Why You Need A Used Mobile Home Price Guide & What It Will Tell You

If you’re starting off this year thinking about selling a mobile home, you might consider checking out a used mobile home price guide. Why should you look into a price guide? Well, to name one of the most obvious reasons, you don’t want to miss an opportunity to sell your mobile home because you accidentally set the price too high.

By using a price guide, you should be able to remedy this problem – you’ll be able to set a reasonable price for your used mobile home by consulting the guide. Optimally, you’ll make a quick, easy sale, rather than waiting years for a prospective buyer to come along.

What if you’re a buyer instead of a seller this year?

Like the rest of us, you’re probably trying to find a good deal on a mobile home before you fork over any money – but you may not know how to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth. Fortunately, that information is within your grasp. There are various websites designed to help you find the estimated market value of a mobile home.

After you’ve established the base market value of the home you’re interested in, you can move on to more complex factors that will help establish the true value of the home (more on that later.)

Whether you’re buying or selling a used mobile home this year, a price guide can help you determine an acceptable price – or, at the very least, it certainly can’t hurt to give it a try! Keep reading to find out why a price guide is important and what you’ll be getting if you use one.

What does a used mobile home price guide contain for a seller?

So, by now you’re probably asking, “What does a used mobile home price guide contain?” Well, here are a few essential elements of a price guide that will help you get what you need if you’re about to sell a mobile home.

Market value: a good place to start

A price guide should be able to estimate the market value of your mobile home. Some price guide sites will simply allow you to search your address or zip code in order to find your home’s market value. This estimate will give you a place to start. Some factors that provide a market value estimate include the location, the manufacturer, the age, and the size of your home and what materials it’s built with, and what condition the home is in.

Location

Typically, the area where your home is located will affect its market value. In fact, some homes will have a greater market value than others simply because of what state they’re located in. Therefore, the location of your mobile home will most likely play a large part in how high you can set your selling price.

Additionally, the matter of whether your home is on privately-owned land or in a mobile home park will affect its value.

Manufacturer, age, size, and materials

A few more things that will affect the market value of your home include:

• Your mobile home manufacturer
• The manufacturer year
• A complete layout of the home – such as the number of rooms, what types of rooms there are, etc.
• The size of the home (both width and length)
• The materials used to build certain parts of your home

Condition

If you’re seeking the help of an online site, you may need to include details about the condition of your mobile home in a value calculator or a type of CMA-related report. In other words, is your mobile home fit to be a home? Is it a little less than desirable but still livable? Or has it mostly retained its original style and form? These are things you’ll need to know during the process of getting a market value estimate.

Note: Because the condition of your mobile home will definitely have a big impact on the home’s market value, you should try to describe your mobile home’s condition as accurately as possible. Selling your mobile home quickly is probably important to you, and the best way to speed up the process is by estimating your mobile home’s condition fairly and giving your resources the information they need in order to give you a good estimate. In other words, don’t be shy! Be honest about your mobile home’s condition.  

Seems like a lot, right? Well, you’ll need to include even more specifics in order to take finding your home’s value to the next step – a comparative market analysis.

A comparative market analysis

Your next step is to get a comparative market analysis, which is a report that you can get from some real estate agents or websites. A CMA should answer the following questions:

• What is the selling price of homes that are similar to yours?
• How much time does it take for those homes to sell?
• What price did the seller receive for the home (compared to the price that they initially asked for their home?)
• How will the individual details of your mobile home affect its market value and selling price?

Why pay a fee for a market analysis?

So, why would you pay a fee to get a comparative market analysis? You’ll actually benefit incredibly well from the perks that sites offer if you pay for their CMA report. For example, a good site will offer these benefits:

• You only have to pay for your report once – it’s yours for good!
• You’ll get a web link so that you can post your CMA to internet listings of your choice.
• The mobile home seller will post and update your CMA report so that potential buyers can see it.

In other words, sometimes paying the fee is worth it!

Create your own CMA

Perhaps you’d be more comfortable with compiling a CMA on your own. Typically, you’ll be able to do so, and what’s more, you can do it for free. There are a few things you’ll need to keep in mind when creating a comparative market analysis.

