Plan ahead by saving up cash. Scooping up a good deal on a mobile home often means paying cash.

Plan to make money in at least two and maybe all three of the standard ways to make money in real estate. The standard three are: cash flow, appreciation at resale, and tax savings (which will amaze you). Used mobile homes depreciate rapidly if they are uncared for, but a well-cared-for newer double-wide with land may well appreciate, so appreciation may or may not not be part of the equation.

Stay alert to good deals and buy low, then sell higher. Mobile homes, or manufactured homes, as the Federal government calls them, are harder to move than stick-built homes; mortgaging a mobile home is challenging and at times, nearly impossible, depending on the ever-changing underwriting guidelines. Because of this, there are periods of low, low pricing. That's when you swoop in, cash in hand, and buy. You can rent it, then sell later---at a very healthy profit---when mortgage underwriting loosens up again.

Collect a very good security deposit if you rent it. Also, keep in mind that even if underwriting guidelines loosen up, banks will finance only double-wides that are less than 10 years old. They also have to be permanently attached to a foundation of some sort, the hitch has to be removed, and sometimes the axles, too.

Stick with renting it. If cash flow is your primary goal or the mortgage market is tight, don't worry about selling it at all. Let's say you can buy a decent single-wide for $10,000 with the improved land. You may be able to rent it for $500 a month. That's $6,000 a year. In less than two years, you will have totally recouped the purchase price and made an extra $2,000, to boot, along with enjoying the tax benefits.

Sell, but don't send your buyers to the bank to get a mortgage. You be the bank. If someone buys it and you hold the mortgage, many of the landlord duties don't exist. No lawn-mowing. No repairs. No trash pick-up.

Do collect a solid down payment and escrow money. The buyers are more likely to treat their purchase as an investment that they will lose if they fail to keep up the payments. Banks do not give the down-payment back to the homeowner in the event of foreclosure. They just keep it.

Sell at fair-market value or maybe a little less. You can reasonably charge a slightly higher interest rate than a bank would. Don't go crazy though. You'll be increasing the odds of default, which among other things may result in you owning a mobile home that has been trashed by the angry owner.

Consider this: If you've ever had a mortgage, you know that the first few years worth of payments are mostly interest payments. If you're the bank, you collect that money.

Here's an example: You pay cash for a nice double-wide on a nice lot for $40,000. If the mortgage market weren't tight, it would have sold to someone for $80,000, but no one could get financing. You find someone who would like to buy it. You sell it to him for $75,000 with $7,500 down. You hold the mortgage of $67,500 for 15 years at 7.5%.They pay you $625.70 a month plus money for taxes and insurance. After 2 years, they will have paid you $15,016.80, but they still owe you $62,239.10. You made $9755.90 in interest.

Weigh the pitfalls against the cash benefits of buying used mobile homes. Weigh them carefully. The pitfalls are as follows:

Mobile homes may depreciate in value.
Not everyone is cut out be a landlord. Sometimes you have to be a nag, sometimes you have to evict people, and it can be shocking when you walk into a vacated unit and find damage high and low. It really does happen.
You can't depend on the mortgage market loosening up when you need it to.
You're going to have to tie up a lot of cash, but you can get a very good return.

Remember at all times: Buying used mobile homes is an investment, not a sure thing. All investments carry risk.