Selling Your Manufactured Home: What Buyers Look For
If you are selling your manufactured home there are a few updates you can do to make your home sell faster and at a higher price.
Through the years, I’ve been in many manufactured homes. I’m fortunate enough to live in one of the top states for manufactured home sells, after all! One trend that I’ve noticed is that many homeowners seem hesitant to change their home’s decor because they plan on selling it in the future. They still have the VOG paneling with blue and pink flowers that were popular in the 1980’s because they think to change it will reduce the home’s worth and while that is reasonable thinking, it’s not correct – updating a manufactured home’s decor doesn’t decrease the worth at all – it actually increases it!
Home buyers expect updated homes – statistics prove that manufactured homes with modern updates sell faster than a home that hasn’t been updated at all. I’m not talking about full renovations or remodels. Just simple updates like painting your walls, changing the floor covering, replacing the light fixtures, and other similar decor projects.
Of course, if you are keeping your home original because you like it like that then you should not change a thing! Your home is your castle and should be a direct extension of your personal style. Don’t let me, or anyone else, make you think it’s wrong to keep your home original if that’s how you want it. Your home should be exactly how you want it! This article is only about those that are hesitant to update their home because they think it will lower the home’s selling price.
Home buyers are using online real estate sites like mhbo.com, mhvillage.com, and Zillow to find their next home more than ever. A few photos displayed for each home listing is the only way for a potential buyer to judge whether your home’s listing could be their future home – you want every image to portray the fact that your home is well-maintained, modern, and ready to live in.
Related: How to Sell Your Manufactured Home.
Selling your manufactured home is all about first impressions. You can increase your chances of selling your home by making your home enticing and catch the potential buyers attention. Below are a few basic things that buyers look for most in a home.
Top 5 Features Home Buyer’s Look For
If you Google ‘What Home Buyers Look For in a Home‘ you will get 86,000,000 links. After scouting through a few of those links, I was able to compile a short list of the most popular features that home buyers look for in a new home. The following five features were repeated often:
1. An Updated Kitchen
By updated they seem to mean stainless steel appliances, modern counter tops, updated faucets, and kitchen islands.
2. A Well Maintained and Updated Home
Appearances really count in the real estate game! Buyers like to see a home that has obviously been well-maintained and cared for. They like modern amenities and structural decor such as chair railings, built-in shelving, trim and molding, updated windows, light fixtures, and other similar features.
3. A Master Bath Suite
Buyers like fancy bathrooms connected to master bedrooms and fortunately most every manufactured home has them! Updating the bathroom with a new counter top, sink and faucet will make the home even more enticing.
4. A Laundry Room
An organized laundry area ranks high on the list. Modern appliances with storage and ample space to do laundry chores are always welcomed by potential home buyers.
5. Ample Closet Space
We all need space to store our stuff out of sight. Walk-in closets are popular but even a regular closet with lots of organized storage will work.
Updating Your Manufactured Home
Once you’ve decided that you want to update your manufactured home, either for yourself or because you’ll be putting it on the market soon, you’ll need to come up with a game plan. You don’t have to spend a lot of money and in reality the larger the project, the less likely you’ll be to recoup your costs so keeping to simple cosmetic changes is best, especially if selling your home is the main goal.
Here’s a list of updates and changes you could consider:
Paint
- Walls
- Doors and Window Sashes
- Cabinets
- Trim and Molding
- Siding
- Shutters
- Ceiling
Related: 5 Common Questions about Painting Vinyl Mobile Home Walls.
Replace
Updating and replacing home features can get expensive but you can save a lot of money by purchasing overstocks or slightly damaged goods. Craigslist, flea markets, and Goodwill stores are a great place to look.
- Door Knobs
- Cabinet Pulls
- Faucets
- Appliances
- Doors and Windows
- Shutters
- Skirting
- Roofupdating
- Countertops
- Flooring
Selling your manufactured home doesn’t have to mean months of open houses or re-listings. By updating your home a bit and offering the options and features that home buyers look for most can make the selling process much easier. You don’t have to spend a lot of money though, simple updates are best!
As always, thank you for reading Mobile Home Living!
We’re considering buying a manufactured home. I’d be happy with these updates, but please keep them very neutral and let me add my own touches of colors. Or leave as is at a lower price and we’ll do the updates.
I just wanted to add another great used mobile home real estate website, called Midwest Mobile Homes.
I’m currently looking to buy a mobile home on it’s own land and what I’m looking for is updated windows, roof,plumbing, furnace and hwt. I’ m quite able to do the cosmetic stuff! So in my case, at least, you didn’t quite get it right.