All Forum Posts by: Mario Dattilo

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You can advertise for organic move-ins where people bring their own home in but that is pretty rare and only happens in certain high demand markets. 

Craigslist and Fb marketplace are where we have found used homes. We have also teamed up with some Mh wholesalers to source used homes to move into our communities. 

Plan to buy homes, bring them in, and set them up to sell. 

 35-45% depending on size, who pays utilities, rent rates, condition of utilities, etc. buy small parks with low lot rent with the park paying utilities will be on the high end. Larger parks with utilities billed back, with higher lot rents will be closer to the 35%. This includes paying off site property management. Even if it’s your management company and not 3rd party, there will be expense involved. 

Pass on it. Buy something that has opportunities to add value operationally and not such a heavy infill. Infilling communities is profitable but is also the slowest, capital intense, and risky way to add value. 

Your turnover, make ready, labor, insurance, and vacancy costs will be higher than a lot rent model. Everything from others above is spot on. If you decide to convert it to a lot rent community be sure the market will support that business model. 

There is a benefit that many don't think about when buying POH communities with the intent to convert them and that is you will not need to slowly bring lot rent to market. As you sell each home you will bring the new resident in at market which gets your a higher valuation and higher cash flow faster.

The financing is much more challenging for these. The buyer pool is much smaller for POH communities so you're buying something with a limited exit if you keep it a POH community. You're better off buying things there is a strong debt and equity market for.

Carlos if this is your first park I would focus on buying one that already has some cash flow but has room to improve. This is a heavy lift and you’re going to have to float the property for a long time before it’s cash flow positive. 

Someone looking to develop communities could possibly look at this as an opportunity because it has some infrastructure (although questionable) and has the zoning and permit (I assume). 

hope this helps! If you’re looking for a lot of good resources to invest in MHPs check out my profile where I have a bunch listed. Of course biggerpockets is always a great place too. 

Great question. People moving their own homes in is what we call organic move ins. There are a small number of markets that this is common but you should expect to bring homes in (new or used), set them up, and sell them like a builder would in a development. They then pay you lot rent every month. 

The alternative strategy is a home rental model which is like running an apartment building which means you have turnover, a lot of make-ready costs, etc. 

You can buy the park and assuming the market is conducive for the lot rent model, you can fix the homes and sell them. I’d recommend the sales/lot rent model. 

Unless you’re in a very strong market that has such strong demand that people are buying homes and moving them In Organically then your bringing the homes in yourself. 

Check out my profile for a bunch of good resources for mobile home park investing and as always bigger pockets is a great resource. Hope this helps. 

Tenant Owned Home / Park Owned Home

No. If you use rent manager or many other property management softwares you can offer auto debit, credit card, e-check, and cash payments at retail locations (Walmart, ace, etc). This is all much easier than a kiosk. We have been completely touch-free with these payment options across our portfolio since 2020. I recommend looking at those before putting a kiosk on your property. Hope this helps.

Welcome! Your question is very broad but some things to consider are occupancy, type of utilities, who pays the utilities (park/tenant), demographics of the location, improvements needed, market lot rents, how many homes are park owned vs tenant owned, etc. 

I’d recommend surfing through bigger pockets a little and you’re going to get a lot of insight on the basics. You can also check out my profile for a bunch of resources for new MHP investors.