All Forum Posts by: Paul Moore

Hi @Gabriel Orduna! You got some good replies above. I agree that the Mobile Home University course is really worthwhile. 

I'm in my third decade investing in real estate. I invested in 4 mobile homes over the years and I can honestly say they were the worst investments I ever made. I can honestly say I would never do another one. 

On the other hand, mobile home parks have been one of the best investments I have ever made. Investing in land and infrastructure to lease to mobile home tenants, especially to those who bring their own mobile homes, is a fabulous strategy. 

There is a book called The Mobile Home Park Manifesto that could help you learn more about this strategy. 

On the other hand, as someone mentioned above, if you buy them to immediately flip rather than rent out, it could be a great opportunity. Used mobile homes are so hard to find right now and labor and materials are almost as bad. If you can pull that off it might a great opportunity. Good luck and happy investing! 

Hi @Duke Giordano! You posted this 5 months ago and I came across it again. I was the last commenter but I am going to make one more comment now. 

I think what you posed in your original post is becoming obviously true. Rates have gone up faster than most of us have expected and cap rates are certain to follow. Especially after today's disappointing, but not unexpected inflation news. I predict that some syndicators who rolled the dice with high leverage floating rate debt could get into trouble. Trees don't grow to the sky and rents can't increase faster than inflation forever. 

I really hope things don't go south for anybody, but they always do. So @Duke Giordano what's your take on this whole thing now with 5 months of hindsight since your original post? 

Hi @Liam S. Congratulations on your success. I agree with others that you are in the right place to get an answer to your question. 

I sold my company in 1997 to a public firm and started actively investing in real estate. I did dozens of single family flips, some buy and hold deals, some ground up homes, a small subdivision and more. Even though I had the time and the inclination to invest actively, I don't feel I built true wealth for retirement. 

From reading your subsequent comments above, it doesn't sound like you want to be a full time real estate investor. As a former shiny object chasing serial entrepreneur myself, I've learned that the best investment results come from hyper focus. I recommend you focus on whatever you love to do...as an entrepreneur...and find the very best syndications and/or commercial real estate funds to invest in. As @Nathan Gesner mentioned above, there are syndications and funds that don't take excessive risk and earn well over 10% annually. Some of these funds have the option to reinvest your ongoing cash flow to leverage your ultimate returns in the end (this is the Warren Buffett compounding strategy and this is what I do with my own investments when possible.) 

You might want to start by getting Brian Burke's excellent book The Hands-Off Investor. This will give you a strategy to vet the best syndicators or fund managers. It sounds like you are in a great position. Good luck and happy investing! 

Hi @Tanner Bryant! Great question. I'm in my third decade as a real estate investor. If I could start over again, I would do whatever it takes to eventually get into the commercial real estate realm. The sooner the better. There are many strategies to get there. I did a lot of residential strategies, including flipping homes, buying to rent, lease to own, building from the ground up, etc. A lot of those were helpful to prepare me for being a real estate syndicator and a fund manager. 

I have some video on BiggerPockets from about a year ago where I talked about 7 Paths to get into Commercial Real Estate. You can check those out. Good luck and happy investing! 

Hi @Brian Cassanego! Great question and you got some great responses above. 

I am in my third decade as a real estate investor. I've done single family, flip, rentals, built some from the ground up, rent to own, mobile homes, a small subdivision and I eventually graduated to an array of commercial real estate investments. Hands down I would recommend a diversified portfolio of commercial real estate. 

I would start by getting @Brian Burke's excellent book The Hands-Off Investor. This will help you vet experienced syndicators and fund managers. If I had $1 million to invest, I would spread it out over several carefully vetted operators. 

That's my 2 cents! Happy investing!

Hi @Ben Bymaster! Great question and you got some fabulous responses above. @Jack Martin's reply should be very helpful for you. 

For small parks, say, well under 100 lots, you can sometimes find a current park tenant to take the reins. Like Jack said, don't expect them to do much more than collect rent and a few other administrative tasks. 

Here's how I would go about this: around the time of closing, I would drive around the park and look for the most well maintained mobile home. The one with the grass cut neatly and landscaped, and with no couches on the porch :) . Go to their door and ask them if they would interested in becoming an administrative park manager. Tell them you're taking over the park and you're out of state.

You could pay them something like this: free lot rent, plus $5 per month, per tenant who pays on time. That's just an example of course. For someone who works at Taco Bell or is retired, this could be a wonderful opportunity for them. 

For somebody who's really inspired, perhaps you could have them contract with lawn care and maintenance services and more. That's where I would start with a small park. Good luck and happy investing!

Hi @Antwan Yarbrough! You got some great advice from @Rachel H.above. I recommend you do that. If you have an opportunity to acquire a mobile home right now you could be in an excellent position. There is a pretty good supply and demand imbalance and if you fix it up to look nice you might be able to get a premium. Depending on what you acquired it for. 

This may sound funny but there's an old real estate sales method out there called "The 5 Day Sale." I used it to sell my home once. It basically consists of holding an auction and selling the property to the highest bidder. You may not want to go through that process but once you get it fixed up and get professional photos, you could potentially hold a mini auction for it. Just tell people to submit their bids and you will keep them informed on the highest bid and go from there. Just a thought. 

As @Rachel H. mentioned above, I would also call mobile home parks around the area. Many of them have lists of potential tenant-buyers and they might provide a ready buyer for you. Good luck and happy investing! 

Hi @Joel Lazar! It looks like you are on a great path! And I would highly recommend getting coaching or mentoring along the path. Or at least listening to every podcast or reading every book you can. 

In the short-run, I would recommend going to the max small local banks and getting the highest equity lines you can possibly get. Right now it's a little easier to get credit than it might be if the economy falters. Having those lines of credit could provide you with a golden opportunity to scoop up deals if the market goes south. This is probably the best thing you can do in addition to the education above. Good luck and happy investing!

Hi @Jensen Escobar! Great question. You got some good advice above. I would highly recommend you join a coaching or mentoring program. I was in full-time real estate investing for 14 years when I joined a coaching program and my learning accelerated exponentially to say the least. There are a lot of coaching and mentoring programs out there and I hope you find one that is fitting for you. Happy investing!

Hi @Raf Pinero! You got some great advice above. I agree you should saturate yourself to learn all you can. I would eventually narrow down your focus on one asset class, and if possible, one geography, and one strategy within that asset class. 

If you want to build a following of potential investors, I recommend you start a podcast, write eBooks, write an actual book, get guest spots on many podcasts, work social media and more. That is what I did and now have almost 700 accredited investors and $94 million under management. Once you soak in a lot of knowledge and get a few more experiences under your belt, you will be surprised at how much you know or how much you can give back to the world. Providing an educational platform is providing an opportunity to people and like I said in some cases, some of them will choose to invest with you. Good luck and happy investing!