Hello, can anyone give me some advice on mobile home parks. I am looking at buying 48 unit park. what are the pro’s & con’s. The cash flow is great, but what kind of problems can I expect ?
I wanted to ask the same question u are asking but it seems know one has any info. :-X I had looked into mobile homes a few years ago in North California but chickened out . I have no experiance to offer you on mobile home parks. I have owned and managed apartments in the past however and no longer do presently. I was wondering how MHP compare to apartment buildings??
I have not owned a MHP, but as a long time MHP resident, and being friends with MHP Owners. You can get a variety of people who rent, as with apartments, etc. There are those who are faithful to pay their rent on time and adhere to the rules, then there are those who have problems in either of those areas, or both. Hope this helps.
What I have to say-you won’t want to hear. My park that I sold for an exceptional profit was a nightmare! Right after I bought it there was a triple murder on one of my lots. (no the park was not in a war zone or combat zone)
I owned six of the units (SW) and had a total of 24 lots, all rented. One of my tenents collected the rents for me, in exchange for her free rent, but although I always got my rent, many tenants were always late. One of my tenants (his trailer) was a radio announcer and he got put in jail, and left his trailer. Problem-I didn’t have any space to haul it off to. Another unit that I owned, I decided to fix -up but when I went to do it, I found a crazy man in it. I later found out he’d been sneaking in to sleep every night. He left ham bones, and hog jaws laying on the floor, and used the coffee table for cooking his dope, (or maybe it was the ham bones) I spent a lot of time fixing commodes(I paid the water bills) and fixing busted water lines in the winter. A couple of the septic systems wern’t deep enough, so the sewage ran out on top of the ground in wet weather. I finally advertised the park for a little more than twice what I paid for it, and the buyer knocked 10,000 off the price he would pay me. Lesson learned. Do it Lonnies way. That is: If they lease it-they got to fix their own commode.
Just a short reply;
You will have problems in any business venture! Having said that,the biggest difference is in the cost of maintenance. Check the (LAWS) in your state reguarding (Travel Trailers,and Mobile Homes)! If you have a renter who leaves their unit on your property, and goes to jail or whatever, the rent goes on. If you own an appartment,and the person doesen`t pay their rent,you have to evict them and go through a process. After a few months you can file a lein on the trailer or a writ of possession! In the appartment,you have only a mess to clean up. If the appartment burns,you loose in many ways! If the trailer burns,you just spend 8-10 grand for another and your back in business!
Your Choice!!!(JOE)
I can also speak from experience. I am just closing on my 7th MHpark and it has been outstanding. It’s all I do for a living and now after 3 yrs I have full time staff that take care of everything for me. My job is to buy more parks and more MH’s to fill vacancies on notes. Yes you do have to really do your homework when looking at a park to buy. I have never been more excited about anything and made more money in my life and I feel 3 years was get rich quick for me. I do everything on notes and once you learn your take back proceedures it’s a cake walk. As far as getting rid of them I either pay the local salvage yard 1K to pick them up with a clam and stuff it in a dumpster or a resident will take it apart and haul it to the dump for 2 months lot rent. We have one doing the latter as we speak (type). It’s an unbelievable business if you learn to do it right!
Mr MH
MrMH what would you say is the right way to handle owning mobil homes-any advise for someone starting- how did you start?-3 yrs ago you said- any specifics would be great