All Forum Posts by: James Dickens

I think Russel is doing it right!

With that said and depending on how rural it is you may be able to put gravel down and put a fence up and have RV and Boat storage. Not sure you would have to change zoning for that. For that all you would really need is Electric for gate/cameras/lights. It would be a pretty easy way to start something that is income producing without having to put to much thought or effort into it. 

Just something that came to mind as I see a few in my area which is a bit rural as well. As long as you have some residential areas where RVs and Boats are a pain to park or not allowed at all you will have customers. 

That's a great story Christina. I hope that things continue to look up for both you and the park and that this success will lead to other deals in the future for you. 

Have it towed. If it stays beyond what's paid for either move it to a storage area on your land and keep track of storage fees or see if you can have someone tow it offsite for you and in that case they will have to pay whatever fee the tow yard charges. 

@David Weis I think the first question would be is MHP the best use case? A lot of people would tell you it's not worth developing what would be considered a small park. Would it be better suited for RV or maybe Manufactured Homes and or Tiny Homes? Or maybe if you do go the MH route you make it a very upscale MH to offset the size aspect. Just a few things to consider. 

Again if you choose to go the MH route then what type of MH park do you want? Do you want to just put in the infrastructure and have tenants bring in their own homes or are you going to bring in homes and rent them as Park Owned? Another option would be to bring in homes and Sell them on terms. You can also mix and match, however with new builds it's usually all of one type and not a mix. 

Once you have narrowed your focus, you should then be able to run your numbers to see what type of values you could hit. You will want to run a test ad or two so you can get a feeling for demand as and run comps for other parks in the area to see where Market Rent is at. 

Hopefully, this helps and maybe some others will chime in as well.

@Kyle Marsh Truly, some very nice work and not only with the figures but the layout as well. Would love to connect. Sent you a request on Linkedin as I have questions. 

@Oniel Samuel I'm not sure of a software/app/tool that can do it but it can be done in Excel. Your current sheet may be a good start and then add in what you are missing. I would be happy to take a look and maybe help you out with a redesign. Reach out if you are interested.

I will echo what everyone else has said that it sounds about right. I have been getting quotes for work in a bathroom which includes some sheetrock, paint, flooring, and subfloor replacement (Pier and Beam house). I have one quote that's around $8K and then the other came in at $16K. Waiting on the 3rd quote. Also been told that the contractors around here are having a hard time finding employees so with you having someone doing work that you seem to trust already I would say you are getting a good deal for sure. Ask him if he wants to give me a quote as I'm not to far down the road :D

Seen it a few times but I don't have first-hand experience. Basically, you have to put the homes in a separate LLC. You can sell the MHP entity and still retain the homes as a Lonnie Dealer paying lot rent to the new park owner. This setup will chase some potential buyers away because they may not want Lonnie Dealers in their park however there are others who won't care especially if you owner finance the park sale as well. That way you maintain some of the income from the homes as well as payments for the park.

@Carl Dieckmann I'm not an MHP owner but I am an underwriter for a nationwide broker and have seen a few of these come across my desk in recent weeks and at least one has been in Texas.

Here are some questions that come to mind. 

Are you planning on filling spots like an RV park where owners bring in their own RVs or are you planning on purchasing and placing and renting them like a Park Owned Home? I would assume the latter but want to be clear. I have seen where owners split out the ownership to a separate LLC for the home and operate them almost like a lonny dealer and the park LLC only shows pad value.

Are you going to change/modify the hookups on the pads for RV's

Do you plan on exiting out of the RV's and replace with MH at some point and if so do you think you will be able to recoup the cost of the RV (again depending on if you will be buying and placing). POH-type rental on an RV will take a toll quickly. Also, repairs will be more costly because of the special nature of it being an RV. 

If you have a mix of units on exit how are you going to market that? MH/RV mix parks usually don't show well. 

Also know that with RV's your electricity will be expensive compared to MH. If you plan to have long-term direct billed that's one thing but if you will be doing month to month or less you will want to have a system in place to recapture that cost. 

Would it be an option to move it to 100% RV's? 

I would be concerned that the option of quick short-term cash/growth will be outweighed by the headaches you will have over the long run and at exit. Just my 2 cents here. 

@Emily Thompson If you want to turn the Mobile Home yourself it would most likely work best if you put filp deal in place before you make your purchase. That way you can pay for the deal and then get paid the same day. You should be able to set up the closing to do it all at once. It will take some planning but can be done. 

As far as having an income property you are correct, if you sell the mobile home then until you put something back on it you have cash for the sale of the Mobile Home and an empty lot. So if you are buying the lot to make money and not for your personal use here are some other suggestions.

1. Keep the home on the land and rent it. Of course, this one has been covered already and some good suggestions have been made on how to go about that. 

2. Keep the home on the land and Air B&B it. If it's on the Lake and it's a nice place then make it into a vacation destination. This could also lead to better ROI if you want to do the extra work or pay someone to manage it for you (less ROI but still an option).

3. Take the $ from the sale of the Mobile Home and put another building on the property. Home, duplex, tiny home, a few RV's (if the community lets you use this option), Shipping Containers, or purpose-built storage units. or put gravel down and fence it and use it as an open but fenced RV/Boat storage area. 

4. Flip the land for a profit. It may be that the land will be worth more without the mobile home on it (Some people can't see past the mobile home issue so they don't value the land as much).

5. If it has water access build a dock and rent dock spaces to people who don't have direct water access. 

If I think of any more I will let you know :D

James