BiggerPockets

I am also having trouble finding a park in the Cleveland vicinity that is willing to work with investors. I have not done a deal yet and am working on educating myself and my husband, so I was surprised to hear that the first park I called did not allow "non-owner occupied" units (so far, about a dozen called and emailed, and none allow this category of ownership). I am not giving up, however, and plan to keep looking around. Lots of nice parks in the area, mostly on the small side, and once you get about 20 miles outside the city there are quite a few. Just have to find that first one!

Lets see if we can figure this out. I read in one post, that the parks do not allow 'non owner occupied' units. Well, as a park owner and a lonnie dealer, I do not allow non owner occupied units either. But... being a lonnie dealer you are really just the lender, and your selling the unit and transferring the title. So your not renting, your selling. When I go into a park I would say I buy repos, or homes for sale, fix them up and then I sell them to a new owner. I will sell the homes for cash, or if the new owner does not have enough cash, I will carry the balance. I transfer the title but attach a security agreement to the home. You can use a car as a analogy. Just ask if they make payments on the car they drive. They still own the car, but owe the lender. Your doing the same thing with the mobile home... your a dealer and a finance company.

So are you guys talking about renting or selling?

RE: Jim,

I am personally talking about selling. Its like too many transactions for them to manage or handle or something...like they just want a plain ol' simple buyer live in type and nothing more advanced than just that...

Chip

Hi Chip and all others,
I am a newbie to this site but I have been a park owner for 15yrs. I currently allow people to do lonnie deals in my park as long as they under stand no nonowner occupants allowed. I also do lonnie deals in the park myself on somme of my older units. I also require a deposit on the lot of $600-$1200. The park owner has to feel that the deal will benifit him to keep home in the park.

I am right on with this post. The title must transfer. As a park owner... it gets complicated when evicting a non paying tenant. Part of the strength of a owners evictions are we can attach a lien on the home for the past due rent... its tricky when your attaching to a rental home...

So I am of this same flavor- no rental homes... I do not rent homes and I do not allow them in my park... all is fair.

Thanks Jim and Rick!

you know, i heard a good story before from an investor at a club. he buys mobile home parks and i had no idea how much of a cash cow they were.

he said he was trying to buy some units in the park to do what you were saying, he also owns a couple parks so he understands how the process works of buying one.

the manager was a hard core jerk and wouldnt let him buy one to do what he was doing. so he asked for his manager and he claimed " i am the manager". so he tried to talk it over a couple times and just couldnt swing this guy but it was a good park.

so he pulled up the tax records and the actual owners name was there not a company name. he wrote the guy a letter and recieved a call back. He told the owner, i will buy your park off you, and the owner wanted to sell and sure enough he owner financed it from the guy, he showed back up to the park and the manager tried to give him crap not knowing he was now the owner. he told the guy he owns the park now, and fired him. THEN he got his own manager who was ex military. says they are the best managers. i thought it was funny.

i plan on doing the same thing one day to my friend who thinks investing is a bunch of crap. he will rent his whole life and i will buy the house one day, show up, knock on his door and say hey, make sure you pay your rent on time!

Lots of great advice in this post gentleman. Thanks for the good read!