Selling a Mobile Home That Has to Be Moved in Arkansas
The short answer
You can sell it, and you shouldn't scrap it before somebody looks. We buy homes that have to be relocated when the numbers work.
Here's the whole thing in one sentence: the home has to be worth more than what it costs to disconnect it, haul it, and set it back up. Age, width, condition, access, and distance decide that. A good home with a short haul and an easy driveway pencils out. A rough old home down a narrow lane usually doesn't.
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What type of home is it?
Titan Property Investors is a private real estate investor that buys homes for its own account with the intent to resell or assign for a profit, and is not a licensed real estate broker, agent, or attorney. Submitting this form creates no obligation to sell. Any cash offer is non-binding until both parties sign a written purchase agreement. Calls may be recorded for quality and compliance.
Why the move cost drives everything
With a normal home sale, condition and location set the price. With a home that has to move, there's a bill sitting in front of the value before anybody gets to keep a dollar.
That bill covers disconnecting utilities, pulling skirting, taking out tie-downs and piers, sourcing axles and a hitch if they're gone, permits, escort vehicles on some routes, the haul itself, and then setting the home back down and leveling it on the other end.
Every one of those is a real cost with a real invoice. So when we look at your home, we're not just asking what it's worth. We're asking what's left after the move.
Age is the first filter
Newer homes hold value and are easier to place somewhere else. Older ones get harder fast.
Anything built before June 1976 is its own category. Those predate the federal building standard, and a lot of parks won't accept them and a lot of lenders won't finance them. That doesn't make the home worthless, but it shrinks the list of places it can legally go, and that pushes the value down.
Age by itself doesn't kill a deal. A well kept 1998 double-wide beats a beat-up 2010 single-wide most days. But age sets the ceiling on what a move can justify.
Single-wide or double-wide
A single-wide travels as one piece. Fewer permits, less equipment, cheaper setup on the far end.
A double-wide travels in halves. Two trips, more rigging, and then somebody has to marry the halves back together, reseal the roof line, and finish the inside seam. That runs real money.
Double-wides usually carry enough extra value to be worth it. But it does change the math, and it's why a double-wide with bad access sometimes doesn't work when a single-wide on the same lot would.
Whether the home will survive the trip
A move puts stress on a home. Anything already weak gets worse on the road.
We look hard at the frame first. A frame with heavy rust or a bend in it is a problem no cosmetic work fixes. Then soft floors, roof condition, and water damage in the walls, because those tell us whether the structure holds together when it flexes.
A home that won't survive transport isn't a home anyone can buy for moving, no matter how the inside looks.
Access can kill a deal on its own
This is the one sellers never think about, and it stops more deals than condition does.
Walk your lot and picture a semi with a sixty foot load backing in. Then look at:
- How wide the driveway is and how tight the turn off the road is
- Tree limbs and power lines hanging over the route
- Whether the ground is firm enough for heavy equipment, especially after rain
- Fences, gates, septic lines, and retaining walls in the path
- Any bridge or culvert with a weight limit between you and the highway
- Decks, carports, additions, and add-on rooms that have to come off first
Distance and where it's going
Movers charge by the mile once you're past the base setup, so a home going twelve miles costs a lot less to move than one going two hundred.
It also matters whether there's somewhere for it to land. A home with a park lot or a piece of ground already lined up is worth more than one with no destination, because that one has to sit in storage or go straight to a buyer we haven't found yet.
That's part of why our number on a relocation home isn't the same as our number on a home staying put.
If the park gave you a deadline
This is the most common version of this call. The park is closing, changing hands, or cleaning up, and you've got thirty or sixty days to get the home off the lot.
Don't wait until week seven. Call while there's still time to look at it and line up a mover, because movers book out and permits take days.
And get the deadline in writing from the park. We've had sellers panic over a deadline that turned out to be softer than the manager made it sound on the phone.
Before you pay somebody to demolish it
Demolition costs money. People pay thousands to have a home torn out and hauled to the dump, and some of those homes had value.
Let us look first. It costs you nothing, and worst case we tell you it's not worth moving and you're right back where you were. Best case you get paid instead of paying.
What information should I gather?
- Year, make, and size, and whether it's a single or double wide
- Where it sits now and whether there's a deadline to be out
- Photos of the outside, the inside, the frame or underbelly, and the driveway
- Any decks, carports, or add-on rooms attached to the home
- Whether you have the title and whose name is on it
- Whether you know where the home would be going, if anywhere
If you cannot answer some of these, that is fine. Send what you have.
What should I do next?
- 1Get any move-out deadline from the park in writing
- 2Walk the access route and take pictures of the tight spots
- 3Find the title, or find out what's holding it up
- 4Don't pay for demolition or repairs until somebody has looked at the home
- 5Send us the photos and the details and we'll tell you if the move works
Can Arkansas Mobile Home Buyer help?
We are a real Arkansas team that has been buying mobile and manufactured homes here for years, including plenty of situations other buyers walk away from. Here is an honest read on this one:
- We buy Arkansas mobile homes that have to be relocated when the numbers work out
- When we buy it, the move and the coordination are on us
- We don't charge to look, and there's no obligation either way
- Some homes cost more to move than they're worth, and we'll say so instead of stringing you along
There is no obligation to contact us and no fee for looking at your home. If it is not a fit, we will say so.
Home has to come off the lot?
Send us the year, the size, where it sits, and a few photos. We'll tell you whether the move makes sense before you spend a dime on it.
Questions sellers ask us about this
- How much does it cost to move a mobile home in Arkansas?
- It swings widely with size, distance, access, and setup on the other end. That's why we get a mover to look at the actual route instead of quoting you a number over the phone.
- Will you buy a pre-1976 mobile home that has to be moved?
- Sometimes. Those are harder to place because a lot of parks won't take them, so the move has to be short and cheap for it to work. Ask us and we'll look.
- Do I have to remove the deck and carport first?
- Additions almost always have to come off before a home travels. That's normal, and it's part of the cost we weigh when we look at the home.
- Who cleans up the lot after the home leaves?
- We agree on that in writing up front, before anything moves. Ask about it when we talk so there are no surprises.
- How fast can a home be moved?
- It depends on the mover's schedule, permits, utility disconnects, and the weather. We won't put a fixed date on it before we've seen the home and the route.
Arkansas title, lien, tax, and government requirements can change and vary by situation. Nothing here is legal advice. Confirm current requirements with the appropriate Arkansas agency or your own attorney before you rely on it.
Related seller resources
- Selling the home without the landRented lots, park approval, and keeping the dirt you own.
- Homes with damage or additionsWhat has to come off before a home can travel.
- How much is my mobile home worth?Move cost is one piece of it. Here's the rest.
Ready to move on it? Sell my mobile home in Arkansas covers what we buy and how the sale works, or start at the seller resource center.