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Podcast Hard Money Lenders Books Washington
BlogArrowMobile HomesArrow8 Impressive Benefits of Mobile Home Park Investing
Mobile Homes May 20, 2020

8 Impressive Benefits of Mobile Home Park Investing

Paul Moore
Expertise: Personal Development, Commercial Real Estate, Real Estate News & Commentary, Landlording & Rental Properties
99 Articles Written
Caravan site park aerial view illuminated by summer sun

If you could find a single asset class where the world’s top two investors—as well as BiggerPockets’ own Brandon Turner—have invested their time, effort, and funds, would it be worth 15 minutes to learn more? You now have that opportunity.

Recently, I discussed my four brushes with investing in manufactured housing (mobile homes and parks), and I talked about a number of ways to lose money in this asset class. Then, I explained why my firm, along with a growing tribe of friends and investors, is loving this powerful asset class.

In this post, I will provide a more detailed explanation of why more and more top investors are growing passive income and expanding their wealth through mobile home park investing.

Related: Will Mobile Home Parks Be the Hottest Real Estate Investment of 2020?

Finding the Right Seller

Oh, the joy of frag.men.ta.tion.

My BiggerPockets friend and fellow investor Kris Bennett pointed out that about 93% of multifamily properties above 50 units are owned by companies with multiple assets. This doesn’t mean they’re all well-run. But it does mean that, in general, the operators have wrung most of the value out of them.

Value-add opportunities in multifamily are few and far between these days. It's very hard to find a well-located, mom-and-pop-run apartment complex with lots of upgrade opportunities. This means they're being acquired with very little margin of safety—a risky proposition at this point in the cycle.

Warren Buffett would probably be selling apartments right now (if he owned them). Multi-billionaire Sam Zell recently unloaded over 23,000 of his apartment units.

Investors beware!

Contrast this with mobile home park ownership.

It is estimated that there are 44,000 mobile home parks in the U.S. It’s also estimated that about 90% of these mobile home parks are owned by mom-and-pop operators.

It’s a highly fragmented ownership base, and this is a big deal for you and me as potential investors in this asset class. Typically, a mobile home park owner doesn’t have the knowledge, the desire, or the resources to increase income and maximize value.

They really don’t need to.

After all, many of these owners have owned these parks for a generation—or more. They live there. (Or they live at the beach.) They know the tenants. Their goal is to minimize hassle and keep collecting checks. They are (often) debt-free, and their costs are minimal.

Many of them are ready to sell and move on. This could be your opportunity.

If you—alone or through an investment partnership—can acquire a well-located mobile home park like this, at a fair price, you may have the opportunity to transform it into a well-run, profit-churning, value-maximizing ROI machine.

Related: Real Estate Investing Partnerships: 4 Types of Partners (& 5 Secrets to Success)

Finding the Right Buyer

This is a great time in the history of this real estate sector—because there are still deals out there. Mom-and-pop owners abound.

But it’s not just the sellers. There is another factor on the other side of the equation: Enter the institutional buyer.

As I write this, there is an unprecedented increase in interest among institutional buyers in this sector. And they want to write large checks, and they want the opportunity to assemble a portfolio.

I'm talking about real estate investment trusts (REITs), life insurance companies, private equity firms, and family offices. A friend said he recently attended a manufactured housing conference, and he was surprised to see representatives from these types of firms at an unprecedented level.

They want to add these assets to their portfolios, so you’d think they would be our competition. But that’s not generally the case.

You see, institutional buyers aren’t interested in hassles. They don’t want the risks and headaches and uncertainties of upgrading a mom-and-pop to a stabilized asset. So, they are willing to pay a premium for stabilized assets.

Assets that are upgraded. At market rents. At close to full occupancy.

And this is our opportunity.

If we can acquire an under-performing, mom-and-pop-owned mobile home park in a decent area, it can be upgraded and stabilized. Rents can be brought to market. Occupancy can be maximized. Capacity can often be augmented. Utilities can be passed back to tenants. Ancillary income can be added.

