Galvanized water lines a deal breaker in mobile home park?

[Dustin Darnall]

Hello, everyone!

I'm looking at a 26 lot mobile home park and would love some input on analyzing the deal/specifics. Asking price $279k. Currently has 22 tenant owned units paying $210/month for lot rental and 4 vacant lots. Owner pays water bill up to a certain amount. The P&L I received from the owner could have been written on a napkin and glosses over repairs made to the water/sewage line--the current owner says "costs varied" because he was able to do a lot of the repair work himself. 

The park was previously on septic however it appears a previous owner connected to city sewer in 1998. Currently on city water with 3 inch galvanized lines running through the park hooked into 8 in galvanized lines from the city. Current owner has apparently added more clean-outs for the sewer (~3 years ago) and states that when he bought the property in 2014 he put about $5k into water lines to take care of several leaks. Since then, according to the owner, he has only had one minor issue (unspecified) which was last November.

I am a rookie investor with only 1 single family rental in my portfolio however am partnering with a buddy who owns and manages other MHPs. Is the presence of galvanized water lines a ticking time bomb? Any thoughts on the deal?

Thanks and any help would be greatly welcomed!