All Forum Posts by: Jeffrey H.

Lot rent x number of pads x 70 is the valuation of a Park at a 10% cap and 30% expense ratio.  If rent was so easy to increase they would have done it - don't give them extra money for things they have not done and will not logically explain.

At the end of the day 90%+ Sellers that won't provide a price are just fishing.  Tell them to come back to you when they decide what they want and can justify it with financials.  Otherwise it's a 10%+ cap offer in my books until they can prove the opposite.

Eviction laws are state specific.  Go to the County Judge's office and ask which lawyers file the most evictions and get a copy of their documents as public record so you can see how they do it and use that as your guide if you want to do it yourself.

I'd be curious to hear how many hours per month you and your family allocate to managing this property using your approach.  It sounds like it will be a lot, but maybe I'm wrong or the increased rates compared to longer term place offset the additional effort.

MH moving companies can provide axles as part of their services as it's common for them to be removed after delivery.  But in general they're worth $500 to $1,000 used.  You can find them on ebay and craigslist from time to time.

@Belinda Lopez why can't these Park owners move homes in and out freely as part of their grandfathered usage?  it might be a pain, but a fight worth fighting...

http://forum.mobilehomeuniversity.com/t/putting-th...

Most people will get these to minimum occupancy standards (e.g. sturdy floors, no roof leaks, working plumbing, hot water, air conditioning / heating, etc) and then rent it.  A simple power wash and / or exterior paint job can help for some older homes too...

Don't waste your money putting berber carpet in this - you won't get that back ever.

If you own all of these RV's I would be VERY hesitant renting to anyone weekly or monthly.  It only takes 30 minutes to trash an RV and set you back thousands of dollars.  This sounds like a lot of pain, but I guess you could try it with one unit to see...

For the others I would rent these on a much longer term basis, such as a 6 month or 12 month minimum pursuant to standard screening checks.  This area has the demand, so why manage this thing on a daily basis when you could check in on it once per month and repair less?

Or even take it a step further and sell the RV to a tenant for a low price but have them sign a land lease from you for 2-3 years.  They take care of all repairs except the infrastructure on your land, and hopefully individually metered for direct billing.

Firstly, you should probably be less descriptive about the park's location unless you have it under contract since someone can scoop it out from under you...

I think I know which MHP you're talking about as it has been on the market some time and I am in the area too.  I can tell you the Seller initially valued the park around 200K based on full occupancy and 4 vacant POH's to boot, and the realtor has been aggressively trying to fill it up with tenants to get a higher price based on the monthly revenue figure.

A trailing 12 month operating statement will fill in some of these holes about the longer term run rate and true park value, along with Curt's sage advice you can find straight from the MHU Due Diligence Manual - which you should use to help evaluate all MHP deals...

Good luck.

Thanks for this Frank, exactly what I was looking for and complements the MHU Due Diligence guide very well.

Hi Everyone,

I have been working the diligence on a smaller park in a town of about 40K people.  The park is grandfathered based on zoning and conversations with the City.  They told me as a result that the park does not need a permit so long as the homes that come in on the empty pads are permitted accordingly (e.g. setback, tiedowns, etc).

I will get this "no permit needed" claim in writing via an ordinance or declaration of some kind from the city, it just seems very uncommon.  Has anyone else seen this or had experience with a city?  Anything worth mentioning?

Thanks.

Hi Everyone,

How would you recommend confirming the revenue of a park if the Seller has no accurate records and operates it as a cash-business-only sole proprietorship (e.g. mixing personal cash deposits with park lot rent deposits, etc).

Would a 90 day diligence period where I can basically walk with him on collection day for 3 months be a reasonable request?  Some other options are clearly "attempting" to renegotiating the purchase price to reflect the risk, or backing out of the deal.  What else should I consider?

Thanks!