How To Price Your Sarasota Mobile Home
How are you able to obtain the most accurate way to price your mobile home that is for sale when the mobile home is on leased land?
With the rising real estate market that we are all seeing throughout the country, it is natural to think that selling your Sarasota Florida mobile home is the right thing to do now in an attempt to cash in on all the Buyers looking to relocate to Florida.
Is there a way that we as licensed mobile home Brokers in the state of Florida can state that without a doubt, your home is worth this amount?
Most people in the mobile home industry would say yes. That the best way to do this is to look at other homes in the community with the same size and home sites, similar beds and baths along with other features and base your price on that. I would go as far as to say that this is by far the most common way that people in the mobile home industry say that a mobile home Seller should go about getting their home priced.
But is this, by the book, the best way to do it?
No. No, it’s not.
In fact, this is totally wrong and really does not hold a candle to the way one can value a mobile home on leased land.
The reason why this is wrong is that mobile homes in Florida that are on leased land, where the owner owns the home and rents the land underneath, make the home personal property which is how the home is taxed and viewed by the state of Florida. This is the same way a vehicle is taxed.
Essentially, in this transaction, you are buying a car and as such, mobile homes on leased land, have titles and not deeds as the owner of a mobile home on leased land do not technically own real estate, it is personal property, just like a car. Since the home is viewed as personal property and is therefore viewed as an automobile for all intents and purposes in the state’s eyes, then the only way to accurately price your mobile home’s worth is by pulling the VIN number off the mobile home title and looking it up in the NADA Guidebook.
The NADA guidebook is also known as the National Automobile Dealers Association book. This is a price guide, much like that, of the Kelley Blue Book value system. When looking up the value of your mobile home, you will need the age, the VIN number, the make, the model, and the size of the home. The guidebook will also ask other general questions such as what is the general condition of the property, the roof’s age, what condition is that roof in, and the air conditioning system.
Spanish Lakes
So let’s take a look at what this really looks like.
As you can see here, the property is a 1993 Redman in fair condition. After going through all of the basic questions about the home, the NADA Guidebook provided a value of $3,612.30.
Is that lower than what you thought the mobile home was worth?!
For me, it sure was!
It would be reasonable to say that many Buyers and Sellers around the Gulf Coast of Florida are not aware of how to price their mobile homes or what a mobile home on leased land is really even worth. I believe it would also be fair to say that if we were going strictly by the book, most mobile homes in the area are grossly overpriced compared to that of the NADA guidebook.
I think that the lack of information available to so many Buyers and Sellers in the area provides the prices that we see today throughout the area of Florida where we work.
So, are the guidebooks right?
Well technically, yes, they are since again, we are dealing with personal property, just like an automobile and not real estate.
The next question would be, are all mobile homes that do not follow this guidebook pricing guide grossly overpriced?
Well, that’s up to you to decide.
You know as the old saying goes, something is only worth what someone else will pay for it.
Overpricing Your Mobile Home
Pricing your home high will usually result in your home sitting on the market longer, while the Seller continues to pay lot rent, utilities, taxes, and all other carrying costs associated with owning that property. These continued monthly payments will eat into your profit even if you sell the home for a higher price.
When buying a mobile home on leased land in Florida a Buyer or Seller does not need to report the sales price of a home to anyone. Many times this leads to no comparative pricing in the area for a mobile home. With this lack of information, we often see Sellers who are trying to sell their mobile homes themselves look online for their own comps on similar properties. The problem we see here is that most Sellers will compare their mobile home on leased land to that of a single-family home. The main issue here is that the Seller is comparing apples to oranges because a mobile home on leased land in Florida is personal property and not real estate.
Following this pricing guideline, we continue to see mobile homes sit on the market for extended periods of time because the home is considerably overpriced.
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:
- How To Pull Sales Comps For Your Sarasota Mobile Home
- Should You Get An Inspection On Your Sarasota Mobile Home?
- Why Pricing Your Sarasota Mobile Home High Is A Bad Idea!
- Common Issues With Sarasota Mobile Homes-Skipping Routine Maintenance!
- What Are Sarasota Mobile Home Buyers Looking For?