Buying Homes

We had enough money to buy three homes this month. The first list came out, we went to look at the homes, and bid on a doublewide and two 16 x 80 homes. We are only planning, at this point anyway, to bring in one more doublewide.

There are three lists that come out for Alabama homes. Another list had three more 16 x 80 homes, and we decided we should check them out too since the last bid date for those was after bids were awarded from the first list. We had already sold the one we brought in last month, and it was not even ready yet! (The new owners moved in this weekend.) We needed homes.

We were high bidder on all three homes on the first list, but did not get them. Why? Because this is the first time they were on the list and we bid several thousand dollars less than the company wanted for a minimum. They will go back on the list next month and be able to be purchased for less money. Paying their minimum made no sense to us; by the time we got them all ready we could not sell them for more than they cost.

The second list awarded two days later. Jim bid on two of the three homes on the list. The other one was just too rough. Both houses he bid on were in excellent shape. The company called him, told him what the highest bid was in both cases, he went up the required $500 above the bids, and we won both. They should be in the community within the next two weeks. Our original bids remain on the homes from list one for the coming bid (June).

That said, we have decided not to go up on our bid on the doublewide. If we can buy it for the bid amount we will. That would make sense. Doublewides in our community just don't sell as fast as the 16 x 80 models, and we find people move in and move out of them as if they were rentals. This is definitely not our intention. It is obvious to us that the $100 difference in monthly payment makes a huge difference to people in this area. We will bring in one more doublewide because we have a perfect lot for one, but it does not have to be now. It makes much more sense to bring in the units that supply our demand. (Simple economics.)

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