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cairparavel75

ks mobile home--no vin--help!

cairparavel75
16 years ago

Hi!

We bought an old mobile home on a permanent foundation on 3 acres in Wichita, KS about 6 years ago (2001). When we bought it we asked if we needed a title, and we were told no, it was considered real estate. Now we want to sell it and we are being told that the laws have changed and we need to get a title so that we can have the title eliminated. Problem is, we have no VIN number and without it, we can't do anything. I have called every county and state office possible and more,(DMV, appraisers, title companies, brokers, deeds office, records office)and there is no past record of a VIN number on this home. The man who owned it before me is deceased and his daughter has no clue about the history of the home. It is on record as being a 1973, but that is all the information we have about it. We have looked everywhere for a VIN, but there is very little that is original on this home. (We are not sure if it is a mobile or a modular either. No axle or wheels, or anything under it).

ANY help would be appreciated. Can I get a new VIN number assigned to this home? I have been told that I should just tear it down and start over, but I can't afford to do that. I paid for property with a home on it and I need to be able to sell it the same way if I am to get my money back! It seems so unfair that the laws can change so that I can not sell a home I bought 6 years ago!

Thanks for any help,

Comments (8)

  • coolvt
    16 years ago

    If a mobile home is in a park in Kansas, how is it registered? Is it through the DMV? If you know who you bought the place from you should be able in county records to go back to who he bought it from and then back again and again. I would think that the original person who put the home on the property had to supply a vin number.
    In Florida, it can be done this way.
    In some states you can file for a lost title. You would probably have to sign an affadavit swearing to certain facts. So, you have to have a little larceny in your blood. ....make up a vin # and apply for a new/lost title using this number. I don't think it's really being dishonest. If you legally own the home it's just a matter of satisfying the beauracracy.
    Do you know the brand of the home? If so, I might be able to find some old records with "sample" vin numbers so you would knwo how many digets it should have.
    One last thing...sometimes these old homes had the vin engraved on the very front part of the frame. You could check there.

  • cairparavel75
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks for writing. Our home is not in a mobile home park. It's in the country. I did check back to see if the previous owner got a permit when he put the house in back in the 70s, but there was no record that he did. I talked to his daughter and she said he bought the home used and owner financed it, but all this happened when she was about ten, so she didn't know very much.

    Yesterday we crawled around under the house looking for any information (YUCK) and found nothing, so no, we don't know the make.

    I've been told about the vin being on the front of the frame, but our house has been insulated and then resided over the original home. We looked at the siding to see if it would come off easily so we could peek underneath, but it didn't look good.

    Guess I'm leaning towards coming up with my own vin. But wouldn't they know if the vin was fake? Or what if we took one off a trashed home? I dont' want to be dishonest, but this is ridiculous!

    Lynn

  • DNT1
    16 years ago

    I had a similar problem after rehabbing a 1986 manufactured home. We wanted it to go FHA financing and that required not only the VIN number but also the HUD certification number. This one was also setup on a permanent foundation and the frame was cut away where the vin would have been stamped and the exterior had been resided all interior replaced so I KNEW NOTHING manufacturer/vin/hud # etc. I called the courthouse and they told me their was nothing on record BUT (and here is the important part) I went down MYSELF and searched thru the records I found where a previous owner had borrowed some money using the home a collateral it had most of the info I needed in the deed of trust recorded at the courthouse. After getting the manufacturer and vin I was able to get the HUD cert off a HUD site on the internet. The lesson here for me was that as sweet as the little ole lady is that runs the county recorders office is, she did not have the initiative or will to delve into a detailed search as I did. GO LOOK THRU THE RECORDS YOURSELF cairparavel75

  • coolvt
    16 years ago

    Cairparval,
    Email me at COOLVT@aol.com and we can discuss some other ideas if you can't come up with what you need.
    Mark

  • cairparavel75
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks, Coolvt,

    I may be contacting you! So far no luck. And thanks dnt1, for the tip. I'll go next week and check it out for myself. I've got a real estate broker looking into the problem for me right now. Hopefully he will come up with something good.

    I'd like to know what exactly this elusive law is anyway that's making my life so hard!

    Lynn

  • bus_driver
    16 years ago

    The VIN may be on the tongue, if it is a permanent part of the frame. Or it may be on the outside surface of front crossmember of the frame. It may be on the outside surface of the rear frame crossmember. It may be on a sticker pasted in a closet or cabinet, near or in the electrical panel or the enclosure for the water heater. Look for a exterior label or nameplate adjacent to a door or the point where the utilities attach to the unit. These locations are more likely for units built late 1976 and later.

  • dcsr2457 .
    3 years ago

    Mobile homes did not have vin until after 1976

  • Megan Dorough
    2 years ago

    Hi cairparavel75 im in the same situstion. How did you go about researching?

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