After writing the draft for this post, a Wall Street Journal article heartily confirmed this “theory” that institutional investors were chasing stabilized mobile home parks. A February 25 article explained how one public company provided its investors with a 4,100% return since the Great Recession!

As if that’s not enough of a reason to love mobile home parks, here are a few more perks.

Why You Should Be Investing in Mobile Home Parks

Steady during downturns

Mobile homes are perhaps the steadiest performer of all the commercial real estate asset classes. (I haven’t researched medical buildings, but I imagine they are similar.)

Check out this graph showing the performance of manufactured housing versus other asset classes. Zero in on the downturn years.

Shrinking supply, increasing demand

Mobile home parks are the only asset class with a shrinking supply and an increasing demand every year. City planners, developers, “not in my backyard” folks, and an aging population of owners result in the estimated demise of about 100 parks annually. And very few (ab0ut 10?) are being constructed.

Yet there is an affordable housing crisis that is not going away. The number of low-paying jobs is on the increase—especially in light of health care laws passed under the prior administration. Incomes have simply not kept up with the rise in housing prices.

Did you know that about 10,000 people are turning 65 each and every day? Shockingly, studies say that six out of 10 of them have $10,000 or less saved for retirement.

Though they don’t have savings, many of them have equity in their homes. This equity can often be traded in for a mobile home in a decent park, with significant savings in the form of personal property taxes and lot rent—and the freedom that comes along with this change.

Sticky tenants

Mobile home parks have one of the stickiest tenant bases of any real estate asset class. No, I’m not talking about guys with Velcro suits (though it could include those people—I’m not one to judge).

Imagine this scenario. You’re renting an apartment. You prefer renting, and you plan to rent for years to come. You get a notice that your rent is going up by 6%. You’re paying $1,000 per month, so this is a $60 increase. That’s $720 this year, and it will probably go up again next year.

You may move to avoid that rent hike.

move-mobile-home

Now, imagine you’re living in a mobile home park. You’re paying $400 per month in lot rent. A new operator takes over, beautifies the park, and raises the rent up to the average market level at $424. A 6% increase.

Are you realistically going to pay a home-mover about $5,000 to move your mobile home a few miles away or across town… to save $24 per month?

In fact, you could pay double that amount to move a doublewide. This cost includes transportation, decking, skirting, HVAC and utility hookups, and more. And your home and its contents could be damaged.

It’s highly doubtful.

That’s another great aspect of this business. Once you acquire a tenant, you’re likely to keep that tenant.

If you live in a home, and you have to downsize, you may move to a smaller home. Or an apartment. Or a mobile home.

But where do you go if you’re in a mobile home and you have to downsize? The next step could be under a bridge. 

Related: Post-Pandemic Investment Outlook: Top-Performing Property Types for 2020 and Beyond

Low maintenance & capital expenses

Mobile home parks also have the lowest cost for maintenance of all the real estate sectors, as well as the lowest and perhaps most predictable capital expense requirements.

The issues are fairly predictable, and with no toilets and other hassles endured by other real estate types, it is well-suited for operators who want to minimize their hassles and expenses.

Brandon Turner said that he is tired of dealing with contractors. After years of flipping homes and building a rental property portfolio, he has had his fill of lazy, lying contractors that don't follow through and who can make his life—and his tenants' lives—pretty miserable. (Of course, many contractors aren't this way.)

Related: 4 Reasons You’ll Never Find a Good Contractor (Insight From a Contractor)

Owning a manufactured home community is essentially owning dirt and infrastructure. This means limited requirements for contractors and a typically limited scope of work when one is required.

As someone who has spent decades dealing with unexpected maintenance, high capital expenses, and unreliable contractors, I love this aspect of mobile home park investing.

Joint stakeholders

In a professionally structured mobile home park scenario, the park owners own and lease dirt and infrastructure to tenants. The tenants own the homes. They have the motivation to care for them and keep them up.

Park owners are joint stakeholders with their tenants. This joint responsibility is the ideal real estate investment scenario in my experience.

