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.
While pending on the Seller’s situation, this may not be a bad idea, we at The Mobile Home Dealer stress that there are quite a few pitfalls with the idea of trying to sell your mobile home by yourself.
In this brief article, we will look to educate both Buyers and Sellers on why trying to sell their Sarasota Florida mobile home on their own is an idea worth rethinking.
House with FSBO sign
If you’re considering selling your mobile home without the help of a real estate agent, you might want to think again. Although it may seem like a good idea to save money on commission fees, there are several reasons why this is not a good idea.
First of all, selling your mobile home yourself means that you will be responsible for all of the marketing and advertising. This can be a very costly and time-consuming endeavor.
Additionally, you will need to be available to show the mobile home to potential buyers at all hours of the day and night. If you’re not available or if prospective buyers don’t like what they see, you could miss out on a sale.
Finally, negotiating the sale price of a mobile home can be difficult if you’re not experienced in doing so. An experienced real estate agent will know how to get the best possible price for your mobile home.
Reason 1: Overpricing Your Mobile Home
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.
Reason 2: Not Completing The Closing Paperwork Correctly
When selling a mobile home on leased land in Florida the Seller needs to have the title transferred to the Buyer upon closing. This is to be done at the DMV in the county where the sale is completed. Many times this is not done as the Seller feels that after they get paid and move out they are not supposed to do anything else to complete the sale.
When the title is not properly transferred from the Seller to the Buyer then the Buyer never gets their title and, on paper, does not have all the paperwork they need to show ownership of their new home.
Reason 3: Taxes Are Not Paid To The State Of Florida
When selling a mobile home on leased land in Florida the correct taxes need to be collected from the Buyer and paid by the Seller to the Florida Department of Revenue. The sales tax amount is based on the amount the home sold for along with the county surtax that is assessed for the county once the sale is completed.
Mobile home in Sarasota Florida
If the tax is not paid on behalf of the Buyer then this could lead to additional fines and penalties that are owed which can lead to a very costly error.
Although selling your own mobile home is possible, there are more disadvantages and advantages. Here are some additional issues that you may run into if you choose to do it yourself.
You can lose money. According to statistics, mobile homes sold without a realtor are less than 15% compared to those sold by the agent. This is understandable because agents know what they are doing to maximize the price. The higher the price sold is the bigger their commission.
You can lose lots of time. You are losing time the moment you start the process. From posting online, researching where to post, doing the legal paperwork, and meeting with potential buyers, everything will be overwhelmingly time-consuming.
Paperwork. There is no need to explain here. Paperwork always means a headache especially if you are not an expert in this field.
Quality of buyers. Realtors know exactly what type of buyers your mobile home will attract. But by letting every interested party take a look at your home, you are not only losing a lot of time, but you are also wasting the time of quality buyers because you don’t know which is which. Realtors have contacts and a database of potential buyers.
At the end of the day, the money you lost by selling your mobile home yourself might be bigger than what you are supposed to pay the realtor, not to mention the time you lost.
If you are looking to sell your mobile home in the greater Sarasota Florida area in an attempt to cash out with the scarcity of housing currently available in the area we feel this may not be a bad idea. However, make sure you, as the Seller, continue to work with a licensed professional who can help guide you through the sales process so that you are able to not only get your home sold in the fastest time but also to make sure all of the paperwork and taxes have been paid.
If all of this is not done correctly then you could be in a world of trouble!
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:
- Why Do Sarasota Mobile Home Park Approvals Take So Long?!
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong When Selling Your Sarasota Mobile Home Yourself?!
- How Does A Sarasota Florida Mobile Home Park Qualify Income?
- How To Know If Your Sarasota Mobile Home Has A Roof Leak?
- How Many People Can Be On A Sarasota Florida Mobile Home Park Application?
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