Lost Mobile Home Title? Losing the title to a mobile home in Sarasota can be a significant challenge. Without the title, proving ownership becomes difficult, hindering potential sales or transfers of ownership. Replacing a lost mobile home title typically involves navigating a complex process through the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV). This process may require documentation such as a bill of sale, proof of residency, and identification. Additionally, there may be fees associated with obtaining a duplicate title. It’s essential for mobile homeowners in Sarasota to keep their titles in a safe place to avoid the complications and costs of replacing a lost title.
You have decided to sell your Sarasota, Florida, mobile home and move on to the next stage of your life.
Whether this move is to buy a bigger or smaller mobile home around Sarasota or to go a totally different path in life, you have made the decision that your current mobile home needs to be sold.
Here is the problem: you can’t find the mobile home title you are selling!
Does this sound familiar?
If so, you aren’t alone. We will discuss why losing the title to your Sarasota, Florida, mobile home is certainly not the end of the world.
In the state of Florida, when a mobile home is located within a mobile home park on leased land, it is viewed and taxed as personal property and not real estate.
Mobile Home
This means that the homes within these parks have a title with them and not a deed, so the purchase and sale process of the home is identical to that of a vehicle transaction.
In Florida, if a mobile home is within a mobile home park and the park is selling the home with the land included, this will equate to a real estate transaction, the same way a single-family home will be sold.
Here, a title will be issued for the sale of the home.
Mobile home titles are blue sheets of paper that look exactly the same as a vehicle title.
One key difference is that mobile home titles have a title for each side of the home.
For example, if the home being sold is a double-wide mobile home, then there will be a title for side a and a title for side b.
With this understanding, it is of utmost importance that anytime a mobile home sale is being transacted the Buyer and Seller have all titles necessary for the ownership of the home.
Mobile homes in the state of Florida within a mobile home park where the owner of the mobile pays lot rent are viewed as and taxed as personal property and not real property.
This is the same way a vehicle is taxed here in Florida.
The title of the mobile home details exactly who owns the mobile home, what, if any, leans are on the property, the VIN number, Florida ID number, and additional information about the property itself.
In Florida, the title of the mobile home is the ownership document, which essentially states who owns the house.
If a title does not exist or if the Buyer or Seller of the mobile home in Florida can not locate the title then that is not a big problem as the Department of Motor Vehicles can create what is referred to as a duplicate title.
A duplicate title comes with some additional paperwork and a small fee, but it can be printed off so that the mobile home owner has the proper documentation.
If a duplicate title is not applied for or a title is not obtained during the purchase or sale of the mobile home then, again, a duplicate can be printed off by the DMV. In order for this to happen the new owner of the mobile home will need to provide their photo identification along with a purchase agreement or bill of sale for the mobile home in question. Here the DMV will be able to get the information needed for the duplicate title without an issue.
We see issues when the Buyer of the mobile home buys the property but does not or refuses to obtain any information identifying the mobile home that was purchased, such as the VIN number or property ID. The state of Florida needs these identifiers to identify the property so that a duplicate title can be created.
The Department of Motor Vehicles has a process where the current home owner can move forward and apply for a duplicate title. This can be done so long as the owner of the home has had the previous title to the property and can present proper identification reflecting their ownership of the home. Here, the Department of Motor Vehicles will simply require the owner to pay a small fee and issue a duplicate title for the mobile home. In the upper right-hand corner of the title, it will state that the title is a duplicate and not an original which will not change the document’s legality.
Florida Mobile Home
When looking at selling your Sarasota, Florida, mobile home, it is essential always to have your paperwork set up and ready to go before the closing date. If, during this collection of documents, you are unable to locate the title do not worry, following the simple process of acquiring a duplicate title for your mobile home can be done easily so that there is no problem transferring the ownership of the mobile home from you as the Seller to the new Buyer.
Without the title, original or duplicate, then the ownership of the home can not be transferred.
This is Mark Kaiser with The Mobile Home Dealer. We help mobile home Buyers and Sellers improve their lives.
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