All Forum Posts by: Emory Clayton

I'm having trouble getting the insurance provider I usually use for my SFH to give me a quote for a trailer park I'm interested in. I am talking to someone on their commercial side, however the last communication I had with them when I asked where we were on attaining a quote was that the under writer was having trouble finding a market for the mobile homes due to the age. There are 2 MH currently, a 2001 and 1997.
There is a lot of value add to this property, and is my interest in it. Who do yall use and why do you use them (likes / dislikes) ?

Quote from @Roger D Jones:

Emory,
Great question but a lot to unpack.  Are you looking at the maintenance/repair costs of the homes once in place, W/S/G costs. septic expense if applicable?  Best way is to just try to break it down piece by piece.
Water- how is it being delivered to the homes.  Well?  City water with one main at the street and how will they bill.  One meter reading for all usage or like some small communities a set price for each occupied home?
Sewer- Septic or sewer lines.  Again... how is it metered?
Garbage- Dumpster or can you get can service?  
Taxes/Insurance- depends a lot on where you are located.
The homes themselves- POH or TOH?  New or used?  And if used POH... how used?

I have all three kinds of parks- LT RV, POH and TOH so can help with repair estimates but so much depends on location and access to reliable repair services.  For my POH park I have a hourly PT maintenance manager who keeps our rentals in shape.  As you develop the park I would strongly recommend your homes be individually metered for water, sewer expense prorated and garbage paid by tenants via individual can service.  Just keep those off your P&L right from the start.

If you have questions on the maintence percentages on the POH homes... lmk and I may be able to help.

Hey Roger thank you for your response. I should have elaborated in how the utilities are handled.

Septic is the only private utility, and thus is my responsibility. Water, power (no gas) are billed directly from the utilities company. 

These will be POH. I'm so glad you brought up trash, totally slipped my mind in my eval. I'll look into how that is handled at this location. Every property that is on this street has cans and will try to have these done the same way for these MH.

Currently there is a 1998 and 2001 year built MH on the property. They are 3/2 16'x80' Mobile homes. They are in decent shape but will get some rehab to bring them up to shape. I estimate 15k for both.

What are yall using for your expected maintenance cost of a Mobile Home? Its my understanding through my reading/research that 35% is the typical number. However, I don't think I've seen it broken down as to what is included as part of that percentage. There are obviously a lot of variables that come into play.

I'm looking at developing a small 2 acre property that has already been engineered for septic and platted for 8 mobile homes. 2 MH are already on site with all utilities present, but for the 6 MH remaining that I want to put on site, the land still has to be developed. Any insight is always appreciated. 

David thanks for asking follow up questions. This was something I was intrigued about and the post jumped back to the top of the list when you asked yours. 
I've reached out to Metron with some follow up questions of my own:

What are the associated cost with each individual unit?
Is there a contract that must be singed?
Are the units bought or leased?
Is the portal that the landlord and tenants use an additional charge?
Is the portal a downloaded application or is it a web portal?
How are problems with the Metron sub-metering device handled? Replacements if need be?
How is the device powered?

I'll let you know what they respond back with. 

What did you do to grasp and understand MHP investing when you were getting started?: How to analyze deals, key aspects to look for, red flags, etc.
I was actually asking my realtor about a piece of property for sell with no intention of it having anything to do with MHP, and the seller of the property messaged back and added that he owned the trailerpark next door and that it was also for sell, so now I'm intrigued. 

I feel I have a basic understanding of what makes up a park:


Septic, City Sewer, Lagoon
City Water, Well, master meter, sub-meter
Age of MH
Property taxes
Zoning
Roadway type: dirt, asphalt, gravel, etc

This list could go on and on, I think what I’m looking for is a list of what you ask the seller for so that you can analyze a deal.
I’ve read the book:
An Insider's Guide to Investing in Mobile Home Parks by Andy Tallone and Lorraine Reguly
This was very helpful and insightful.


Also, has anyone ever used a company that helps to bring a MHP online and/or to run more efficient? Or did you just learn as much as you could and then learned from your mistakes along the way?

Gotcha. I feel the deposit is a good thing because it incentives the tenant to take care of the property. If they know they have to pay the monthly pet fee regardless, I think there is less incentive to do so. 

The pet fee is there to take into account that there is another 'body', if you will, that is living in the property, and is thus causing more wear and tear on it. 

This is my reasoning for having both. Just my thoughts. 

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Emory Clayton:

I have different prices. 0 score is denied. Price ranges from $100 for a 1 and $25 for a 5.

 Do you have this in place in addition a pet deposit? If you do, do you refer to this as a pet deposit, or as an additional deposit? I've read/heard it somewhere that you should just refer to it as an additional deposit so that you can use the funds for non-pet related matters if the issue comes up and the normal deposit funds have been depleted. 

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Emory Clayton:

I've been using PetScreening for years and I'm familiar with the dominant-breed question. The veterinarian may list the dominant breed on the animal's records.

The dominant breed is typically the one the dog most closely resembles. #12 is the best example.

 Nathan do you have different price points depending on the 'paw score' PetScreening gives? Or do you have one flat rate so long as the paw score isn't 0?

Nathan first let me say I appreciate all the valuable feedback you give. I'm often scanning over all the forums, reading things of interest, and often I find that you respond on the topic I'm reading. You're everywhere!

In my potential tenants case, the shelter they picked the dogs up from only listed them as "mixed". I do wonder, as you mentioned, if their veterinarian has them classified differently. That will be a question I ask going forward. 

The graphic you posted, is that from the PetScreening site?

The real issue I found relates to my insurance/umbrella policy, as there are certain breed restrictions they won't cover. I essentially asked my insurance company how am I able to discern what percentage a breed makes up of a dog. Is it what they're face resembles, how tall/short they are, short/long tail? This all seems very subjective to me. I feel in the event of a law suit, it will ultimately come down to whatever the judge/jury decides...again...subjective. 

What part in particular