PLEASE HELP!!!--need advice regarding eviction, foreclosure...

Here's the situation: my mother owns two mobile homes in Delaware. They are in parks. She owns both homes outright, but she does not own the land, so she pays lot rent. She lived in Home A for ten years, did the maintenence on it, it's in good shape. She bought Home B last year without having a buyer for Home A, and all this time, she's had Home A on the market, and it hasn't sold. Home B has been nothing but problems--she had to have the plumbing replaced, the air conditioning replaced, and the furnace went out, so she didn't have heat from March on. That also needs to be replaced.

Anyway, she put Home B on the market as well at the beginning of the summer, and she's been unable to unload either place.

Her lot rent for both homes for the YEAR is due on August 1st. Because of the repairs she needed to make on Home B, and because she's been paying lot rent and bills on both homes, she doesn't have the money. She doesn't have ANY money, and August 1st is this week. I'm able to give her some, but it's not enough to cover what she will owe on the 1st.

Does anyone have any information on eviction proceedings in Delaware, or know where I can find some? I Googled it, but can't find any solid info. Does eviction take a while? If she's making a good faith effort to pay what she can, can they still evict her?

She's thinking about just giving one of the homes to the park owners in lieu of lot rent. Is this a good or bad idea? Wouldn't she be better off going through eviction proceedings and attempting to sell one of the houses in the meantime?

I am at my wit's end with this situation, I don't know what she should do, and she's so stressed out that it's killing me! Please give me any information or advice that you have about this situation. Thank you, thank you in advance.

Cat

I think your mother is SOL. I don't think they can repossess the trailers from her, though.

http://www.lscd.com/mobile_home_evicitons.htm#Failure%20to%20Pay%20Rent

can she borrow against one - equity type loan - to pay what she owes in back rent? temporary solution but could get them off her back for a bit.

And it gave me some more leads too. Thank you!

Cat

But doesn't she have to have the lot rent paid to borrow against the equity of the mobile?

Cat

boy that would suck - talk about a catch 22..

good luck!

http://www.lscd.com/evictions%20brochure.htm

your Mom might want to read through it. it is specific to Delaware.

foreclosure takes more time than eviction and with the economy,banks are either cracking down or letting people slide,it really depends.

sorry i can't offer more help.

What would they require her to do?

Will they take a partial payment? Perhaps an equity position in her homes?

The first step is to try to negotiate a workout wth the lot owners.

She's not good with money, my mother, obviously. I don't think they will take a partial payment.

However, the equity thing might work. How does that work? Can she buy that portion back from them when one of the homes sells? Does it have to go through a bank, or can they do it privately?

Thank you for your response, that's a good idea.

Cat

she can enter into a contract with the lot owners, giving them a piece of her property equal to the value of the rent owed. (They'll probably want some interest, but that can be negotiated...)

Let's say the house is worth 30K, and the lot rent is 10K...she deeds 1/3 interest in her property, payable when the house sells. It can be done easily with very little cost. At closing, the lot owners get paid from the proceeds of the sale, in a priority position, so they get paid first. Your mom gets the rest.

The advantage to them is they have a preferential position, they have an interest in the property, and they may have a tax advantage, depending on when they recieve the money.

Of course if they can immediately rent the space, they may not be interested....

But it's a shot.

Thank you thank you thank you. This might be the solution we need.

Cat

about this. A real estate lawyer. You need some legal advice about which options are doable. A lawyer could also help you in case the rapport with the mobile home park owner sours.

Yes, I would at least scrape together the $$ for the rents due this week.

Can you just let the bank take the 2nd house and sell it at auction? When people go to auctions, they know they are buying "as is." Just a thought.

I can partly sympathize, I'm paying off a large plumbing bill. And I still have 1/2 the job to go.

My mother gets very flustered and makes decisions out of fear in these cases. If she had an attorney on her side (s)he could help my mom make the SMARTEST decision in this situation.

Thank you, Supernova!

Cat

DROP the price. I hope she isn't trying to get back what she paid for it...With these properties, it is impossible. They drop in value every year...depreciating as much (or more) as regular homes appreciate in value...very bad investment. Bottom line: ANYTHING will sell at the right price. She may need to take a hit on it, selling for far less than she wanted...but that may be what it takes to prevent losing everything.

There haven't been any offers. She's told her realtor she'll take anything.

Cat