The morality of owning mobile home parks

[Jess White]

Let’s deep dive on this, I really want to hear both sides of this. Let’s keep it positive and may this be a start of a conversation.

What is the morality of owning a mobile home park, specifically to those of a lower income?

Is it right to sell the dream of owning a depreciating asset to those that aren’t truly educated on the subject?

Once again, let’s keep this civil and start an ongoing conversation.

[Rob Milliken]

@Don Alder-LaRue

Perfectly stated, and we are looking are planning to purchase an existing park this year, as well as create one in 2020.

I see so many that cannot afford the luxury of a stick built home on a piece of land.

For these people a mobile/manufactured home is a Wonderful alternative. Gives these folks the pride of feeling successful in owning a home. May not be ideal in a park for them but definitely a step in the right direction.

With all that being said, The Construction of todays are much better than what some builders put out for new stick built homes.

I am fortunate enough to own homes. If I was not I am sure I could be content in a mobile/manufactured

home.

Now if anyone is looking to sell a park. Let me know

[Rob Milliken]

@Ed Emmons

Agreed!! I look forward to purchasing/creating mobile home parks. I would especially like to work one out in my own Aging town so that many could still have their own place and have the proceeds of their home sale to help them live more comfortably.

Also would like to create a park for the younger crowd.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Mike Dymski:

There is only one undeniable market condition discussed on these forums and that is the lack of affordable housing in the country...it's so severe that it may not be solved in my lifetime.  The low income housing wait lists in some markets are years long.  We need more MHPs, not less.

Mike I bought a park in Springfield ORegon a few years back its was in horrid shape full of tweakers..  we cleaned it all up and sold  it. 

During that process we got the planning department to allow additional space without major use permitting.. that's exactly what the planner said.. we see this as our affordable housing.. so instead of trying to shut them down like many cities do.. this city realized it filled a need.

In other areas we dealt with this  North Charleston came to mind.. we bought part of a park and removed the park the mayor does not like them and will do everything he can to get them gone.. source of high crime and eye sore is what they talk about.. I can vouch for the eye sore part for sure.. 

market conditions are such that to create a new park at least in our area of the west its quite expensive 20k a pad just for services then you have to buy the land  so your going to be in the pads 50 to 60k each.. and rents are at 400 or so.. and by the time you have to put a new coach on as old ones are not allowed plus as an owner you don't want to fill it with a bunch of cruddy looking single wides.. the economics don't work generally speaking.   The bigger Parks around the Portland area have been razed and high density 3 story class A apartments have replaced them.

[Trudy Pachon]

Great conversation! We were looking at investing in MHPs, but quickly became overwhelmed at the idea of actually purchasing one. We came close. 

Some of the issues we had were with our actions being consistent with our values. The prices on MHPs in the areas we were interested in had gone up so much that in order to make a profit, we would have to up rents to the point of possibly losing folks that might not have a lot of other options. We just didn't think it made sense to us. We are in California, and were looking in CA and Arizona. Not great for MHP options.

However, at some point, I think it would be interesting to own a MHP and to try to empower the residents. What do people think doing some kind of financial literacy/education program with interested residents? Teach them to manage money better in order to have more financial freedom, pay bills etc build credit, maybe even purchase homes in the park to earn even more? I don't want to be in the business of owning the homes, just the land. I don't know how realistic it is, but it was something we considered would make owning a park a better experience for us. 

[Clint Shelley]

I bet Lonnie Scruggs (RIP) would have plenty to say.

Clint

[Jennifer Rysdam]

My first home was a brand new MH. I knew exactly what I was purchasing and full well knew it would depreciate. I was a college student and was sick and tired of dealing with landlords and sharing walls with neighbors. I put it on 2 acres of land and enjoyed every bit of having a 3 bedroom home that I could afford. After college I moved into a suburb of Minneapolis and had it towed down there into a park. Living in a 3 bedroom home, 17 miles from downtown Mpls., for a grand total of $500 per month worked great for me. It was an easy commute to my accounting job downtown. I could also have my dog. 
People do what works for them. I was certainly not poor or uneducated.

[Andrew Millard]

Is it ethical to charge rent for apartments as the tenants are just "trowing away money"? is it ethical to charge $200 a night for a hotel stay? Supply and demand rule everything. I think if care for your properties/business and provide a good product at a decent value to your customers its moral.

Decently nice trailer: $35K 30 year note say $200 a month, plus 300-400 lot rent. $600 total. Much cheaper than a quality 2 or 3 bedroom house rent. 

[Todd Dexheimer]

If you don't like it, then don't do it. Is selling a car or boat bad? How about shoes or clothes? They all lose value. You're providing an affordable alternative to traditional housing, that some people want. I'm not sure that many are expecting the home to increase in value, but are instead looking for a place to live that they can afford and call their own.