How to sell motorhome with existing loan

We bought Our current Rig from a private seller in the USA!

Getting the Title was a PITA partly because money was still owed by the Seller.

The amount owed was slightly more than what we were willing to pay, so the seller had to pay the note in full before the Title was released. Then it took a couple of weeks to actually obtain the Title.

Other than being inconvenient and requiring a lot of patience on everyone's part
it went smoothly.

There won't be a Next Time I hope!

Sea Dog, you were wise to walk on that one. Sounds like she had no intention of paying off the loan, next thing you know the bailiff would be showing up accompanied by a tow truck. You would be on your own trying to recover the money.

Sea Dog, I don't blame you, as I would have walked as well on a deal like that. What should have happened is for the buyer to send a notarized letter to the Mass Bank that held the loan, authorizing them to discuss the pay off amount with you, to accept payment directly from you and upon the loan being paid off, to release the title to the trailer directly to you.

Then everyone would have been protected, you, the seller and the bank. The real problems seem to develop, when the seller is upside down on the mortgage on their RV, and the selling price won't pay off the loan. Way too many problems can develop in paying for an item that the seller, really doesn't own in full.

I would get in contact with the lending department where your MH is financed through and ask them the appropriate steps they would like to take. As mentioned above I would have the buyer make the payment to your lender and have the lender send the title and lien release directly to the buyer.

To show good faith with the buyer you could give them a bill of sale accompanied by a SPECIAL power of attorney limited to signing your name off on the title to the MH along with a duplicate title application.

A power of attorney for the title accompanied with a duplicate title application is just as good as having a title in hand. The only thing missing to take full ownership of the coach would then be a lien release. You can limit that issue by signing an "Authorization to payoff and release lien information" form to the buyer. The buyer then could pay the loan off and be guaranteed a lien release and would already have the title equivalent in hand (POA + Dupe title app.) This is almost universal in how these types of transactions are processed at dealers for the auto industry. With those 3 forms I am guaranteed ownership as soon as I make payment in full to the original lien holder. Get your ducks in a row and you will have a smooth sale.

You might even want to get the buyer directly talking to the lien holder on the MH so relieve any undue stress or fear in the transaction. If the buyer is also financing the MH then you can have the buyer's lender talk directly to your bank and pretty much handle the sale for you.

I've been in sales a long time and if you can't give reassurance that everything will be ok and not turn into a nightmare then you will miss out on a sale. Don't believe me? Read the post above from Sea Dog. Looks like he missed out on a nice 5ver because the seller didn't know how to approach the situation.

These types of sales happen every day 1000 times over. Key is again, KNOW exactly how you will explain how the sale needs to work to the buyer. Don't let their be any uncertainty or the buyer may walk.

Best of luck to you.


Mike

joe b. wrote:
Since the loan holder, a bank or finance company, is the holder of the title, you are in effect a middle man on the sale. The buyer would make payment to the loan holder, who would then, when satisfied that the loan is paid for, would release the title to the buyer. If any funds are remaining, they would be released to you. If the RV brings less than what is owed, you as the borrower, would be responsible to make up the difference before the bank/loan company would release the title.

If the buyer is also financing the RV, then your loan holder would release the title to the buyer's loan company, when your loan is satisfied. Usually best to talk to your loan holder and see how they want to handle the matter.

These sales can go very smoothly or can turn into a can of worms, on occasion.

Yes but be advised that in many states (like Michigan) the owner, not the bank holds the title. And that title has a lien entered on it. To sell in that case it's the same process but the bank will issue a "release of the lien" document when the loan is satisfied.

Sea Dog wrote:
I backed out of the deal on a really nice fiver.
I am Canadian, this was in Florida.
The vendor had a loan at a bank in Mass.
She wanted cash paid to her, with which she would pay off the loan,
then, she said, the bank would send us the title.

Sounded iffy to me, so we backed out.
Still regret losing the trailer.

I sold a 5th wheel using those same terms. All went well and everyone was satisfied. It happens everyday. I don't see the "iffy" part.

I backed out of the deal on a really nice fiver.
I am Canadian, this was in Florida.
The vendor had a loan at a bank in Mass.
She wanted cash paid to her, with which she would pay off the loan,
then, she said, the bank would send us the title.

Sounded iffy to me, so we backed out.
Still regret losing the trailer.

Since the loan holder, a bank or finance company, is the holder of the title, you are in effect a middle man on the sale. The buyer would make payment to the loan holder, who would then, when satisfied that the loan is paid for, would release the title to the buyer. If any funds are remaining, they would be released to you. If the RV brings less than what is owed, you as the borrower, would be responsible to make up the difference before the bank/loan company would release the title.

If the buyer is also financing the RV, then your loan holder would release the title to the buyer's loan company, when your loan is satisfied. Usually best to talk to your loan holder and see how they want to handle the matter.

These sales can go very smoothly or can turn into a can of worms, on occasion.

We traded our 26' Gulfstream on our current motorhome, an Allegro Open Road. We had not paid off the note on the Gulfstream but it was taken care of by the dealer.