All Forum Posts by: Arjav Parikh

Have you asked the seller for the seller financing?  In this asset class, it is not very uncommon.  

If this MHP is non-confirming, check to see if change of ownership will impact any grandfathering of the asset.  Older MHP - you should inspect infrastructure (water/sewer/electric) to see what your immediate/future expense/reserve should be.

If done correctly, this can be a very rewarding ownership experience, just do your due diligence.

Please reach out to me offline, if you need some tips on it.  We have seller financed many mobile home parks.  We have used many local lenders as well where it made sense.

Good luck,

Arjav Parikh

I read recently Farmers insurance company pulled out of the Florida market adding to a growing list of insurance companies to pull out of the state. It seems like (at least optics says) it will be more expensive to buy insurance out there. This will impact your numbers adversely and will require higher rental income to meet your DSCR (debt service coverage ratio), if you are borrowing money.

With interest rates being high, prices still not getting much downward pressure, insurance premiums going even higher (as less companies offering and their risk model will ask of higher premiums, that if they offer insurance in the first place) - are all contributing to a softer sentiment for the time being. 

Just my 2 cents 

We run various real estate commercial rentals and a lot of mobile home parks.  At the onset, Baselane seems to get the real estate investor/landlord view.  I recently opened up one account and I had a chat with their business development and onboarding team.  Following is my perspective (and likely some of topics may need additional clarifications from them)

Likes:

1) Opening an account is a breeze, provided you have all docs needed
2) You can create multiple virtual sub-accounts (think of boots on the ground - maintenance person using a virtual account via a digital wallet), you can set limits, rules etc.  
3) Reporting on virtual account is very useful.  For example, if one owns multiple properties under same name/entity, you can create multiple virtual sub accounts to track property level financials.  You can also structure your virtual accounts for property level as well as even unit level at property for someone who is into details.
4) Quickbooks can connect to this account and download all transactions.  I haven't tried it but intend to try it soon.
5) Tagging each transaction is very useful.  We seem to forget context of the transaction after a while when CPA asks questions :-)
6) Checking account balances have very good APY (as of now)
7) ACH are free and so are wires (in and out).  It is likely this may change and wire may have fees but for now they are free.
8) They have a tenant side of the platform - tenant portal, rent collection etc.  We are using rent manager and fully integrated with them, so I didn't go into too much details of this platform.  For starters with no property management software, this may come handy.  It is included as part of your account.

A few features we want but not currently available (they may be deployed in production based upon customer demand and the roadmap)

1) ACH deposit may take up to 5 business days to clear
2) No bill pay as of now (coming soon per them)
3) No physical checks supported
4) No check scanner (mobile app can be used to deposit for free) - we use check scanner for a check/money order scanning.
5) Virtual accounts don't offer physical cards.  For example, if your maintenance guy needs to buy merchandise using virtual account at the hardware store, s/he may need a physical debit card.  If your location supports digital wallet (gpay, apple pay etc), it will work just fine.

All above are from my very little usage of a few days and asking Baselane many questions.  If someone has similar analysis for other competing service, I will appreciate the info. 

I am trying to optimize how my insurance coverage. 

As we were acquiring, each property was insured differently. 

Now looking for a portfolio level umbrella insurance.  Currently properties are insured with local agents who aren't able to offer umbrella coverage that includes properties in multiple states.

@Aidan Richard Connly : Very interested in learning more and connecting. Have you looked into foldable homes - boxabl? I have seen a few tiny home resorts doing STR in Poconos (PA) as well, trending these days!!

We have multiple mobile home parks and other commercial properties (warehouse/flex office, mixed use, specialty - daycare etc) across IL, IN, GA, MI, NJ, DE, PA.  Looking for an agent who can help placing an umbrella policy for general liability etc.

Referrals appreciated

I know it is a very difficult position to be in @Chris Keil.  We do syndications and run private REITs for accredited investors.  I think what @Al Lev mentioned is right on the money in terms of syndicated deal structure, waterfall distributions and backend profit split.

There are many ways to structure the deal and I am sure many folks who are much smarter than I am, may have recommended them.  I would also ask for a short term seller financing.  In mobile home park asset class, we have been very successful at that, but of course you will bring in your downpayment in most, if not all scenarios.  I haven't seen deal financial details but happy to help brainstorm, if you want to DM me.

Good luck, you will find a solution.  That's what we all investors do.

Best,
arjav

We started with remote reading water meters that required gateways in couple of our mobile home parks.  They were working fine but we had issues integrating them with our property management software, requiring us to manually enter billing. 

We tried Metron meters in our other mobile home parks recently.  Metron meters (once configured) with our rent manager (property management software), are pretty easy to use, integrated well, automated readings and one click posting on the resident transactions. 

There may be other competitive products out there, but make sure they integrate with your property management software well, provides (almost) real time reading, usage analysis and automated leak detection.

Most of these meters are pretty easy to install.  We had our maintenance folks install them.  Easy to test, if your installation is working using real time read portal etc.

Good luck.

I owned a few many 6 families in the neighborhood for 6-7 years.  Like many people mentioned, it is a tough neighborhood.  Turnover of tenant was high, making apartments rent ready after turnover was expensive, etc.   

If you want connect and give me a call, it will be easier to provide details and share lessons learnt.  

I can recall my starting out in the mobile home park asset class couple years ago.  We have been fortunate to get good guidance when we started and happy to do my part.   Fell free to connect with me and ask questions.