How Much Will a Cash Buyer Actually Offer for My Mobile Home?

The honest answer is that nobody can give you a real number over the phone before they have seen the home, and you should be careful with anyone who does. But you can absolutely understand how that number gets built. Once you do, you can tell the difference between a fair offer and a lowball, and you stop feeling like you are guessing.

Quick note before we start. This is general information, not legal, tax, or appraisal advice. Every home and every lot situation is different, so treat this as a way to think about the number rather than a promise about your home.

Why will nobody give you a number over the phone?

Because the things that move the number the most are the things you cannot see over the phone. Two homes the same year, same size, same floor plan, sitting a mile apart, can be worth very different amounts depending on the roof, the floors, the lot, and the paperwork.

When somebody throws out a number before looking, one of two things is happening. Either they are quoting high to get you to stop calling other buyers, and the number quietly drops later once you are invested. Or they are quoting low to protect themselves from everything they have not seen yet. Neither one helps you.

A number given before anyone has seen the home is not an offer. It is a conversation starter. The only number worth anything is a written one, given after somebody has actually looked.

What actually goes into a cash offer?

I am not going to publish a formula, because a formula would be a lie. The mix is different on every home. But the ingredients are always the same, and there are no secret ones.

• What the home is realistically worth once it is fixed up and sold. Not the asking price on a listing site, what homes like it actually close for in that specific park or that specific area.
• What it costs to get it there. Roof, floors, plumbing, skirting, HVAC, cleanout. Whatever the home needs.
• Whether it has to be moved, and what transport and setup would run if it does.
• The lot situation. Owned land, leased lot, back lot rent, park approval.
• The paperwork. A missing title or an old lien takes time and money to clear.
• Time. Every month a home sits, somebody is paying lot rent, taxes, and insurance on it.
• Risk. Which is really just the cost of everything nobody found until the work started.

That last one is worth sitting with, because it is the one people feel is unfair. When a buyer cannot see under the home or behind a wall, they have to price in the possibility of a problem. The more of your home a buyer can actually see and verify, the less they have to guess, and the less guessing there is, the better the number gets.

Does the condition matter as much as people think?

It matters, but usually less than sellers expect, and in a different way than they expect.

People apologize to me about carpet and paint and a messy kitchen. None of that changes much. What changes the number is the expensive, structural stuff: the roof, the floors, water damage, and whether the home has been sitting open to the weather. A home that looks rough but is dry and solid is often worth more than one that shows nicely and has a soft floor in the back bedroom.

So do not clean it up before you call, and please do not spend money fixing it. You will almost never get that money back in the offer. Buying it as it sits is the whole point.

Does it matter if the home is on land you own or in a park?

Yes, and this is one of the biggest swings there is.

If you own the land, you are selling the home and the dirt together, and that is worth meaningfully more, because the buyer is getting an asset that stays put and can be financed more easily. If the home is on a leased lot, you are selling the home only, the park has a say in who buys it, and the pool of buyers is mostly cash. We wrote a whole piece on selling a mobile home in a park or on rented land if that is your situation.

Why is a cash offer lower than what you see homes listed for?

Because you are comparing two different things, and the comparison people make is usually the wrong one.

A listing price is what somebody is asking, not what they got. And the money that reaches your pocket after a traditional sale is the asking price minus commissions, minus the repairs a buyer's inspection turns up, minus the months of lot rent and utilities while it sits, minus whatever falls through when a buyer cannot get financing on an older home.

A cash offer is a net number. There is nothing coming out of it later. The right comparison is not offer versus asking price, it is what actually lands in your hands, and when. Sometimes listing genuinely wins that comparison, and when it does, I will tell you so.

What makes an offer go up?

Mostly, removing uncertainty. Every question a buyer cannot answer gets priced as a risk, so anything that turns a question into a fact tends to help you.

• Clear ownership paperwork, or at least the serial number so it can be looked up.
• Knowing exactly what is owed, whether that is lot rent, taxes, or an old loan against the home.
• Photos of the parts people usually hide, including under sinks and any spot where water has gotten in.
• Access, so somebody can actually walk the home instead of guessing from the outside.
• Flexibility on the closing date, when you have it.

Notice that none of that costs you money. It is all information you already have or can get for free.

What should you do before you ask for an offer?

Not much, honestly. Take photos of every room and all four sides of the home. Find the ownership paperwork if you can put your hands on it. Call the park or check your tax bill so you know what is owed. That is enough to get a real number.

If any of that is missing, ask anyway. Missing paperwork is routine and it is usually a smaller problem than it feels like.

How our offer works

1. You send the address and photos, through the form or over the phone.
2. We look at the home, the lot, and what is owed, then send a written cash offer within 24 hours.
3. If it works, you pick the closing date. We handle the ownership transfer and the paperwork, and we work with the park if there is one.
4. No commissions, no repairs, no cleaning. We take it as it sits.

If the number does not work for you, you walk away and you owe nothing. I would rather give you an honest number you turn down than a high one you find out later was not real.

The number is not a mystery and it is not personal. It is resale value, minus what the home needs, minus what it costs to carry, minus what nobody can see yet. Anyone who will not walk you through their reasoning is hoping you do not ask. If you want a real number on your home, send us the address and a few photos, and we will send back a written cash offer in 24 hours with the reasoning behind it.

— Lyndell