mobile home park

Mobile Home Park Analysis

by John Fedro | December 18, 2010

If you are thinking about perusing an investing career in the wonderful arena of mobile home investing you are going to need to familiarize yourself with your local parks. It is important to step back and maintain an ‘investors’ opinion. (Notice I didn’t say unbiased opinion) Below is a list mental notes to take when [...]

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Real Estate Investing

Mobile Home Investors Needed

by John Fedro | August 22, 2010

As an active real estate investor who has been investing in mobile homes for the past decade, I have come to the realization that the one of the single greatest advantages of investing in mobile homes for long-term profit is the ‘Lack’ of affordable bank financing for qualified buyers. Let’s start from the beginning. A [...]

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Real Estate Investing

5 Ways to Find Eager Mobile Home Sellers

by John Fedro | August 12, 2010

As real estate investors one of our goals is to be able to attract sellers before or at the exact moment they need to sell. If you talk to 100 different investors you may get 100 different techniques to find sellers and their properties. Below are 5 great techniques that are actually working in today’s [...]

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Real Estate Investing

A True Story About Why Mobile Homes Are So Forgiving

by John Fedro | January 9, 2010

The date was May 20th, 2002 and was standing (mouth open in shock) inside my “newest” mobile home acquisition; a 1981 doublewide located in a clean mobile home park. When I originally looked and agreed to buy the mobile home I did my own inspection. Upon inspecting the home I only quickly walked thru and [...]

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Landlord Tenant

A Day in the Life of a Mobile Home Park Owner

by Frank Rolfe | September 29, 2009

Many people ask me what it’s like to own a mobile home park. They expect stories of exciting shoot-outs, drugged-out topless dancers bashing in windows with baseball bats and Jeff Foxworthy humor. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

I, myself, thought that would be the normal agenda when I bought my first park. The first thing I did during due diligence was to get a concealed handgun license. I was certain that my role would be that of Wyatt Earp in cleaning up trailer town. But again, a day in the gun class and the shooting test were all wasted. It’s just not like that.

“Well, then how is it?” you’re asking. The answer: boring. Really boring. Here’s why.

NOTHING EVER HAPPENS

In a typical mobile home park, the phone might ring once per month for a lot for rent (normally an RV) – that’s the whole sales side of the thing. The yellow page ad comes up once a year, so that kind of handles marketing. I show up in court to evict someone every once in a while. But that’s about as much action as I get.

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Landlord Tenant

Why Mobile Home Park Rents Can Be Pushed Higher Than Others

by Frank Rolfe | September 22, 2009

Many landlords are scared to push their rents right now. In the self-storage industry, for example, landlords are considering rent reductions more than increases, and many real estate owners feel lucky if they can leave their rents unchanged this year. Articles are abundant, talking about the inability of office and commercial landlords to maintain current [...]

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Financing Real Estate

How to Get Seller Financing for a Mobile Home Park

by Frank Rolfe | September 15, 2009

One of the great advantages of buying mobile home parks is the ready supply of seller financing. No other form of real estate investment offers as much seller carry, and at as favorable terms — with most of these loans being non-recourse and at below-market interest rates.

So how do you get a seller to finance the mobile home park?

One of the first strategies is to “bond” with the seller. A seller will not offer financing if he is not comfortable with the buyer and their ability to make a success of the park. If they are not feeling good about the buyer, then how can they lock up their investment and their future with them? Clearly, before there can be seller financing, there has to be a period in which the seller gets to know the buyer and develops confidence in their abilities.

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