Less competition

Then there’s the stigma. Let’s face it. Mobile homes… aka trailers… have a stigma. Maybe you still believe it. I’ve been there.

Along with the ever-widening supply and demand imbalance, this has been a great advantage to those of us who have already discovered mobile home park investing. While this is still true, this advantage is slipping through our fingers as more investors at all levels are discovering this previously hidden asset class.

Financing

Up to about 40,000 of the 44,000 U.S. mobile home parks are owned by those who built them or by small-time owners who inherited or acquired them. Some of them date back about half a century.

These owners recall the difficulties they had getting them financed. They likely got no financing at all.

So, when these owners are approached to sell their parks, they are often amenable to owner financing. They may even believe that is their only option to sell them. (And this could be true if their occupancy is low or their records are so poor that the bank won't touch the deal.) This can be structured as an installment sale, which can provide significant tax benefits to the seller.

The opportunity to get significant owner financing can mean less hassle, less uncertainty, and lower hurdles to clear for the mobile home park operator. Owner financing is also non-recourse, which is a great debt structure for the operator.

But here’s the truth about mobile home park financing…

While these parks were hard to get financing for in decades past, the situation has flipped now. Sam Zell’s big play into manufactured housing has turned many banks’ opinions to favorable status.

Large banks now love to finance mobile homes. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae programs offer lower interest rates and better terms than similar programs for other asset classes, like multifamily and self-storage.

“Risk is relatively low for manufactured housing lenders. Second only to self-storage, the asset class has one of the lowest rates of default.” —Hunt Mortgage Group Managing Director Josh Messier

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One of the best ways to grow wealth is to safely refinance “lazy equity” and put it to work in a second investment. This is one of the goals of most high-powered real estate investors. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae programs allow and even encourage this.

One of the operators my company invests with has debt structures that allow for two supplemental loans in the first five years of ownership. This means that operators could grow the income and appraised value for, say, three years and pull out a nice chunk of safe equity for investors to get back (tax-free). And they could do it again just before the five-year mark.

Investors who are able to obtain all of their principal back find themselves playing with house money. They have zero left in the game, and their ROI is now infinite since any number divided by zero is infinity.

By putting that untaxed equity to work in a second investment, they are able to keep earning returns from the first investment and have the opportunity to potentially double their returns by investing the principal again. This can really add up over a decade or two, especially when Uncle Sam doesn’t have his hand in the till.

And speaking of tax benefits…

closeup of hand using scissors to cut paper that reads taxes

Tax benefits

The tax benefits of mobile home investing were surprising to me—and may surprise you, too.

Before I looked into it, I assumed that mobile home park investing probably offered little in the way of tax benefits. We all know that dirt is not depreciable, and owning a piece of land is owning a non-depreciable asset.

But this is yet another aspect of this investment sector that I was dead wrong about.

One of the operators we invest with explained how a mobile home park's value could be segmented for the basis of depreciation. He explained that the raw land may hold only about 30% of the value in a mobile home park. And about 35% would be tied up in infrastructure (like paved roads, parking, utilities, a pool, clubhouse, and landscaping).

As my friend explained this, I couldn’t imagine what the last 35% could be. He went on to say that the last 35% could be chalked up to goodwill.

Really?

Yep, goodwill.

So, the depreciation basis in this example could be:

  • 30% Land: Non-depreciable
  • 35% Infrastructure: Depreciable over 15 years on a straight-line basis
  • 35% Goodwill: Depreciable over 15 years on a straight-line basis

So, 70% of the asset’s value could be depreciable over 15 years at an equal annual clip. This means that 4.66% (in this example) of the annual income would be covered by depreciation (0.70 ÷ 15 = 4.66%).

(Note that I am not a tax professional, nor do I play one on TV. But if I’m not mistaken, the depreciation on infrastructure can be accelerated from 15 years to one year under the new tax law. Wouldn’t that be amazing?)

