BiggerPockets

Hi Joe,

I'd make sure of the demand in the area - make sure you can fill the lots and the #s of what people are willing to pay. Also, you want to check the infrastructure of the park.

If the homes do not belong to the park and they all have liens from the city and Greentree, I'd be very careful. It would depend on the Greentree rep in your area - sometimes they are non responsive and sometimes do not pay what is owed to the park. I've heard cases where Greentree owed parks thousands of dollars and homes sat vacant for years. The parks finally got proactive with the eviction process, which takes some time and Greentree ended up pulling the homes out of the park on a Sunday. Yes, it's true - they just took off with the homes without paying the park the back lot rent owed. These are just the stories that I've heard.

If you take on the park, you need to be proactive in the eviction process should you have vacant homes with liens on them that the park does not own. As for the liens from the city, it's been rare (in my experience) the city will negotiate tax liens but you can always try talking with them.

Hope that helps!

OK... In this market, unless you really know what your doing filling parks with high vacancy's is a no no. Here is why... to buy, move and set up a home to fill you park will cost roughly $10,000 - $15,000. The value it adds to your park, at $75 pad rent might be $6,000. Now your jsut selling homes to make a living. If your looking at a park to infill, it must support pad rents of at least $150 per month... and that is still really tight. Now maybe there is lots of upside on the pad rents in this park, maybe there is upside elsewhere also... but the math off the bat would tell me to pass.

All that said... the distance you are from the park is really pretty easy to deal with. I find the farther away my parks are, the better I manage them... I keep visiting the park that is 2 hours from my house, but my park that is two flights and a overnight trip... I seem to manage fine using the internet, phone, US mail and my manager...

Funny how we will waste time because we do things better, even if it costs us money... or time...

I AM GUILTY!

I hear you, Joe - it can be pretty tempting, sometimes wish you can move the park too!

p.s. If the demand is there and you think the park's rents are undervalued, it could work - it all depends on the market and the demand in the area. I'd be careful about trying to get others to come in and fill the park - I've known park owners who have depended on that model and struggled. It's best to be pro-active and not have to wait for things to happen. Hope that helps!