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All Forum Posts by: John Jacobus

John Jacobus has started 18 posts and replied 202 times.

Post: Mobile Home Investors in Topeka, KS

John JacobusPosted
  • Investor
  • New York, NY
  • Posts 224
  • Votes 333

Are there any Lonnie Dealers interested in helping us with about 20 park owned homes in our park in Topeka, KS? We would like to rehab them, keep them in the park, and have them rented in the next few months. We are looking to connect with mobile home investors who are interested in the Topeka, KS area.

Post: Mobile Home Investors in Topeka, KS

John JacobusPosted
  • Investor
  • New York, NY
  • Posts 224
  • Votes 333

Are there any Lonnie Dealers interested in helping us with about 20 park owned homes in our park in Topeka, KS? We would like to rehab them, keep them in the park, and have them rented in the next few months. We are looking to connect with mobile home investors who are interested in the Topeka, KS area.

Post: Lonnie Dealers Interested in Mobile Homes in Topeka, KS?

John JacobusPosted
  • Investor
  • New York, NY
  • Posts 224
  • Votes 333

Are there any Lonnie Dealers interested in helping us with about 20 park owned homes in our park in Topeka, KS?  We would like to rehab them, keep them in the park, and have them rented in the next few months.  We are looking to connect with mobile home investors who are interested in the Topeka, KS area.

We are pursuing a park in Montpelier, Indiana (between Ft. Wayne and Indianapolis). Does anyone happen to know that area or know anyone who may know it well? It's a small town and we're trying to understand the strength of the demand in the area. Test ads are live and we're seeking other intel on the strength of the market.

Post: Seeking Market Intelligence on Montpelier, Indiana for MHP

John JacobusPosted
  • Investor
  • New York, NY
  • Posts 224
  • Votes 333

We are pursuing a mobile home park in Montpelier, Indiana (between Ft. Wayne and Indianapolis). Does anyone happen to know that area or know anyone who may know it well? It's a small town and we're trying to understand the strength of the demand in the area. Test ads are live and we're seeking other intel on the strength of the market.

Post: Mobile home park key due diligence factors?

John JacobusPosted
  • Investor
  • New York, NY
  • Posts 224
  • Votes 333

A few key things to consider are below. Please also consider reaching out to @Ian Tudor and Ryan Narus from Archimedes Group.  They have an excellent due diligence checklist that helped us augment our acquisition process.

-> Zoning:  Make sure your land is zoned for MH and that expanding the lots on the new land will not threaten the zoning status.

-> Infrastructure: Watch out for lagoons and waste water treatment plants in small parks.  We walk away from those.  If the water and sewer are supported by well and septic, respectively, make sure you have them inspected by licensed operators.  Ensuring that water and sewer infrastructure is in working order and not subject to major deferred maintenance is critical for small parks.

-> Demand: Make sure there is demand for the new lots but running test ads at the pro-forma rental rates.  You’re looking for 7-10 inquiries per week.


Post: Best Practices for Marketing that You Buy Mobile Homes

John JacobusPosted
  • Investor
  • New York, NY
  • Posts 224
  • Votes 333

@DeAndrea D. Our park in Texas is in San Antonio, near the intersection of I-35 and I-410.

Post: Best Practices for Marketing that You Buy Mobile Homes

John JacobusPosted
  • Investor
  • New York, NY
  • Posts 224
  • Votes 333

@DeAndrea D. As a park owner, I would prefer to have all of our residents owning their homes.  However, this is not always possible.  If the investors that we work with can find buyers of the homes they bring into the park (immediate buyers or buyers who are on an installment plan), then that's super.  In the event that they can only find home renters to occupy their homes, that's OK with us too.  Either way, we get the benefit of receiving the lot rent.  

Whether the investors we work with sell off the homes they buy & rehab or rent them out is not a major consideration for us in determining who we partner with.

Post: Best Practices for Marketing that You Buy Mobile Homes

John JacobusPosted
  • Investor
  • New York, NY
  • Posts 224
  • Votes 333

@DeAndrea D. I own 5 parks and am always looking to fill vacant lots with homes and/or sell park owned homes to investors who will keep my parks full and operate with shared interests.  We own in TX, NC, SC and KS (GA is next).  Let’s explore how we can work together.  We have a park in the Charlotte MSA that we could use particular help with.

Listed below are several things that come to mind when I think about working with investors who buy and rent mobile homes in our parks.

Regarding marketing for homes to purchase, we look on Facebook Groups, Facebook Marketplace, and talk to other park owners near us.  We also see deal flow through our network of owner/operators who own parks nationwide.  My advice is to let people know what you’re doing and what you’re looking for.  Setup a Facebook Page, go on a podcast, attend meetups, and find a few park owners to work with.  I think you’ll find that some of them (like us) want to outsource lot infill to a reliable third party.  We have other priorities and finding partners who can be trusted to bring in decent homes, rehab them, and get them filled according to our screening criteria is valuable to us.

Here are some things we think about when considering investors/Lonnie Dealers who buy homes, rehab them, move them into our parks and rent them to residents.  These same ideas come to mind when we look to sell park owned home inventory to investors who are willing to rehab and rent them to residents while keeping the homes in our parks for several years.

  • We focus on turnarounds that typically have 5-10+ vacant lots.  An investor who can quickly and reliably move in homes into the vacant lots will be someone we look favorably upon.
  • We typically have park owned home inventory that we’d rather sell to an investor than do the work to rehab the homes ourselves.  Investors who have appetite to do this in volume (2-5 homes) are people we like working with.
  • We want the home to stay in our park.  The goal for us is to keep our parks full.  We look favorably on investors who want to keep the homes they buy and rehab in our parks for many years.
  • We will typically cap the number of homes that an investor owns in our community to less than 10% of total lots in the park.  Banks don’t like to see a huge investor presence in the park and it will diminish buyer interest when we consider selling our park.
  • An investor who maintains their home and values quality and steady residents is someone we like working with.
  • We need our investors to communicate with us via email and text.  In addition, we collect payment digitally.  Constraints that prevent investors from operating effectively in a digital wold are major negatives for us.
  • Investors who understand the move-in process, permitting requirements, and coordinate all steps with moving and utility hookup vendors are the type of people we work with repeatedly.
  • We like working with investors who operate as partners and demonstrate a shared interest in maintaining a high quality community.

Post: Calling All MHP Interested Investors

John JacobusPosted
  • Investor
  • New York, NY
  • Posts 224
  • Votes 333

@John K. I own and operate MHP’s and am always looking for additional parks to add to the portfolio.  I look forward to discussing how we can work together.