Barbara J. Hamby

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Location,Location,Location vs. Timing,Timing,Timing

In real estate sales I’ve always heard the buy word is location. But, apparently, that’s only partly true when selling mobile/manufactured homes in parks. Two years ago I tried to sell mine and couldn’t give it away, even at the price I had paid, that seemed to be a bargain when I bought.

At a garage sale up the street from here, I learned today, the manufactured home had sold the day the realtor put the sign up. Now the owner and her daughter are scurrying to sell the contents before she has to move out. Several other homes have sold very quickly in recent weeks.

This is a lovely, very desirable park with an outdoor pool and clubhouse. The Tigard/Tualatin area is becoming more upscale with the addition of a new shopping center, Bridgeport Village. It’s the first shopping center I’ve run across in the Metro area with valet parking. Very hoity-toity, as we used to say.

The irony is, if there is even a hint a park owner might sell, all units older than five or ten years become instantly valueless. No parks will take older mobiles, no matter how well maintained they are. In my opinion, my 1974 reconditioned double-wide, is better built than the new one I bought twelve years ago. The only advantage of the newer model was additional insulation. But value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, or potential buyer.