Wholesaling Mobile Homes in Texas

The short answer

How are mobile homes sold in Texas?

It depends on whether the home is personal property or real property. Each has a different paper trail.

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs keeps ownership records for manufactured homes, called a Statement of Ownership. A home on land owned by the same person can be converted to real property, and then it sells with the land like a house, through a deed and a title company. A home in a park or on someone else’s land usually stays personal property and transfers through TDHCA.

The opportunity

Why Texas mobile homes can be good wholesale deals

Manufactured housing is a huge part of affordable housing in Texas, especially in rural counties and around fast-growing metros. Older homes are hard to finance, so many sell for cash. Land-and-home packages on a few acres attract buyers who want space without new-construction prices.

Lead sources

How to find mobile home deals in Texas

• TDHCA records. The state’s ownership database shows who owns a home and whether liens are recorded.
• Park managers. Managers know when owners want to leave and when homes are abandoned.
• Rural driving. Homes on acreage with overgrown lots or for-sale signs are common leads. See Texas rural properties.
• Tax delinquency. Unpaid personal property taxes on a manufactured home can create a lien. See Texas tax delinquent properties.
• Estates. Inherited homes in parks or on family land often need a quick sale.

Your exit

Selling the deal the right way

If the home is real property with land, market it like any house deal: deed, title company and assignment. Buyers will ask about the septic, well and road access on rural land.

If the home is personal property in a park, confirm the park will approve the buyer and the home’s age is allowed. Many parks reject older homes. And check the licensing question before you assign anything.

Step by step

How to start wholesaling mobile homes in Texas

1. Check the SOL. Look up the home on TDHCA’s database for owner, liens and status.
2. Confirm real or personal. Ask whether the home has been elected as real property and recorded.
3. Check the land. If land is included, run a normal title search and check septic and well.
4. Check the licensing rules. If the home is personal property, confirm with TDHCA whether your activity needs a retailer license.
5. Price it. Use local sold data for comparable homes and land, then the MAO calculator.
6. Sign and disclose. Use the right contract for real or personal property and the written assignment disclosure.
7. Close properly. Title companies for real property; TDHCA transfer forms for personal property.

An owner in Bastrop County inherited a 2004 double-wide on 1.2 acres. She lived in Houston and did not want to manage a rental. The first step was checking the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs record, which showed the home had been converted to real property years earlier.

That mattered, because the home and the land could close together through a normal title company. You priced the place at about $118,000 as-is, given the market for land-and-home packages, and signed at $82,000 with the written assignment disclosure.

A buyer who rents out land-and-home properties paid $91,000 for the assignment. If the home had still been personal property, the closing would also have required a statement of ownership transfer with the state agency. Checking that record first prevented a surprise at the closing table.

Texas rules to know

Retailer licensing and older homes

Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1201 regulates people who sell manufactured homes to consumers. Selling two or more homes as personal property within a year can require a retailer license from TDHCA. Wholesalers who stick to homes that are real property, sold with land through a title company, avoid most of this, but ask TDHCA before you build a business around park homes.

Homes built before June 15, 1976 were made before the federal HUD code and are harder to insure, finance and place in parks. Price them accordingly, and tell your buyer the year of manufacture.

Learn it with a mentor

Sort out your first mobile home deal

Mobile homes carry unique paperwork. Mentorship students review the SOL and land records with a mentor before they offer.

FAQ

Mobile Homes in Texas: common questions

Keep going

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