Mobile home park with own well and septic

[Dean Boyer]

We own 33 doors instate, but we are looking out of state at a mobile home park that has its own well and septic system.  Our current doors are all single and multifamily.  Should we steer clear of a park that is not connected to city utilities?

[Mario Dattilo]

@Dean Boyer they are higher risk generally speaking and you need to understand them well. Additionally they should be priced accordingly. They will come with regulatory requirements (especially the well) that you need to comply with. 

Whenever I’m looking at a park with private utilities the first question I ask is, can I connect to public utilities? I’ve connected and am connecting utilities at parks right now. It’s very doable if you budgeted properly and have good contractors and good govt. I have killed a couple deals because the municipality was too involved or restrictive on connecting to where it made more sense to pass. 

You will need professionals to inspect the utilities thoroughly on your behalf. 

You need to decide whether it’s worth the headache and risk and buy accordingly. 

avoid the lagoons and potentially waste water treatment plants if you’re concerned about higher risk and higher costs to replace. Septic is very common and manageable but make sure you have space to replace drain fields so you don’t end up having to remove homes to create space for them and end up forcing vacancy in the future  

lots to consider and too much to write in a post. I have a bunch of resources for mobile home park investors in my profile that I’d recommend checking out