All Forum Posts by: Philip Lamachio

@Thomas S., @Account Closed, @Account Closed, @Curt Smith,

Upon further discussion with one of the trustees, I think Greg is absolutely right about offering based on the land only. 

The original park was laid out with older, smaller trailers in mind, so as it stands, it would have to be reconfigured for the newer, larger units. It is also on a community sewer system for 30 units, and while it is still operational, the trustee said that the pipes needed regular maintenance. 

Given the fact that city water and sewer don't service this area yet, and the original layout needs to be reconfigured, I think its not going to work as a turn around type deal. 

The owner trustee does have additional acreage surrounding the lakes for sale, which they thought could be developed for a larger park with double-wides. 

The big issue with that, besides the lack of city water/sewer and all the infrastructure needed, is the fact that the extra land would have to be rezoned. 

Now....I do think that an upscale, 55+ double-wide community could be a great option for this land, if the rezoning could be done. I could see paved/curbed roads, gated pool/pool house, putting green, tennis courts etc. 

The land is there, and available and would only command whatever price is reasonable for raw land, but this would essentially be a new manufactured home community. I do think there is increasing market demand from people downsizing into this sort of place, as it is happening in a lot of other places, however I could not fund the development of such a community, not even in part. 

And my understanding is that private money lenders would want me (or a partner) to have 'skin in the game'.  So I don't think this will go anywhere as far as I'm concerned. 

The owner/trustee did offer me 3 of the nicer abandoned homes if I went to court and gained title. I would just have to move them. ( The rest he plans to have demo'd) For the time being, that is what I plan to do. 

Thanks for everyone's input..I really do appreciate it! 

If you think there is any merit in pursuing private money and developing a nice retirement community on this property your thoughts are appreciated.

I would be open to partnering with someone with more experience on this deal. I'll post more details as I find them.

Thanks both of you. I will be pursuing more details to see what we have here.

Awesome Charlie....I will need to call the owners, to see if the would be interested in an offer, get some basic questions answered and so I can have permission to examine the property more thoroughly without trespassing. 

I can't see why they wouldn't entertain an offer since the place is doing nothing for them at the moment except being a liability, and they apparently have no plans to do anything with it. 

But, people can be strange like that. 

Could you break this part down to a formula like you did the first part? :

'He decided that for him to put in the work, he would need to more than triple the purchase value against the potential. (?)  Once he determined he would need to pump $100,000 into the property to turn it around, he came up with a purchase price of $200,000. The equated to $300,000 all in.'

How did he determine it needed 100K to put into it? Capitol improvements?

I've found a fairly dilapidated, smaller mobile home park (maybe 20 units?) that has only 1-2 actual tenants on the property with numerous abandoned homes. It sits on a very nice little pond in a rural setting by not very far from town.

The property is in a trust and looks like it was the victim of complete neglect by the family members it was entrusted to. I think it could be a good buy, primarily because it is very hard to get new zoning for MHP's across the country. 

It's not on the market, but I have located one of the family members who inherited it and have his phone number. I would like to try to put together an option to purchase the property as is, of course after doing all the proper due diligence. ( I suspect that much of the electrical and plumbing is shot...lots of work to bring it up, but it could be a beautiful place) 

Can anyone point me to a basic investor formula to evaluate a reasonable offer for this type of property as is, and determine what the percentage and length of an option should be? I have a basic grasp on how to determine ARV, but any suggestions there would be great as well.

I'm considering finding investors who can fund the restoration or considering simply assigning the contract to an investor in MHP's, as I haven't done anything like this yet. 

My suspicion is that DF cares less about fair lending practices, as protecting the lending industry's self interest.  The biggest players in bad loans  that was the mortgage crisis were large banks and mortgage brokers, not builders and people seller financing mobile homes. Am I wrong? 

Maybe the loan could be secured by some other asset, like a car or boat, etc.

Thanks for your thoughts Tim. 

It seems then, that Dodd-Frank would apply to the used car industry. Otherwise, there would be no such thing as a repo.

So, if used mobile homes are considered personal property and not real estate (unless they are sitting on a permanent foundation, why does Dodd-Frank apply? 

@Bill Neves

The latest edition of Deals on Wheels has a chapter on Dodd Frank and the Safe Act. 

Also, just contacted Ken Rishel of Rishel Consulting Group (via John Fedro) about requirements vis a vis compliance and legally seller financing in light of the new regulations. They consult and offer solutions (education and legal forms, compliance procedures/manuals, etc) for small retailers, and I expect I will proceed with them.

Ken also explained the bond issue, but thanks for explaining that anyway....it had me sort of stumped for a second. 

@Andriy Boychuk Yes, I will do the three deals and see. I know that I don't want to be a landlord....have seen my parents do that. And the amount of return on Lonnie deals are so much better, with so much less invested.