But that's the situation if the park is owned with all cash. Our friend, safe leverage, can provide a benefit here again. If the park is conservatively leveraged at 60% loan-to-value, that number can be multiplied by 2.5 (1 ÷ (1 – 0.60)). So, with 60% debt, this 4.66% depreciation coverage could expand to 11.66% (4.66% * 2.5).

This means that an investor in this mobile home park who earns 11.66% in annual cash flow may have a zero in the income line of his or her K-1. And any distributions less than 11.66% could actually generate a taxable paper loss to this investor—annually, for up to 15 years.

And investors may have the opportunity to do a 1031 exchange or a 721 exchange to kick the capital gains can down the road even further.

Wrapping Up

Our own Brandon Turner has joined Sam Zell and Warren Buffett to build his future around this powerful asset class. If you want to learn more, look out for the new book I’m writing on self-storage investing to be published by BiggerPockets.

Recession-Proof Real Estate book blog ad

We were surprised at the benefits of this commercial asset class. How about you?  

Join the discussion in the comment section below.

By Paul Moore
After graduating with an engineering degree and then an MBA from Ohio State, Paul entered the management development track at Ford Motor Company in Detroit. After five years, he departed to start a...
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After graduating with an engineering degree and then an MBA from Ohio State, Paul entered the management development track at Ford Motor Company in Detroit. After five years, he departed to start a staffing company with a partner. Along the way, Paul was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Michigan Entrepreneur of the Year two years straight (1996 & 1997). They scaled and sold the company to a publicly-traded firm five years later. After a brief “retirement,” Paul began investing in real estate in 2000 to protect and grow his own wealth. He completed over 85 real estate investments and exits, appeared on HGTV’s House Hunters, rehabbed and managed dozens of rental properties, built a number of new homes, developed a subdivision, and started two successful online real estate marketing firms. Three successful real estate developments, including assisting with the development of a Hyatt hotel and a very successful multifamily project, convinced him of the power of commercial real estate. Paul co-hosts a wealth-building podcast called How to Lose Money and is a frequent contributor to BiggerPockets, producing live video and blog content on a weekly basis. Paul is the author of "The Perfect Investment—Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing" (2016) and a forthcoming BiggerPockets book called "Storing Up Profits - Capitalize on American's Obsession with Stuff by Investing in Self-Storage." Paul is the Managing Partner at Wellings Capital, a commercial real estate investment firm. Paul is offering free e-books on Self-Storage and Mobile Home Parks here.
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58 Replies
    Wenda Kennedy JD from Nikiski, Alaska
    Replied 8 months ago
    I'm one of those mom & pop park owners. The difference is that I own the mobile homes and rent them out. It's a LOT of work to manage it. I belong to the Landlord's group here locally. At first, I was their "unloved-red-headed-step-child" because my park wasn't taken seriously as an investment. Now, suddenly, mobile home parks have been discovered and I'm elevated to be a smart investor. Go figure. I'm still operating the only "bank" of affordable housing in my community. Nothing has changed here much -- except other's perceptions. No, I haven't maxed out the park's potential. I do better financially just taking good care of what I have.
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Wenda, That's awesome. I'm glad to hear about your success. I've been curious about the MHP market in Alaska actually. Feel free to reach out to me to discuss it.

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    Raymond Joseph
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hi Paul, I plan to invest in MHP's & or self storage in 12-18 months. In the meantime, I'm planning to wholesale MHP's to build cash. I'm totally new to this. Can you give me advice on how to find these mom & pop owners who are willing to sell?
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hi Raymond. Sure, I will be glad to connect with you on that. Please private message me and I can tell you about a conference call I'm doing next Wednesday. There are certainly ways to do this, and that is a good path.
    Tony Moreno Rental Property Investor from Madison, AL
    Replied 8 months ago
    Paul, I am also interested in finding these Mom & Pop owners, I hope is ok if I private message you as well. I am interested in this conference call.
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Absolutely!

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    Noman Akhtar Investor
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hi Paul, i am interested in knowing more about it, please let me know how to connect with you? Thanks

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    Bob Long Investor from Clarkston, Washington
    Replied 8 months ago
    Paul I am interested in being included in your conference call if that is at all possible.

