When the time comes to move forward with purchasing that Sarasota Florida mobile home that you have been looking forward to for so long always remember, that you will need to be approved by the park first before closing on your new mobile home!
We all know how easy it can be to secure a reliable mobile or manufactured home in a leased-land community. However, a challenge arises when it comes to paying for the different mobile home expenses.
Mobile Home in Florida
These expenses may include the monthly rent, utilities, and moving expenses. For those who have a mobile or manufactured home on private property, property taxes, and mortgage loan payments are always what need to be paid for. Luckily, there are certain mobile home parks where the landlord or property manager takes care of some expenses.
Generally, your life in a mobile home park will be smooth if you pay your lot rent on time and adhere to the rules and regulations of the park that are found in the park prospectus. Failure to do so, however, puts you at risk of facing eviction from the community. But do you know that there are some hidden fees that a mobile homeowner must pay? We will explain in this article so keep reading.
When buying a mobile home on leased land in Florida the home is viewed and taxed as personal property and not real property.
What this means is that the mobile home is viewed and taxed the same way an automobile is in the state of Florida as mobile homes on leased land have titles with their owners and not deeds.
When moving forward with the purchase of a mobile home on leased land in Florida one does not pay property taxes on their purchase.
The reason for this is that the mobile home owner does not technically own the land as they are paying the mobile home park a fee each month for the usage and upkeep of the property. This fee is called lot rent.
When the mobile home owner does not have ownership of the land then they will not be paying property taxes but they will be paying registration fees annually for their mobile home.
Registration fees vary by the size of the home, both the length and the width, and how long the registration will be renewed.
The reason why we, at The Mobile Home Dealer, require park approval to be completed before the closing of the mobile home has been reviewed in previous blog posts.
The quick reason for this is that if the new Buyer of the mobile home is not approved by the park to live within it prior to buying the home then both the Buyer and the home itself could be evicted if they are not approved by the park after they have bought the home.
As one can see, this could quickly lead to quite an ordeal as most homes within the greater Sarasota Florida area are older than the age that is required to be able to get permitted to safely and, legally, move the mobile home should an eviction occur.
With this understanding, we now need to look at what a mobile home park application fee is, what it is not, and why there is a fee in the first place.
Mobile Home
Mobile home parks will usually charge a small fee for every resident who is applying to the park in order to be approved to live there. This fee will be charged and will need to be paid at the time the application is submitted for approval by the park managers.
This fee may range from $40 to $100 per person per application. Meaning, if there are two individuals who are applying to the park for residency in one house then the application fee will need to be charged per person, not per home.
Many times this application fee will be paid directly to the mobile home park where the Buyer is applying for residency in.
This fee will generally cover the cost of the criminal background check that is run on the applicant(s) who are looking to gain residency in the mobile home park.
During COVID-19, many mobile home parks within the greater Sarasota Florida area did waive this fee in an effort to try and spark additional applications within the park when residency was down due to enhanced travel restrictions.
This time has since come and gone as we, at The Mobile Home Dealer, are seeing nearly all parks now continue to charge would-be applicants for their application fees.
What this fee will not be used for is towards the would-be residents’ monthly lot rent as that is a totally separate charge that is billed to the applicants after they have been approved for residency on the land that their homes reside on.
When looking to apply for residency in a mobile home park it is reasonable to expect to pay some type of fee when completing the application. Make sure you, as the Buyer, understand how much the fee is and how many people will need to pay it so that when you are ready to move forward with sending in all of your application information for approval you are able to provide the park with everything they need.
Being ready, with payment in hand, will help speed up the application process getting you into your new Sarasota Florida mobile home that much faster!
This is Mark Kaiser with The Mobile Home Dealer and we help mobile home Buyers and Sellers get to a better place in life.
See Also:
- Sarasota Florida Mobile Home Park Residency Restrictions Explained!
- Here Are 3 Things A Sarasota Florida Mobile Home Buyer Is Looking For!
- What Brings A Sarasota Florida Mobile Home Seller The Most Money?
- 2022 Sarasota Florida Mobile Home Forecast
- 3 Ways To Sell Your Sarasota Florida Mobile Home Fast