Struggling with Mobile Home Leasing

[Theresa P.]

Hi everyone!

I recently bought a mobile home park in South Carolina and am having a hard time renting the park owned homes. The previous owner had lower standards for tenants, and would lease to anyone who applied as long as they had no prior evictions in the county the park is located. I took over and wanted to raise the standards of the park, so I put a process in place to screen tenants. The result has been disappointing. I get a lot of inquiries from Facebook (via Zumper postings) and Craigslist, but people usually fall off the grid once I tell them I'd like them to submit W2's and pay stubs. So far, it feels like we are evicting more people than we are renting to (we also inherited many tenants who have not paid rent for months). 

I'm wondering if anyone would be willing to take a look at our "apply now" page on our site and read through our steps for applicants, and give me some feedback one what is going wrong here. 

Here is what our application process is:

1) Fill out a form on our website. 

2) Go to the park and tour one of our homes. 

3) Fill out an application on Cozy.com. The $40 application fee goes towards tenants' first month's rent. 

4) Along with the application, provide me with an employer reference I can call for income verification, previous landlord reference, a copy of their last 2 pay stubs or form of monthly income, a copy of their last W-2, and a copy of some form of government issued ID for everyone in the household.

I know this is a lot, but I'm not sure what I could take out to make this application process more appealing. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[Jim Johnson]

I am not sure if your issue is not really one of demographics. 

Your town has 6,500 current residents- but that number was closer to 7,400 ten years ago. 

So the first issue is- you in a population declining market- which does not do well for holding real estate prices.

Second- over 36% live below the poverty line. They simply do not make enough to satisfy your 3x rent rule- so off the bat your now only dealing with 65% of the population. 

Next- you do not take people who have had misdemeanor or felony's for the last - 2 - 10 years. This was a bit confusing to read- but probably scares many away.

In your area your market is probably the lower 50% of the income earners. Anyone on SSI or public assistance will not receive enough to qualify... and you already take out the bottom 36%. So in your whole town you probably looking at about 1000 potential renters, and they are the top 15% of the 50% you can draw from. 

I would say- if your going to attract that client- you better have really good product, a really clean property etc.... you competing for everyone that can afford a 3 bedroom apartment in one of the nicer complexes in town. 

Do you relax your requirements- well that is one option. Or you raise the bar on the homes to attract that top part of your target market. 

My calculations do not take into account the percent of the population that have committed crimes- so that 1000 person number is probably lower but I am not sure how to quantify by how much. 

Also- if about 15% of the population moves every year- of that 1000 people- maybe only 150 or 200 will be looking in any given year. That is about 20ish new people looking each month...