what you want with them? How is that possible?

I don't know. This place is about 30% vacant from what I understand...and they told me that they do not allow houses to be removed from the property...is that even legal? If I buy one of them old trailers, shouldn't I be allowed to do what I want with it and move it? And you'd think they'd want to improve their park and be glad for someone wanting to get rid of the old trailers so they can put new ones on the site.

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Originally Posted by BoyWander

So they trailer park would have to have it removed before they rent it out or sell it to anyone...thank you!

I got a reply from the trailer park. They won't allow anyone to buy any of the $100 50 year old trailers and scrap them, or even remove them from the park. They have 100 of them for sale - isn't it obvious no one wants to live in them? What a nasty trailer park this place must be.

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They don't want you to take them out because they want the lot rent. (I know, I know....what lot rent, if there's 100 of them sitting empty. Some people make no sense)


Also it's usually not cost effective to remove a trailer.

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Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper

They don't want you to take them out because they want the lot rent. (I know, I know....what lot rent, if there's 100 of them sitting empty. Some people make no sense)


Also it's usually not cost effective to remove a trailer.

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Interesting. If you buy it, you will have to pay lot rent. What a scam!!!

Well you would think they could have the old ones removed to make room for newer trailers...I mean, better homes attract more and better residents...I know the economy is bad, but America is not that poor to where they are going to sell 50 year old trailer homes for $100. And from what I read, the lot rent is not exactly cheap there, the roads are a minefield, etc, and this place supposedly has new management, but who knows what they are going to do with the place. I would rather buy it and improve it myself if I had the money. I hate seeing things go to crap like that, it is capitalism that makes way for progress and improvements, and I like seeing things improved and made nicer.

I'll stop before I really start to rant.

If you really want to get in depth, here's a forum and in there you'll find why most mobile home park owners prefer older (livable) homes.

http://www.mobilehomeparkforum.com/list.php?3

Who knows...maybe you can buy it with no or low money down and make it all yours.

As for being a scam...I could see that if they wanted rent and you wanted to tear it down in a week or two. Lot rent is where MHP owners make their money, so it benefits them to keep homes on site, no matter how junky, if they can get it sold/rented that is.

Another thing to watch for is any back taxes or liens on the home. Last thing you want or need is to give the owner $100 and find out there's 1,000s due on it. Not sure who would be liable in that instance, but it's not something I'd wanna get tangled in.

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Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper

Another thing to watch for is any back taxes or liens on the home. Last thing you want or need is to give the owner $100 and find out there's 1,000s due on it. Not sure who would be liable in that instance, but it's not something I'd wanna get tangled in.

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Liens should come up in a title search, then the Title Search company is responsible. I'm not sure all states require a title search, though, then the buyer would likely become responsible since the lien goes with the property. I very nearly got caught like that in Texas about 38 years ago. Went to buy a really nice house before a neighbor tipped me off to liens for building a patio, putting in a pole light, digging a sewer... over $10,000 in liens on a $50,000 house.

Thank you all for your replies. I never thought about liens on "houses" as old as those are...1968-1973....and I know they make money on lot rent, but you'd think they might want to put better houses on there to attract people...no one wants to live in houses that old that need so much work on them.

I will check out that forum later.

Thanks.

I wouldn't think there would be liens as old as these are...but you never know.

Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't the steel frames of these trailers weight a few thousand pounds? And if steel is going for roughly .05cents/lb ($100 per ton here in Richmond), wouldn't you be able to pull more than a hundred bucks off of each trailer? Especially with all the other metals inside? There is a guy on the "day in the life of a scrapper" page who is doing a bunch of trailers in Georgia. I would recommend Boywander to take a look at his posts, maybe get in contact with him and see what sort of money he is making. He started with a $50 budget, a two-door Tahoe, and a small single-axel trailer, and almost no tools. He should be posting his earnings within the next few days. Hope that helps.

I would think it's more than a few thousand pounds. I was looking at a local utility trailer builder website and noticed a 22 foot car hauler curbs at around #3,200, based on 8 inch channel.

What is under a mobile home? 10 inch I beam? Channel?