Trailer Investing in Pawtucket

[Mike DeMille]

As I've been searching for different ways to get re-started into real estate investing in Pawtucket/Woonsocket RI I have noticed a number of trailers that seem to provide great cash flow with small start up costs. The figures I have seen have been around $50,000-100,000 purchase price with around $500-700 cash flow. My original plan was to save from my full time job and invest in a 3 unit multi-family in the next 2 years with a purchase price of around $250,000, but could this (trailers) be a good way to get started now and build equity and cash flow? Almost seems too good to be true. Thank you in advance for the advice!

[Anthony Thompson]

@Mike DeMille that would definitely be a niche for Rhode Island, as there aren't a lot of trailer parks around here that I know of and RI and the Northeast in general don't have as much mobile home inventory as other areas of the country (e.g., the south).

My guess would be that there are few parks in the state, if you were looking to buy a whole park, and you'd struggle to find one for sale.

If you were looking to buy a particular mobile home and rent it out, then you should definitely incorporate the park fee (which is like land rent) into your models, because park owners can raise those fees pretty much on a whim and residents don't usually have much ability to move the homes elsewhere.

My general sense is that the main way to make money is by owning the parks and charging that park fee / land rent, rather than owning individual trailers and renting them out, but if you can make the latter work then more power to you.