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    Andy Choi Real Estate Investor from Los Angeles, California
    Replied 8 months ago
    Paul, I am interested in learning more about MHP as well I mainly do fix and flips and now look toward more passive income.

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    Cody Elliott Rental Property Investor from Raleigh NC
    Replied 8 months ago
    One of the best ways I've gathered from multiple podcasts is to use Google Earth. Sounds a little crazy, but you can find your local Walmarts in your target area, and basically just zoom in and out within a given radius from the Walmart. Essentially looking for Clusters of Mobile Homes. And then once you identify one, you can Zoom in to find the parks name, or local roads or intersections, which you can then use to cross reference with local Property Records. It's a little bit labor intensive, but it's a great way to find those "off the radar" mom and pop deals that may not be advertised else where.

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    Sri Ram Rental Property Investor from West Palm Beach, FL
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hi Paul You write great articles which are very informative. Great job keep it going.
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Sri, That's very kind of you. Thanks for saying that. I will keep them coming!

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    Tuan Do from Houston, TX
    Replied 8 months ago
    Great article Paul! I cant wait for your new book.
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Tuan, Thanks! I hope it comes out this summer. BP Publishing is finalizing it soon.

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    Tapan Shah
    Replied 8 months ago
    How do you go about finding mobile home parks to invest in?
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hi Tapan, There are about 100 commercial real estate brokers in the US who broker MHPs. There are also ways to find them off-market. Feel free to connect with me to learn more about some off-market deals I am aware of. I actually have a short list of deals that are available off-market. Better yet, you can connect with BPer Tim Henderson here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/TimH58.

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    Satheesh Rama
    Replied 8 months ago
    Very informative, thanks Paul!
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Thanks Satheesh!

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    Bill Wilson from Longview, Texas
    Replied 8 months ago
    RV parks have become more widespread since those are cheaper to build and less hassle to operate. The operator supplies a parking spot that has water and electrical hook-ups then has a honey dipper (septic tank pumper) that charges a fee to pump out the trailers' effluent holding tanks. Some have line connections to carry it to an aerobic system where the treated water is used to irrigate the park's landscaping.
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hi Bill. Thanks. I am on the fence for how RV Parks will perform post-COVID. Some are concerned. Some think they will boom. I'm not sure. Thanks for weighing in.

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    David Thompson Rental Property Investor from Austin, TX
    Replied 8 months ago
    Nice one Paul ! I'm all in ! Thanks for the update.
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Thank you, David! Me, too.

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    Ted Hollen Real Estate Broker from Santa Rosa, CA
    Replied 8 months ago
    I am raising money to buy 4 parks in northern California. Complete return of capital in 4 years with 2x upside. Please message me if interested.
    Chris Blackburn Developer from Salem, OR
    Replied 5 months ago
    Please send me the info.

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    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    More power to you, Ted!

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    John Glazier Investor from Phoenix, AZ
    Replied 7 months ago
    Hey Ted, I am interested. I grew up in Lakeport surprisingly enough! Where are the parks you're raising money for? Feel free to shoot me a message!

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    Nat Borchers Real Estate Investor from Portland, OR
    Replied 8 months ago
    Well written, intelligent article with great explanations on this asset class. Thanks Paul!
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hey Nat. Thanks for your kind comments.

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    Dona Cardenas Real Estate Agent from Atlanta, Ga
    Replied 8 months ago
    Great article! What kind of capital are you talking about to get started in investing in MHPs? Also, what do you think about the same idea but working with tiny houses instead of mobile homes?
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Dona, Generally, there are parks under $1mm, so perhaps $200k or more down. I would not personally do this with tiny houses since they are by nature owned by the company. I like the opportunity to "partner" with the tenants by having them own the homes.

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    Bob Evans Investor from Greenville, SC
    Replied 8 months ago
    The mobile home parks in my area are Class D properties. Maybe there are nicer ones in other areas, but not interested in buying junk.
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Bob, I agree. I would not buy Class D. Too hard for too little return.

