Big Bird asked for a drive by on a BofA preforeclosure. The home was suppose to be a concrete built single family, but actually was a manufactured home. I go to the address, lo and behold, the home is gone!

Notify, BB that the home no longer exists, explained everything I could about the vacant lot and asked if they wanted a bpo on the vacant land. Received an email with a copy of the appraisal from 2005 and the parcel ID number. Interesting enough the appraised value was $253k.

Took another trip to the lot and knocked on neighboring doors hoping to get a little insight. Mr Retiree was able to provide me with an abundance of information.

Mr Retiree said the neighbors had protested from the day the truck pulled up with the home on the flatbed and started assembling the home in the street. After the HOA filed suit against the owner(s) and over 4 years of litigation, the courts ruled in favor of the HOA and so ordered the manufactured home moved into a section of the community specifically designated for mobile and manufactured homes.

BB had indicated in their email that a bpo was done in January and Mr Retiree said the home was trucked away mid-May.

At the risk of getting responses from readers saying "about time", I will say this,the interesting part of this story is, I get an email from BB asking me to complete the order based on the appraisal.

I have read the email over and over! I sent a reply asking, do you want me to do a bpo on a vacant lot or on a house that was there but is now located at another address? No response, yet.

Then do it based on the appraisel. You just have to give adjustments based on the lack of home?

Sorry not helpful but I could not resist. They may be looking for a BPO based upon the historic value of the property from the time that the trailer was appraised.

Big Bird must get these by the gross.

They sent me one a few weeks ago in an established neighborhood. If the address was 712, for instance, there was a 710, then a vacant lot, then 714. There was an MLS from 2005 or so that actually had a house.

Took them 3 days to tell me to do it on the lot value only.

If they want it done based on the appraisal, then do it based on the appraisal. Just make sure you document in the order that the house is gone, and order based on appraisal per BB request. Just hope that form allows more than limited space so you can explain it good enough.

I've had a couple where couldn't see property from road, no tax records, and they sent me an old appraisal or BPO and asked me to do it based on that info.

It must be that the "house" was personal property and got up and left.

To quote from a different, but current thread:


So, evidently, someone forgot to glue, screw or nail down the "house" ?

I think it's very possible the property was screwed and nailed for a prolonged period of time. Maybe it just found a new pimp and relocated? You'll probably find the house on a different corner lot in the same neighborhood.

I Don't know but something smells fishy around here...I'll bet this is in Florida.

If it was not glued or nailed down in FL it probably just floated to the new address in the wind. :-)

Seriously on that one - I would do it as requested - write exactly what happened and scan it as a .jpg and upload it as a pic.

Then in comments I would 'briefly' explain and note
'see pic titled xxx' for more information.

After submitting - I would then email one of the 3 real people on this side of the pond that understands and let them know.

You have enough time in it already - and they can be a bit cheap at times when they pay for something they didn't get.

It is all part of 'their' game

I just got back from taking pictures of "It" . . . . an Exterior that nobody else wanted, I guess. They usually don't pay my Fee unless no one else bites!

"It" is a Skirted 1967 Mobile Home: 10' X 46' with a full length 12' X 46' addition sitting on a slab. It rests on its own Rural 0.15 Acre Lot along a Numbered Highway with a unreliable well and a questionable septic. The "Hitch" is still attached; but I don't think that was included in the 46' length.

I have all weekend to ponder this beauty - a HoneyMoon Deluxe. Do I try to comp it with other Trailers which are 460 SF GLA and strictly Genuine Mobile Homes and not mongrelized, or do I look for those hybrids comprised of 1012 GLAAG of Combo Tin Can and Stick Built Architecture ?

I don't know what to do! Those 10' X 46' Tubes are kind'a hard to find these days; even though they were very fuel efficient. Where do they go ?

Thinking . . . . Thinking . . . . Thinking. Somebody lives there. Somebody else took a Mortgage on it. I will find a value; but not in 15 minutes ! It takes me a while to warm up to some places.

I have to hang my hat on the age of 1967, cuz I don't dare guess the age of that addition. Please recognize that the addition is larger than the Original Tin Can.

This too shall PASS

I would comp it with the combined GLA of the MH plus the addition, provided that the addition is heated/cooled "living" area. otherwide, a utility or storage-room type of addition, no matter how large, would generally NOT be included in GLA. stick-built home would NOT be comparable.

I have had several instances with the "Bird" where an appraisal was provided, but was a different property. I had to Explain, Explain, Explain until they finally caught the drift.

Be sure to make an adjustment for structural obsolescence. I had a similar one a few weeks ago...mobile pre-HUD standards...had to think of some reason to value it down low even though the exterior wasn't that bad. I love using obsolescence as a negative adjustment when I can't come up with anything else!

We just got an REO listing that was built room by room around a 1963 vintage mobile home with an Inground Pool that has a screened cage. They took off the wheels and axles so it no longer needs a title (like a car) to sell it but it is truly a cobbled piece of Cr@p. Fortunatly they accepted the info and listed at my recommended price. It will be interesting to see if we get any showings.

If there is no home of any kind on the lot just do a bpo as vacant land only or ask for it to be reassigned.