At what point does it change from land with mobile homes to MHP?

[Ashley Swansend]

I am considering buying a chunk of cheap property in my area and putting a mobile home on it to rent out, I want to start with 1 MH and my goal would be to find a large enough piece of property that I could eventually add maybe 2-3 more MH’s onto it over a period of time. I’m not really looking for a park, just a low initial investment that will bring in a little extra income over time. Obviously I want to try to find something that already has a well, electric, and septic system set up. That also brings me to wonder if I will need to drill an additional well and septic system when i add the next home?  

Also I saw a 2 acre lot just outside of the nearest city for about 12,000 without a well drilled or septic or electric, but the location seems beneficial. 

There is a 5 acre lot in a more rural area going for the same price and it has the electric, well and septic already, but there is a mobile home already on the property that would need a full teardown, also it’s rural location could make it more difficult to rent out. It may be worth it though, I actually used to rent an apartment right around the corner from this place, it was in a four unit building that’s as almost always at full occupancy, as far as I remember the entire 2 years I lived there only one apartment was ever vacant and it was rented in about a months time.

I found a 3bd 2ba MH on my local Craigslist that seems to need minimal work, the previous owners did major updating, asphalt roof was replaced about  7 years ago, new furnace, new floors and paint. I would just have to replace a portion of the exterior wall that had an addition they removed when they prepped it for transport. They’re only asking $3,500 and I may be able to haggle with them.

I’m hoping to accomplish this with a budget of about $20,000, with a little wiggle room. I want to avoid any type of loan or Mortgage.

[Jeffrey H.]

Every city and county have their own ordinances for MHP's, and other types of properties.

For example in Houston, Texas there is no zoning, but there are both mobile homes and MHP ordinances.  A single mobile home is not allowed to be placed inside city limits, and MHP's must be 5 acres or more, and conform to specific construction standards.  However if you go outside of city limits then the county has more lax requirements and they are subjective about what is an MHP versus what is not - sometimes it's 4 homes, sometimes more.

Most water wells can support multiple homes, it's more about the treatment equipment sizing (e.g. chlorinators, filtration systems) and ability to keep up with demand, and also regulatory requirements of water testing once you have 15+ homes - it becomes an EPA thing instead of your state DEQ.  Most septic systems supporting a single home are sized one at a time unless planned as part of a larger community.

Between the land development, utility costs and bringing in a home it can be a good cash burn, so make sure you have it all spec'd out.