I don't know if this the right category or not to post this. Here is some background and my idea. I am 51 years old. I have no experience in real estate investing. I have spent the last year doing some reading and learning while I save money. Initially, I wanted to do house hacking. As I spoke to people around me about it. One of them mentioned mobile homes. So I looked up pricing on the internet. Saw one today for $2,000 (made in 1964!), but I have seen other for $8,000, $10,000, $15,000 and up from there. So, if I find one for say, $12,000, I would buy it with my own money, then I would own it outright. I don't have a great job, but its not bad. I have very low bills though, so I could save $12k in about a year.

All the MHs I looked at were in parks. My thought is: I find one worth the money in the $10-12k range, buy it outright, live in it (in the park) for about a year until I save enough to get another one, then rent out the first one. I would do this over and over. I may eventually just stay in one, and buy others just to rent out without me moving every year or so. The tenant would have to pay me to rent the MH and pay the lot rent for the park. If I charge him $1,000 a month for the MH, I would get my $12k back in a year. If I charged $500/month, I would get it back in 2 years. Everything is profit after that (sort of). If I continue to charge $500 month, that's $6,000/year, If half of that went for maintenance, it's still $3,000/year. That's 25%/year on my initial investment. I know MHs don't appreciate like a house does, but even as it loses value over the years, I am still making money. If it lasts for 10 years, even factoring in the first 2 years I got nothing, it seems like a reasonable plan.

I had a second thought that a few years down the road, I could look at purchasing a small mobile home park, maybe with an investing partner. I could buy MHs in the park, or even pay to move the ones I own to the park. Eventually, I would own the park and the MHs. Then I(we) control everything.

I know there are details to work out, and I am still in the thinking/planning phase, while I continue to save money, but is this a conceivable plan? If you guys have any advice or see anything I may be missing, I welcome any input. I would love to here from anyone who has done something similar to this, especially in the Phoenix Metro area, but even someone who has done this in another state, might be able to offer some insight. I like the idea of doing this with mobile homes, because I can buy them outright, so I would own it sooner than mortgaging a house.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to any replies.