Looking for Mobile Home Park Brokers

[Clay French]

I've finally convinced my family that we should start looking for mobile home parks outside our area, but I'm not sure how to find brokers or agents that specialize in parks. Specifically, we're interested in Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi. Right now we're looking around mobilehomeparkstore.com and we've found a couple of leads, but it would be nice to find someone experienced to help us navigate our first 40+ lot mobile home park deal. Have any of you used agents or brokers in these areas? If so, would you recommend them?

[Jim Johnson]

Originally posted by Clay French:

I've finally convinced my family that we should start looking for mobile home parks outside our area, but I'm not sure how to find brokers or agents that specialize in parks. Specifically, we're interested in Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi. Right now we're looking around mobilehomeparkstore.com and we've found a couple of leads, but it would be nice to find someone experienced to help us navigate our first 40+ lot mobile home park deal. Have any of you used agents or brokers in these areas? If so, would you recommend them?

Clay,
Speaking as a guy that owns a Texas park, is closing on one at the end of September and put an offer on another Texas park last night... here is my take. There are almost no- that is zero- good nationwide mobile home park brokers that will deal with parks under 150 pads. The brokers are most interested in putting commissions in their pockets so in this business it is buyer beware.

So here is how I would tell you to find a park... first, develop a contact list of every park in the areas your looking to buy in. My list has about 60,000 parks, owners, phone numbers, addresses etc... then you need to hit them on all fronts... direct mail, call, phone and drive in and talk to the managers and owners. Then you need to put in offers, do your due diligence, buy and operate the community.

So I learned through many years of real estate investing how to do most of that stuff, then I polished the package through my assisioation with Dave Reynolds and Frank Rolfe at The Mobile Home Park Store. For what its worth, they teach a 3 day intensive boot camp on finding, evaluating, due diligence and operating mobile home parks. They will give you all of the tools, like that 60,000 park list, mail merge documents etc to assist you in finding parks. They will give you the files you need to operate the parks and evaluate the deals. They have a huge due diligence manual that will save your skin when visiting parks to purchase. To boot... you will have access to a private forum that only boot camp members have access to to share deals, bounce ideas and ask very in debt questions.

In short, the best weapon in this hunt is you... if your going to operate a park you better understand the rest of the stuff that goes along with it...
Next boot camp is in Colorado, late October... if you do not have the cash to pay for the boot camp they will even take interest free payments...

good luck to ya...