While fellow CRE Onliner, John Holt, and I have graduated from college, we thought this title was appropriate since we both went to the same college, graduated at the same time, and even roamed the halls of the same science building. However, we never met until CRE Online and a mobile home brought us together.
John and I had emailed each other periodically and realized that we both were attending the same absolute auction of somemobile homes. I encouraged him to go to one in Maine, and we decided to meet as partners instead of competitors.
We arrived at the auction of the first mobile home and walked through the trailer. It was a complete disaster with old food, furniture, clothes, toys, a bush growing through the front door, rotted stairs, non-working plumbing, unrecognizable smells and rotted floors. However, we were optimistic it was a “Lonnie” deal and were prepared to bid up to $1,200 for it.
To our surprise, no one showed up for the auction of the first mobile home. Still to our surprise, we bought that mobile home for $50 and a $5 auctioneer’s fee. We closed on the spot. To our dismay, we had missed the auction of another mobile home that no one showed up for and that we were too lazy to attend. We did try to negotiate with the auctioneers and later the bank but with no luck. We missed an opportunity.
We sold that mobile home for $8,000 with $400 down, a note for $7,600 payable at 12.75% for four years. As we figure it, our money will be out of the deal in about 13 months and the yield on our money is 93.15%.