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    Sharvita H.
    Replied 8 months ago
    I've read threads on here where people have lost lots of money with mobile parks. Tens of thousands. Almost bankrupt them. Where can I read and study about how to avoid pitfalls?
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hi Sharvita, I would recommend Frank Rolfe's training course. He has a home study and a regular course.

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    Gail Travers
    Replied 8 months ago
    I had to laugh when Paul Moore says, "Now, imagine you’re living in a mobile home park. You’re paying $400 per month in lot rent. A new operator takes over, beautifies the park, and raises the rent up to the average market level at $424. A 6% increase." In our experience with Sunrise Capital Investors, the rent went up more than 36%. There has been zero "beautification" done here. The tenants here would argue the grounds have gone downhill and there is constant worry over the lack of daily maintenance that we have. The tired argument that because investors buy parks, they are saving. affordable housing is not what is happening here or in any park I know of. Instead, it contributes to desperation and homelessness. The idea that mobile home tenants are a "captive audience" - too expensive to move so we stay and put up with the BS these predators inflict on us is far from the truth. Mobile Home tenants are organizing. In NYS, we won rent protections last year and we have only just begun.
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hi Gail. I am very sorry this happened to you. Truly. This is not happening in the parks we are investing in. Two weeks ago our operating partner acquired a park in Iowa. They immediately fired the druggie/ex-convict manager and started road repairs (within 24 hours). Some of the residents got together and bought a cake for the new manager to thank him and express their relief for a better management company and manager. This is the type of deal we want to see. A win-win for everyone.

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    Gayle Becker
    Replied 8 months ago
    Great article! My husband and I have been talking about investing in self storage (no toilets that can overflow) as well as MHP. At this point in life (over 60) we are definitely looking for more passive income. I’d love to learn more about how we can find motivated sellers of these 2 categories. Tell me more about the conference you mentioned in one of your responses above. I assume it’s virtual at this point?
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hi Gayle. Yes, please reach out to me and we can let you know about the upcoming call. Free, and I'm not selling anything at all.

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    John McPhail from Charlotte, NC
    Replied 8 months ago
    Ok... so I started out as a snob about MHP's and now I'm extremely interested. Thank you for this article and opening up my mind. Would love to be a part of that conference call you mentioned earlier... Great article!
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Thanks John! Very nice of you to say that.

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    David Nail Developer from Jackson, Mississippi
    Replied 8 months ago
    Great Article. I would be interested in finding out how to locate these Mom & Pop operations.
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    David, You can do it on Google, buy lists to call and mail, drive and stop-in, or join Frank Rolfe's mastermind where they have lists like that I hear. Frank was a guest on the BP podcast in 2019.

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    Tonia McCandless
    Replied 8 months ago
    Great inspirational article as we are on an exciting to journey to becoming MHP owners. We are currently under contract for an RV park/ mobile home mix property with great cashflow and are open to private investors and or partners. PM me if interested. We are also are looking for owner finance deals and partnerships on MHP's. I would love to get on the call!
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Congrats Tonia! Feel free to contact BPer Tim Henderson here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/TimH58. on BP for off-market deals. You can PM me for info on our Weds call.

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    Gail Travers
    Replied 8 months ago
    Through my experience, I doubt very much that an investor truly feels sorry for the damage corporate investors have reaped on mobile home parks and the people who live in them. People are organizing and fighting back, calling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to task for financing the destruction of affordable housing and becoming politicized around the issues of homelessness. It is our national shame that elderly, veterans, families and children live on the streets while mobile home parks become the "passive income" asset class for millionaires. I believe it was Frank Rolfe who noted that there is a lot of money to be made off the poor. This is predatory.
    Jared Stasch
    Replied 8 months ago
    It's a business just like any other business. WHy are you even here?

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    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hi Tonia. You can reach out to BPer Tim Henderson here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/TimH58. on BP for off-market deals. You can PM me for info on our Weds call.

