With the right preparation, marketing, selling and closing, you can sell your mobile home to another private party.
Selling a pre-owned vehicle, RV or mobile home can be a daunting task for an owner who has no marketing or selling experience. There are many questions to consider, and the owner must be willing to put in the time and effort required to plan ahead before the mobile home can be put up for sale. While selling your mobile home to an existing dealership or trailer park is one option, more than half of all RV associations report that mobile home sales involve private parties. With proper planning and execution, you can sell your own mobile home to another individual or company for the price that you deserve.
Instructions
1. Assess the current situation of your mobile home. Complete a full vehicle inspection inside and outside and take note of anything that needs repair or replacement. Remember to test the water tanks, plumbing, trailer lights, engine, gas and hitch components, as needed.
2. Stage and clean the interior and exterior of the mobile home. Just like residential homes, you want it to look organized, tidy and ready to show off its best features to prospective buyers. Clean all dust away and remove cluttered items to make the interior seem more spacious.
3. Research the price that you want to set for your mobile home. Check out similar mobile homes that are the same size and have the same features by visiting websites or dealerships to compare prices. This will help give you a general idea of the price range you should be looking for.
4. Set the price somewhere between the retail price and the wholesale price of a typical mobile home that is similar to yours. The trick is to find the fair market value of your mobile home, without setting the price too low. You can visit the National Automobile Dealers Association website to help you determine the fair market value of your mobile home (see "Resources").
5. Design a marketing strategy. You can decide to consign your mobile home to a dealer to avoid doing any of the work yourself, or you can invest in advertising in local classified ads and newspapers for a specific period of time. Advertising online via free websites like Craigslist or Kijiji is a cheaper alternative to other sources of media.
6. Write your advertisement. The more detailed and complete your description is, the better. Focus on the features and benefits your mobile home has to offer, and keep in mind the ad needs to convince prospects to take the next step by contacting you. Ask prospective buyers to contact you by phone or email to set up a meeting.
7. Communicate with your prospective buyer through email, phone and in person. Answer all questions he asks you truthfully, and do not come on too strong in the selling process. Send any additional photographs, maintenance records and descriptions requested.
8. Offer the most qualified prospects a test drive in the mobile home or even let them camp in in it overnight. This type of offer helps establish trust, and lets the prospect know that you are confident about the condition and performance of the mobile home.
9. Accept the most appropriate offer from the most qualified prospect and take care of any negotiations. If you still owe money on the mobile home, you need to have documents prepared by an escrow or lawyer to finalize the sale. When you and they buyers are ready to complete the final stages of the sale, print up a bill of sale that abides by your state's laws regarding the transfer of a vehicle to another state, if needed.
10. Hand over your mobile home to the buyer after you have received the funds. If the payment is being made by check, have the bank clear it first, and verify that the fund made to your account. Make sure that the buyer understands that he must provide payment before he can take the mobile home.
Tags: mobile home, your mobile, your mobile home, fair market, fair market value, home another
