All Forum Posts by: Branden Bestgen

@Jaime Bisbey

Henry Clark had some great advice with mobile and RVs. You wilI make the most amount of money, with the least amount of capital investment in them. I started 24 years ago with one mobile home and "sold it" on a rent to own on it. Then I bought more and kept going. Pretty soon, I found out that most mobile home park owners wouldn't let you do that in their parks. So I did everything I could, to start buying mobile home parks. I bought three parks within my first year. My motivation for buying parks, at the time, was so I could do rent to own mobile homes; because the cashflow was tremendous. I read a book called Deals on Wheels by Lonnie Scruggs that laid out how to do it. I did everything I could to increase my monthly cashflow, and everything I could to buy as much real estate as I could. I started buying houses, and storage units, and apartment buildings; and eventually commercial and industrial. I searched high and low for motivated sellers of anything real estate related.

It was explained to me, early in my real estate career, to look at building the three legs of the real estate stool. The first is cash. You need cash to live. Maybe that's your job. For me, I was all in on real estate, so my cash for living came from my deals. I wholesaled deals and I rehabbed and flipped deals for cash. The second leg is cashflow. If you can get your cashflow up high enough, it starts paying for everything. The most common is from from rental income and investing in notes. The third leg is assets. The assets are what make you wealthy. Do everything you can, to buy as much real estate as you can. Before you know it, 15-20 years goes by, and your assets are paid off by your cashflow.

@Karen Salem

Depending on the size of your project, Best GEN Modular in South Dakota might be able to supply modular boxes for you.  They manufacture commercial modular units for multifamily and hotels.  

@Cason Acor

Thanks Cason, I appreciate that input. I also would appreciate a reference to someone knowledgeable in the Vegas market.

@Logan Hartle

Thanks for the input, and I would definitely be open to a lease w/purchase option. In fact, that would be my ideal situation.

I started investing in real estate 24 years ago without a dime in my pocket.  I had to learn, very quickly, to get creative.  The great thing is, when you don't have any money, you figure out how to sort through the deals that don't make sense.  I've purchased millions of dollars in real estate over the last 24 years.  I didn't put any of my own money into any of the acquisitions, until just a few years ago.  Every time I closed I walked away with money in my pocket.

Looking for input and advice, for anyone familiar with Nevada commercial/industrial deals. We were informed today of the immediate availability of a NMTC (new markets tax credit) for Nevada, to expand our commercial modular manufacturing company into that region. 

We have until the middle of next week to land on a location, with 80-200k sf. The deal would close in May. I'm open to buying or leasing.

I'm very familiar with real estate in South Dakota, but I hadn't even thought of Nevada, until today. We have been looking to expand into the  Phoenix area, but I can't turn down the NMTC opportunity.

Any input, from a NV investor is welcome; including if there are opinions on whether it would be better to be in the Las Vegas or Reno area.

@David Edwards

To build a new building, or remodel an existing building, you would use what is called a 1031 Improvement Exchange.  You would have to utilize a Qualified Intermediary, that is familiar with improvement exchanges, to do it.

@David Edwards

There is definitely confusion in the marketplace when it comes to manufactured homes, AKA mobile homes or trailer houses. Those homes are built, in a very cheap way, to comply with the federal HUD code. I started buying mobile home parks 24 years ago, and I've seen a lot of crazy things. I've seen mobile homes with exterior walls that are constructed of 2" x 1.5" studs. They're cheap to buy, but incredibly expensive to heat or cool.

From a real estate investor perspective, there are several advantages to a modular-built building.  The first, is the speed to market.  Right now, I'm building a 42-unit apartment complex in Rapid City, South Dakota, that will be finished within 180 days, start to finish.  I've been investing in real estate for 24 years and I have done a number of 1031 exchanges. I've never had the opportunity to 1031 into a brand new building, because it wasn't practical to build a brand new building in six months; but it is with modular.

That timeframe is achievable because the entire building is being constructed in the factory, at the same time the site work, foundation, and utility installations are being completed. The rooms will be completely finished inside the factory.  The appliances and furniture will also be installed in the factory.  As soon as the modular units are transported to the job site, the entire 3-story building will be standing within about 7 days.  From a concrete foundation, to a 3 story building in seven days is a pretty cool process to watch!

Since the rooms are finished when they arrive, the only interior finish work that needs done, is to connect the MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) system in the corridor and finish out the corridor.  They'll be installing the exterior EFIS (Dryvit) in the factory also, which will help me avoid having to pay for an expensive scaffolding setup on site.

From my perspective, as an investor, being able to get my building completed faster means I get the units rented quicker and I can stabilize the rent roll faster; moving from a construction loan to a less expensive term loan.  That additional revenue can add up fast.  If I can finish the building six months faster than stick build, that will equate to several hundred thousand dollars in additional revenue, that I could never recover if I built it the old fashioned way.

I'll also be able to eliminate expensive change orders. Anyone who's been around commercial construction knows that GC's make their high margin money on change orders. Modular eliminates that because 100% of the project is designed up-front. There are a lot of GC's who do not like modular because of this fact alone; they know they won't be making money on change orders.

It is a lot more work, up-front, to get everything dialed in, but the process is quicker and much more efficient.

Very interesting thread.  They have an incredible challenge in front of them and I hope they can accomplish their goal.  The more successful modular manufacturing plants we have, the better the industry gets.  Getting a new modular factory off the ground is an incredible amount of work and takes an incredible amount of capital.  I know this first-hand. 

I watched their capital-raising video, that someone above posted.  They have some very lofty goals.  Some of the projected numbers he threw out there have some validity to them; and some of them are going to be very difficult to attain.

As soon as they are operational, they'll find that manufacturing modular boxes that that are well-constructed to go down the road at 65 mph and then be stacked to become a four-story structure, while maintaining quality, is an entire challenge, all on its own.

One person, in a previous thread, stated that modular isn't well-built.  There are a few commercial modular factories in this country that build a very good product.  The word modular conjures up the vision of a doublewide trailer house; but that's not what's being constructed in the factories anymore.