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    Jared Stasch
    Replied 8 months ago
    If Sam Zell is selling 23,000 units then that means someone is buying 23,000 units. So what does that prove?
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    It proves that someone might have overpaid. Or not. I'm just saying that one of the smartest real estate investors of all time was moving out of apartments and into MHPs. BP icon Ken McElroy, an apartment owner who bought about a billion in multifamily in the last downturn, just sold $200 million in multifamily last year b/c he believed it was overheated. He's using that cash to prepare to buy distressed assets of all types in 2021 and beyond.

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    Gail Travers
    Replied 8 months ago
    I am here because it used to be a place to encounter and discuss what happened in our mobile home community with the owners, Sunrise Capital Investors, and engage them in some discussion. It was the only place they would hear any issues with us and we badly needed them to understand what was going on here. After they stopped using the forums, I stuck around because it gave me insight into the bill of goods people like Frank Rolfe peddle in their "universities" and how it affects people. It is a place to understand how people defend their actions by saying (as many people have said to me) "this is capitalism - get over it." I am here to honor my father who was a patriot and a believer in capitalism with a moral code - don't bring people to their knees. Sadly, that is exactly what happens in most mobile home communities when they are purchased by investors looking for a passive income stream.

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    Ron Barone
    Replied 8 months ago
    John Oliver digs into the sad side of the people who OWN THE HOMES in Mobile Home Parks , this is really great how easy you can take advantage of the elderly , poor , low income people and and even our Veterans. They are the easiest to take advantage of !! The owner of the parks "HOLD ALL THE CARDS"!! So funny!! He makes Frank Rolfe look like a real ass!! My problem with this type of investment is can I sleep at night knowing what I am doing taking advantage of someones Grandmother or someone on a fix income or even a Vet who fought for me while I slept soundly in comfortable bed. I am a retired business man looking for investments. I made my living helping people and never took advantage of any of my customers through out my 29 yr career. I have seen more and more GREED running through America and its getting worse by the day, taking advantage of other people just was never in my wheel house. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but there are a lot of greedy people out there that would throw there own mother under the bus just to own a Ferrari and its getting worse everyday. Mobile home parks seem to be the latest way to get rich quick but at the expense of the people who built this Country . Anyway watch this YouTube John Oliver Mobile home parks, Its funny and educational ................ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCC8fPQOaxU ................
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Ron, Thanks for sharing. I agree with you - I hate it when the poor or disadvantaged are taken advantage of. I heard about that John Oliver show almost a year ago and was honestly prepared to dislike it. But I actually found it quite entertaining. I laughed aloud often! Here's the thing about John Oliver... he's an entertainer! And he seems to hate the economic system that made America the world's greatest and most compassionate nation in the world. A nation that can afford to take care of the poor, unlike some, who leave them in the streets to die. Gary Rivlin is a tough New York Times reporter. He's not an entertainer. After blowing the lid off of the payday loan business, a business that does take advantage of the poor, he decided to take on the mobile home park industry. To his shock, he actually experienced a different reality than he expected. And he had the integrity to write about what he actually saw. Here is a quote from his article: "But the most striking aspect of their business is how happy their tenants seem to be. A few months after completing Rolfe’s course, I traveled to St. Louis to spend some time in a couple of parks that he and Reynolds own. (They let me choose where I wanted to stay.) To a person, the residents I met declared themselves satisfied with their landlords." You can read the whole thing here: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/magazine/the-cold-hard-lessons-of-mobile-home-u.html I am not advertising Mobile Home U here. But Rivlin's article praised them: "To the extent that hers is a genuine and representative sentiment, the people involved with Mobile Home U. — instructors, enrollees, alumni investors — may represent the best thing going in affordable housing at a time when the nation’s need for low-cost places to live has never been greater." Many of us know BiggerPockets' Brandon Turner, who has pivoted to the MHP sector. I know his ethics, and I believe he feels the same way I do. Mobile home parks, run ethically, are a great place to live, at an affordable price, for many who have no other options.

