They get a higher return since they are covering housing cost, have the $250k per spouse primary residence deduction in gains, is a savings account, higher leverage position, lower interest rate possible, will pay more premium for location, etc.House might be overpriced for REITs but not for home owners.  

Top 3 reasons owners hire PMCs:1) No time to manage correctly2) No time to learn how to manage correcly: laws, documents, processes, etc.3) They're too nice and need someone to "save them from themselves"A good PMC can usually earn their fees by better managing the property/tenant than the owner, thereby:1) Increasing owners net profit2) Decreasing owner's time commitment, stress, headaches, etc.No matter what though, you should always plan to commit a couple of hours a month to manage your PMC.

Know this first:  the #1 reason that landlords fail is their failure to manage to the lease (American Apartment Owners' Assn). 

Funny, my state looks at all of the states taking property rights away from owners and then passes laws that do the exact opposite- it's a great marketing strategy.

YOU ARE A PROPERTY OWNER!

The previous owner claims they never had the titles to these trailers, so that is not option. 

Call owners directly and send letters/mailers.  

I’ve built strong relationships with agents, contractors, and other investors in the area, and one of my contacts informed me that the owner was considering selling but hadn’t listed the property yet.

Keep track of 3 buckets.1) Owner occupied portion - potential deductions for schedule A2) Tenant occupied portion - potential deductions for schedule E3) Jointly occupied portion - likely prorated for both schedules.There are nuances to this, so I recommend looking for a tax pro who can coach you on this. 

By doing this we qualified for a larger mortgage because we could use the rent from the other tenant to qualify and there are better lending programs when it’s “owner occupied”.