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If you own a mobile home dealership or brokerage, you probably deal with many buyers who are looking to finance a home. After all, there are only so many people who have tens of thousands of dollars in cash sitting in their bank accounts. But when a buyer who’s financing their home comes to you, there’s a choice you need to make. Will you help them through the process? And if so, how much help should you give them? Keep reading to find out how you should handle the situation.
What to Consider
Before you start working with buyers who need financing, there are a few things you should consider. First, you need to think about your local market. In most markets, there’s a shortage of cash buyers. Is it difficult to find a cash buyer in your area? Even if it’s not difficult, it could take a great deal of time to find someone who wants to pay for a mobile home with cash.
If you live in a lower-income area, offering financing is almost a necessity. You should look at the sale price of other homes in your area and determine whether or not the sellers offer financing. If no one does offer financing options, you could stand out that way. And if everyone else offers financing, you may need to do so to keep the competitors from stealing the spotlight.
Ultimately, it comes down to knowing your buyers. If your homes are $15,000 or more and your typical buyers don’t have access to the cash, you should consider accepting financing and even recommending lenders to your customers.
Your Current Business Model
Spend some time thinking about your current business model. How many deals are you doing per month? Furthermore, how long is it taking you to complete each deal? By offering financing, you may be able to sell homes much quicker.
This could seem counterintuitive. After all, financing takes time. If a buyer purchases a home with financing, it could take three or four weeks until they’re ready to close. Despite the time it takes to finance, the process still tends to be quicker. The pool of cash buyers is much smaller than the pool of financing buyers. Therefore, a home usually sits on the market for a much shorter time when you’re working with a borrower.
Your Desired Relationship with Buyers
It’s equally important to consider what you want your relationship to be like with customers. If you don’t have plans of selling multiple homes, you probably don’t care what customers think of you. Meanwhile, someone who is trying to build a business cares about their reputation.
By helping your buyers with the financing process, you can improve your brand. Buyers are more likely to leave you good reviews and refer you to other people when you help them. If you sell a home to a wholesaler or park owner, they’re more likely to use you for repeat business.
This isn’t to say that you have to hold the buyer’s hand through the whole process. However, referring a buyer to a lender or spending a few minutes to help them understand the process is an easy way to build rapport.
How Much Help Should You Give?
The amount of assistance you offer your buyers should depend on a few details. For one, how quickly are you looking to make a sale? If you want to do more volume and speed up your transactions, you should give the buyer a little help with the process. This could mean helping them fill out an application or acting as an intermediary between the buyer and the lender.
It’s worth mentioning that there’s such a thing as offering too much assistance. Your time is valuable, so you shouldn’t be spending hours a day on financing. If you spend too much time offering financing assistance to your buyers, then you’re missing out on growing your business. Consider exactly how much time you’re willing to dedicate to your customers.
As with most aspects of business, you need to find the right balance. You shouldn’t work for free, but you also shouldn’t expect your buyers to handle the whole process alone.
Pick the Right Company
If you’re dreading the thought of offering financing, there’s something you should know. Mobile home lending doesn’t need to be a nightmare. In fact, it can be a straightforward process. The right lender doesn’t need you to facilitate the process at every step. Rather, they handle the majority of the work.
With companies like Keyhole Connect, you don’t need to spend all of your time helping your buyers get financing. Once you refer a buyer to Keyhole, you can rest easy. Because it’s a smaller company, they don’t forget about your clients or leave them to handle the process alone. You can help your customers but remain hands-off.
Deciding Your Path Forward
Ultimately, there are a few ways you can handle mobile home financing. For one, you can leave the entire process up to the buyer. The disadvantage of this method is the fact that most mobile home buyers don’t know where to go for financing. If you don’t provide a list of lenders to your buyers, they probably won’t be able to find a lender or they won’t even try to look for a lender.
Another option is to offer a list of financing companies. If you know a little bit about the companies, you can write a short blurb about each company’s requirements. Doing this makes it easier for your customers to find a lender who can work with them. Once the buyer connects with the lender, you can let the lender finish the process.
Finally, you can walk your buyer through the entire process. This method does take up the most time, but it usually expedites the process. If you’re willing to provide some extra assistance to the buyer, you could be rewarded with a speedy closing and a stellar review. In the end, it’s often worth it to go the extra mile.