All Forum Posts by: James Dickens

Here is another option. If they/you have title to the home (will be separate from the land and will list the VIN #) and you don't want to deal with it, look for parks in the area that are looking to fill lots. If the home is in decent shape and can be moved it should have a value of at least 18K (again dependant on condition). Right now new homes are still taking 6+ months for orders to be filled so used stock is in high demand. If the current owner can't/won't sell it, maybe you can find a buyer and sell it at closing much like a flip. 

A spin on that option is to look for a park that may be accepting homes into it. You may even find one willing to pay a moving fee or part of it. Have the home moved to the park, you pay the lot rent, rent the home out and collect rent above lot rent.

You end up with a lake lot that is mobile home free and you make some money as well. 

Just trying to think outside the box a bit :)

Never installed one on a mobile home but had one in an office where I worked. The unit itself worked well for temperature control. At about the 4 year mark it developed a leak that came out through the vent at the bottom. I believe they removed it after trying to fix it a few times (after my office was moved to another part of the building) 

@Tanya M. Tucker if you have any questions in the future please reach out. Always happy to help. 

@Tanya M. Tucker for the most part what @Brenden Mitchum is telling you is correct. Some caveats though are if you own other rental property in the area a small MHP could work or if you plan on buying another MHP in the area it may also work. The biggest thing you have to consider is your exit and unless you can make this a really nice small park or group it with other assets as part of a package it will be hard to exit any time soon. 

This park will be right for someone but is that someone you? I look at MHP every day so if you are still considering it and want a second set of eyes to look over the numbers I would be happy to help you out.  

And that is why @Frank Rolfe is a master :) Nice breakdown!

With limited information, it sounds like it has potential. Have you run a test add to see if you have any interest in the vacancies? Have you run the numbers on the park itself to determine what you should pay? Have you looked to see if this fits what you want out of an investment? 

I wouldn't count it out as you may have found a diamond in the rough but I would get someone involved that knows a bit more about MHPs. There are some guys on here that would go over the deal with you and walk you through some of the pros and cons. Maybe some of the Mobile Home Park guys will see this and give you some solid advice on how to assess. I would, but all of my information at this point is theory and not fact as I'm looking for my first deal. 

@Zak Dahl first off congrats at finding this deal. If you haven't already I would suggest reading the Mobile Home Park Manifesto by Glenn Esterson. You may also want to get a broker involved on your side of a deal as they could help assess the park for you. Glenn actually gives his number out freely so it may be worth picking up the phone and talking to him. $600 per month lot rent is quite high especially for being on dirt. What other types of infrastructure does it have? That will make a big difference in what you should offer. 

Not sure what you are referring to in attracting owner financing but there are some articles you can find here and on the web about approaching an owner about their willingness to owner finance. If you are looking for investors/partners to bring money to a deal that is something else. 

I hope it works out for you and I look forward to the success story if you do move forward with it. 

Working my way through the MHP Manifesto and it is giving me great insight into how to value an MHP. I highly recommend it. Thanks @Kaiser J. and @Jack Martin for your responses. 

I have been researching MHP strategy for lack of a better term and I have come across 3 primary operational methods and am wondering which is best (if any?) in your opinion.

1. Rent the pads and don’t have any POH’s (Pad Rent Only)
2. Rent the pads and convert some or all of the park into Lease/Purchases POH’s (Pad Rent, Monthly Lease until Purchase)
3. Rent the pads and fill with POH’s (Pad Rent and POH Rent)

I know that these can a bit subjective and also can be mixed and matched as needed. I guess where I am getting a bit off in my thinking is the value of the park is different in each scenario or is it?

If I’m making 10K per month pad only but if filled with POH’s maybe it brings in 30K per month. That’s quite a bit of difference. So how do you balance that out when looking at a park to purchase or putting together your Pro Forma so you an set your targets and track progress?

I know you add headache and expense with POH’s and to some extent with Lease to Own but I’m really only looking at the overall cost/value aspect and how that differs or is the same for each strategy type.

How do you evaluate when looking at parks that are being run in any of these ways to be able to compare apples to apples?