Mobile Home Park Vacant Pad Strategy

[Nate Pattee]

I'm working on a 100+ space MHP deal and the park has about 25 vacant pads.  I'm considering a couple different strategies to fill up the vacant pads and park owned homes but thought I'd take a pulse from the BP community and get some opinions.   Consider this is a lower level 2-3 star park.

1.  Buy used units and fill with the rent to own strategy.  If this is a descent strategy what should I be looking out for?

2.  I'm also considering buying new homes or pulling in a model on site and having prospects buy through the dealer.  But I am having a hard time determining if the park can support new home prices.  What can I use to get an idea if new home sales would be a viable option?

3.  With 1 & 2 considered, which one offers the best way to fill the vacant pads with the least out of pocket cost?  

4.  On a similar note, if the park comes with a few park owned homes, what's a couple good strategies I can use to get them sold?  

Any AZ investors/owners want to meet for coffee/lunch, let me know - would love to connect!

[Account Closed]

@Nate Pattee You might consider calling 21st Mortgage.  They should be able to give you an idea what the new home financing will look like for your customers and you should be able to run a few test ads on Craigslist to see if you have demand at that price point.  The out of pocket per home is usually around $6,000 to set up the home and it gets reimbursed once the customer buys the home.  In all of the parks we use 21st, we literally can't keep inventory.  We sell them as fast as we get them.  If you stay on top of your marketing, the customers can afford the price point, and you have a decent manager, it wouldn't be unheard of to fill all of those lots in 12 months or less.

As an aside, 21st is a bit of a pain to work with but overall, they get the job done.