Mobile Home Park Injustices

[Rudy Avila]

Just ran across this article thought id share. Maybe Frank Rolfe should let her stay in one of his parks so she can learn lol jk. I like that there is more and more of these articles. To me it shows that this asset class is very unique. Frank says we got about a 10 year window to make it happen. After that the big players are coming in and sweeping it all up. It mentions a little of that in the article too.

https://mobilehomeliving.org/something-about-mobile-home-parks/

[Frank Rolfe]

Let's examine a typical quote from this article:

Mobile home parks are profitable because there are so many families struggling while income inequality and debt ratios are at their highest in history. There will always be a waiting list for tenants in a park because buying a used mobile home is far easier than buying a site-built home.

The reason that mobile home parks are profitable is that their revenue exceeds expenses and that you can buy them at reasonable prices with room to grow the net income over time. They have nothing to do with the social narrative of "families struggling with inequality and debt". Most mobile home park residents have little debt and are not struggling -- thanks to the mobile home park owner who has inexpensive home inventory and ridiculously low lot rents (the U.S. average lot rent is $280 per month vs. $1,280 per month for an apartment). We have waiting lists NOT because it's easier to buy a mobile home than a stick-built (because that's actually not true in any way) but because we offer a great value in a housing world that offers none. Our average resident household has an annual income of $30,000 to $50,000 -- they are not "poor" and would be insulted if you told them that. They like to life in a nice place and are willing to pay more to do so. 

The media loves to promote this narrative that mobile home parks exemplify the U.S. cage fight between socialism and capitalism. It's complete nonsense. We are the SOLUTION to affordable housing, not the problem. Who else offers detached housing at the prices we do? Nobody. Absolutely nobody.

There are thousands of things wrong in America. But park owners pouring capital into old mobile home parks to bring them back to life and then raising rents to justify that investment is NOT one of them.