BiggerPockets

There are several reasons why I believe that park managers are the fastest road to success with finding good deals on mobile homes.   Every mobile home I have in Texas, was from a referral from a park manger and they were great prices. I have spent many thousands of dollars trying to find mobile homes in other ways and all I did was lose dollars pursing over priced deals..


 Many of the  individuals are just to lazy to do the footwork required to find a good deal on a mobile home. Or to timid to go though the mobile home parks and speak to the people that live their, due to stereotype which are all to often true.

You have no choice but speak with the mobile home park manager, so you should do it first off this is a good approach for the timid.  If you spend some time with a park manager they will very often bring the deals to you.


The best method is to approach the park manager as an investor.  When I go to the park office and ask for a few minutes of their time. I will simply sit down and tell them I am an investor looking to acquire and possible move a few mobile homes into their park.   Generally they will not question you. I then ask them a few questions about the park.








There are few things you must know from the manager.


1)    Do they allow mobile home investors in their park?  


This simply lets you know if rental homes are allowed.    If they do not, find out if they are interested in buying some of your mobile homes in the future as they most likely own a large percentage of the homes in the park and owner finance or rent to own these homes themselves.

2)    What are the current lot rents?  


When you find out the lot rents, make sure the manager knows that you will be paying the lot rents directly to her and not your tenants making the payments.  This lets her know there is less headaches for her and the payments will always be on time. You are renting the lot space. The tenant buyers are renting the mobile home from you.

3)    When is payment due?  

This is obvious; also find out what day payment is late? This should never be a problem as you are paying the lot rents yourself, not the tenant.




4) Find out if your tenants can drop off their rent checks at the onsite office if they have one and you can pick them up there when you bring your monthly lot rents?   

I prefer this method as it allows me the opportunity to speak with the manager face to face for 15 minutes or so every month while I write her the check for all the lot rents and pick up my money orders. Many things can change in one months time. Ask the manager if anything new has happened. Also remind her to contact you about other owners of mobile homes  whom rent the  other park lots and are currently late or have new citations against them in the park. This can be an early warning sign about the mobile home owners current life situations. Perhaps they lost a job and they are becoming more and more motivated every day to sell that home before they are evicted from the park. You may be their only hope. Remember they have to catch up on lot rent and late fees etc and pay $3,000.00 plus in moving fees before they can move that home out of the park.  

5) What is the maximum age of a home allowed in the park?  


     This is very important as it will give you a good idea of the quality and value of the park. I also believe it is much easier to sell in a nicer park. From personal pains I have learned that a park that allows homes over 20 years of age to be moved into it, is going to be a headache when it come time to sell. Many of these parks are truly trailer parks and they have the reputations that we have all come to fear. High drug, gang and prostitution problems often accompany these parks. Well at least in the mobile homes in the Houston TX area. Things could be very different where you reside.

I have learned that older homes often have too many repairs for their worth and it is difficult to get a tenant buyer in them. By older I mean over 15 years of age.  I won’t make many repairs on them anymore. There are more than a few people that make money from the older homes though. I just chose not to pursuer them anymore. If you find a home that is just to sweet of a deal to pass up and you buy it for VERY cheap, you can try and market it as a handy man special and still sell for 2 times what you purchased it for with great financing rates. Please check state laws for how they define “Habitable” before you sell.   If you do buy an older home, do not move the home if you can avoid it. It may fall apart while it is being moved.





6) Does the homes require skirting? And does the tongue have to be removed?

You need to know these things, as tongue removal and skirting are extra money you must add to your moving and installation fees. I prefer homes in nicer parks that require such skirting.  Homes with no skirting are often used as storage areas for the MH owners junk. This drops the appearance of the whole park.  Thus resulting in it becoming more difficult for you to locate your tenant/buyer. We have also seen cats and other animals tear into the ac duct work and make a nice air conditioned house for themselves and their litter.  You don’t want to see the electricity bill when this happen to you. Put on the skirting.


7) What services does the mobile home park offer? Such as Lawn Maintenance, Trash Dumpster, Water, Laundry Swimming pool, recreation area?

 What is paid for by the park and what is paid for by the tenants?  Water and sewage, are two of the greatest monthly expenses that a park owner must pay. In return they can make quite a difference in the monthly lot rent if they are paid by the park. If tenants must pay their water bills, broken water pipes, faucets etc, have a strange way of getting fixed when they would remain neglected before.. If the park owner pays the water bill, you will find that leak in or under your mobile home and now you have to pay for even more repairs.

8) Do the park have a maintenance man that will set up the electricity, AC, water etc after the home is moved into the park, and does he work on the side and does he have the current license?

I try to keep all of my money spent  in the same park where my homes are located as it builds a loyalty base. Also you are seen as a friend and not just an investor.  A friend is a great thing to be with the park employees.. Do not be a friend with your tenants unless you like losing money and experiencing a ton of drama every month.


9) Find out what they offer you to motivate you to move your homes into their park.

My favorite park allows us to move our homes into them and they do not charge us lot rent until we have a tenant/buyer in the home. This saves use several hundreds of dollars each month. This process also amazes me. How many homes can you place in one park? This is truly a wonderful thing for an MH investor. Let’s suppose over a few years you move 15 - 20 homes into a 60 unit park. How much control do you now have over that park? 33% I am sure you are an asset to the park owners or a fright.. Now you and your actions and the actions of your tenants can make quite a difference in the value of their park.  You could make it o break it. 

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