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    Mark Rehburg
    Replied 8 months ago
    Good article, I have worked for many mhp in this area Since the camp fire in Nov. 2018 the town of Paradise, which was 2/3 mobile home parks is now blank canvas. I would love to speak with you on investing in several I know are about to sell. Please lets talk. Mark
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    Mark, Feel free to reach out to me. I also know of an off-market self-storage facility available in your area if you know anyone interested.

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    Gail Travers
    Replied 8 months ago
    John Oliver had the help of Dr. Esther Sullivan who literally wrote the book on what has happened to manufactured housing. That book was published 3 years after Rivlin's article and rings the death knell for affordable manufactured housing at the hands of private equity firms and predatory investors. The offensive idea in the above article that the next thing to happen to mobile home residents if they can't pay the new higher rent is that they end up living under a bridge. Yeah, that is called homelessness.
    Paul Moore Investor from Lynchburg, VA
    Replied 8 months ago
    So Gail... I appreciate your comments, and I'm truly sorry about your bad experience with your park. But what would you suggest MHP owners do if none of their tenants pay... but they have to continue to pay their taxes, mortgage payments, etc.?

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    Ron Barone
    Replied 8 months ago
    Hey Paul, I'm starting to understand why Mobile home parks are so ripe for the picking. In my research most Mom and Pop MHP's were run and maintained well because they actually cared about there tenant for the most part and most are making a very good living just maintaining a small dirt lot. For most Parks there was a good relationship between landlord and tenant that's been going on for decades,the tenants kept up on there homes and landlords with low overhead kept rents reasonable its a win win right,.... Mom and Pop have very little to do once the infrastructure is in.... The homes are the responsibility of the tenants so when a roof needs replacing or plumping problems arise or windows need replacing the tenant foots the bill to keep his or hers home in tip top shape (great deal for the landlord).......Now my research shows that these relationships between landlord and tenant are showing some huge cracks as these Parks start to fall in the wrong hands as John Oliver calls them "Predators" and "Corporations".... In my almost 30 yrs in business I have learned at a early age one thing and that was to steer clear from large corporations, unfortunately your "Just a number" to them. I have ran into many Predators that took advantage and cheated many of my costumers, Thank God most of these Predators are out of business or went bankrupt many yrs ago , I was so happy when the last Predator went to jail for ripping people off....Greedy investors who do not care about people just turn a blind eye..... Many don't seem to care like Mom and Pop did... From what I have read this seems to be an epidemic throughout most of US to grab these Parks up as fast as you can and raise the rents up as fast as you can in order to make as much profit as fast possible. I can only imagine what this will do to the home values in the Parks as land fees go higher and higher... Many landlords don't seem to care about the depreciation and degradation of the homes or there land..... This "American Greed" can only cause more and more disconnect between tenant and landlord that took decades to develop.... I can only see more homelessness as this buying frenzy continues or until local,state or Feds step in..... I'm sorry Paul but I was brought up to respect people not to take advantage of people, especially my elders.... When I listened to Frank Rolfe and how holding his tenants HOSTAGE is a very profitable business that really turned me off... Many investors take this as a green light to do what they please in there Parks with no regard to the tenants..... Paul is this AMERICAN CAPITALISM?..... I'm glad John Oliver dug up the real Frank Rolfe and showed people his dirty little secrets.....He actually charges investors and shows them how to take advantage of some of the poorest people in a America!!!.... Some people seem to think he is a God in the mobile home industry...... sorry I cant agree.

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    Gail Travers
    Replied 8 months ago
    It would be unusual to say the least that "none of the residents pay." Even during our rent strike, we had people, especially older people scared to death of becoming homeless, paying their rent. For many, it would be the first time ever that they would even be late with rent payments. So the scenario of no body paying their rent is, frankly, ridiculous. So much of this heartache would be unnecessary if owners stopped treated mobile home parks like an ATM. The passive income dream (getting as much as you possibly can get while doing the least you can possibly do) is the cause of dysfunctional relationships between landlords and tenants especially when the tenants own their own homes. I would suggest that if an owner finds that nobody is paying the rent, they had better figure out how such a mismanaged mess came about.

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