Finding your own CMA online

If you don’t have a real estate agent, you can create a comparative market analysis of your own by doing some research. You can do this by finding a site that will give you the information you need based on details that you’ll supply about your mobile home. These sites will ask you questions, then provide you with a report.

Research “Comps”

You can also search for “comparable properties,” otherwise known as “comps,” near your mobile home. Comps are properties that are:

• Roughly the same age as your mobile home/land
• Only one-quarter to one-half mile away from your mobile home
• Were put up for sale in no more than three months earlier

You’ll be able to estimate your own mobile home’s value by looking at what others homes similar to yours have sold for.

Pay to have an appraisal done

Finally, if none of the previously mentioned options are working out for you, you may wish to have an appraisal done on your home. Be aware that this will typically cost you somewhere from three to four hundred dollars. However, it will generally give you a good estimate of your mobile home’s market value.

While you’re researching “comps,” here’s something else you can compare

If you’ve decided to go the route of comparing your home and property to others that are for sale nearby, here’s something else you should compare your mobile home to – the expired home listings. If you see a mobile home in your area that was recently sold, you may want to check out the price that the home was initially listed at and compare it to the price the home actually sold for in the end. This might help you to price your own mobile home more reasonably.

What does a price guide contain for a buyer?

If you’re buying a mobile home, things might look a little different. Rather than trying to set the right price so that you can make a sale, you’re in the process of ensuring that the mobile home you’re considering is actually worth what you’re paying for it. In other words, you don’t want to find yourself paying too much for too little. Fortunately, a price guide will give you a little advice on how to make sure you’re paying the right price.

Comparing your desired home to surrounding properties

The practice of comparing your home to surrounding homes and properties is irreplaceable for both sellers and buyers. While a seller is looking to set a reasonable price for a mobile home by researching comps, a buyer is ensuring that he pays a fair price for the mobile home of his choice by doing the same thing. A wise buyer will check into the prices of surrounding homes and attempt to negotiate the selling price of the mobile home he’s interested in (within reason) based on the patterns he notices throughout the selling prices of surrounding homes.

There are a few factors that have the heaviest influence on such comparisons, including these:

How old is the home?

If there are two or three homes nearby that are the same age as the mobile home you’re interested in, you’ll want to know what the final selling price was for each of those mobile homes, since it will be reasonably comparable to the mobile home you’re looking at.

Area

Compare your desired home to others within the same location. In this way, you can see how much is being paid for many of the homes near your area.

Photo credit: Payless Homes

Remember that you might not live there forever

Right now, you may be sure you’re going to live there forever, but that doesn’t mean you won’t change your mind someday. If you ever decide to leave the home you’re looking into purchasing at some point, you want to know that you have a reasonable chance of selling it. Otherwise, you might end up with a mobile home on your hands that you don’t want anymore – and the problem is nobody else wants it, either. Therefore, consider things that will be a sticking point if you ever need to sell the home – things like modifications or consistent water/electricity problems.

Why should you use a price guide?

Finally, the big question: why use a price guide? There are some obvious reasons, of course: the seller doesn’t want to accept too little for a home, and the buyer doesn’t want to pay too much for it. As a result, the price guide exists. So, if you want to get the best deal out of your sale or purchase, why not use a price guide? Most are readily available and easy to use.

Correct pricing

Another big reason to use price guides is that setting the right price will allow you to sell or buy much more quickly than you’d otherwise be able to. If you set your price too high, people will find other options, and you’ll be stuck with your mobile home for a long time – or perhaps forever. If you are unable to negotiate prices (or you negotiate too much) as a buyer, you’ll be unable to buy a home that fits within your budget. Again, the purpose of a price guide is to allow you to avoid these problems, so it’s not a bad idea to make use of one.

It can’t hurt to try – so go ahead and find your price guide!

Again, it never hurts to try – especially with a service as useful and harmless as this one. If you’re struggling with pricing issues, go online and find a used mobile home price guide. You’ll find plenty of useful information that you can use to make a quick sale or a confident buy. We think it’ll be worth your time!