Sorry if this is not where I should post this...wasn't sure if I should post it here or on a construction forum. I am in a very unique predicament. First off, let me start off by saying I believe no one should buy things unless they have the money to do so. Here's my questions...it's rather long so I apologize in advance. My parents gave me a 1969ish mobile home about 4 years ago. This particular mobile home was re-done in mid to early 1990's. The man built a frame house over half of the mobile home. Hence, the living room and master bedroom was completely new construction. That part of the place is really nice today and looks new. The other bedroom and part of the kitchen had this new roof and all put over top of it (regular house style roof). Recently, when I acquired the house, I redid almost all of the interior with new sheetrock, paint and carpet. I have two room left to do(wiring, sheetrock, etc). The rest of the house has new number 12 wire with 20 amp breakers. All the old trailer wiring has been removed. The outside looks horrible because one side looks like a house and the other looks like a trailer. It sits on one acre. I own everything. It is my American Dream to stay debt free. My wife and I don't have any bills (thank God) I have considered spending 5k or 10k to finish the roof, rooms, and add a porch on the backside. However, many people have told me not to. In fact, some tell me to bulldoze it and get a mortgage and pay 30 years. Remember what I said about being debt free? I wish my grandfather was still sane to tell me what to do he was very knowledgeable in this area. I would like to get as much as I can out of this free home. My plan is to save 30 or 40k within a year and then use money from this place to buy a 'real house'. Am I just dreaming? Can I get money out of a place like this? Should I fix it up? How can I maximize my profit out of this place?

There is no reason to get rid of real estate that is paid for and generating income. If you can rent this out then keep it for the rest of your life.

Depending on location the 1 acre of land might be worth more than the trailer.

This is where you need a professional to determine what you have an don't have.There are many issues with a property such as yours like financing to sell,permitting for repairs,whether you have a permanent foundation,manufactured home,or a trailer.

I can tell you from my friends who have been in the trailer business for over 40 years and have about 100 trailers that they carry very little value.

I would not put too much money into this property because you might over improve it and not get the money back when you sell.You most likely look at wiring and etc. as updates where a buyer sees maintenance issues they will not pay extra for.

Don't put so much into this property that you make a bad investment.Debt isn't a bad thing when leveraged correctly.Interest rates are at about 40 year lows.If you decide to buy in 2 to 3 years you won't drive the bargain price you could get today and interest rates will likely be higher.

Good luck-no legal advice

Or plan to sell it with Owner Financing. These days, there are very few Mortgagees offering financing on Mobile Homes of ANY age; but this is particularly true of those built prior to 1976 when MH Building Standards came into effect.

You could talk to some of your local lenders and see if any will be willing to take the unit on as the collateral in a portfolio loan . . . . if you find a well qualified Buyer. Their willingness to loan will, of course, will hinge on the quality of the Buyer; but knowing in advance that they would at least consider your mobile will make things far less frustrating later.

There's another current thread on this subject . . . . I'll try to attach the link. Remember, it's a Trailer. It was built and assigned a UCC Number. It will always be a Mobile Home. You can't change that. Here's that link:

Loans for Manufactured Homes

It depends on what you have and don't have.

Client had 4 acres with a cell tower on it.Cell tower had 900 month income and land was paid for.Only generated 10,800 a year in gross income.

Sold the contract off for 125k and then pieced out the other land for commercial.Took some of the few hundred k and bought an apartment building generating much higher returns.

In this case above the person really needs to know what type of land they have.If they can sell the land at a premium because of location they can leverage that into much greater returns in many markets.