Professional Mobile Home Park Management

[Collin Goodwin]

Hello All,

I have generally always associated "property managers" with SFR and multi family properties, and "park managers" (usually a resident) with Mobile Home Parks.

I am wondering if any MHP owners use professional property management companies for their park, or vice versa.

If so, what model do you use? % of lot rents, maintenance mark up, placement fee? This gets very interesting in MHPs as placement of tenants and homes on vacant lots can do a great deal for a parks value.

Thanks!

[Brad Johnson]

@Collin Goodwin

Here are four options.

1. Build a Mobile Home Park property management company from the ground up - cold call MHP owners (MHvillage.com has a comprehensive directory) and see if any of them are tired of managing their park (there will be plenty of people that say yes).
2. Negotiate a lease purchase, where you take over the management, pay the owner a monthly fee (similar to a ground lease with a purchase option), improve the park and then close at a later date when you have built up equity.
3. Identify a great deal, tie it up via an assignable purchase and sale agreement and reach out to a firm like ours. If we like and close the deal, we would pay you an acquisition fee and can explore hiring you to manage the park for a fee. Rinse and repeat until you have a portfolio of parks to manage.
4. Find hairy deal where the owner just wants someone else to deal with the park and is willing to do a 100% seller financed sale. These are not my favorite deals as the location / market is typically a disaster, but it is a way to get in the business without capital and the loan would be non-recourse to you.

Best of luck.