Rehabbing used vs buying new mobiles on land for rental use

[Patrick Sears]

Hello,

Wondering if anyone has any experience with developing dedicated rentals using brand new single or double-wide mobiles on land vs rehabbing older homes for rental use.  Obviously, the new home route is going to be much more expensive upfront, with a longer payoff (in my area we are talking $60K+ for 20 yo rehabbed DW on rural land vs probably $120k for the same thing new, and probably ~70% of those numbers for singles) .  However, I know from personal experience that old homes take a long time to rehab yourself (and hiring reliable contractors has become expensive-if you can find a trustworthy one).  

Theoretically, you should be able to rehab an older home to "tenant proof" it as well as ordering it that way new from the factory, but then the price starts to get up there too.  The new home deal however would have brand new septic and well.

What would yield better "forced appreciation"--forced appreciation from rehabbing the house (make money like a "flipper"), or forced appreciation from putting together a new house on a lot with new foundation, septic, well, etc...(make money like a new home builder)

There is also the subject of BRRRRing with the local banks (or 21st Mortgage or private money) and what they would rather loan against.

From a purely business point with a 15-year cash out horizon on a portfolio of 20 or so homes (or maybe a longer horizon with 50+ homes if I decide not to conquer the world and just do this until I die) which would you all do?

Thoughts?