We operate two large trailer parks that are mostly space rentals. However about 60% of the tenant owned homes are pre-HUD or pre 1976 make and therefore can not be moved. Most of the park owned homes are pre 1976 as well.

We have opportunities to buy these trailers all the time. Rates of returns are some of best in biz if you are willing to put up with repairs and low quality tenants.

Anybody have any tips or strategies relating to these older trailers? I.e remodeling, rehab, Lonnie deals, owner carry, disposal, etc

Seems like there is a large opportunity in this space for buying parks with older park owned homes or buying bulk or single old trailers even without dirt.

are you still here?  Ok, I'm not an expert, but maybe we can team up here.....diff states are diff, but my lawyer says we can do 2 owner carry/ yr without Dodd frank coming into play.  That's in wa.  And i think* thats 2 for me, and 2 for my husband.  Haven't done one yet, our houses are rentals.  But I want to.

As for remodels, john fedro basically says do as little as possible. I used tons of caulking, touch up paint, and i painted the original cabinets on our 1986 house. I love paint on wood paneling.  And i love cheap laminate tile for non-water areas such as a hallway, although that may not be unnecessary, my dad had a 1978 single wide and the carpet with bad so he bought some tile and pull the carpet and low and behold, underneath was linoleum!  So far I've managed to stay away from floor rot, but I know I'm going to see that as we get in deeper.  

I was just reading about someone who had a house with a bad spot on the counter, and didn't want to replace the counter.  So, they got a cutting board, traced it onto the counter, cut the counter so the cutting bosrd went inside, then put edging around it, snd voilà, built in cutting board.  

One thing I'm nervous about with the old doubles--they cost do much to heat. They are both inefficient (like a single) AND big (not like a single. ) I wouldn't want the people buying from me to not not able to keep their house warm.  

As far as disposal, thereare always guys on Craigslist looking for scrap-- they will pay you money.  But I'd just make sure they weren't going to leave a mess of non-metal behind.

What kinds of prices are you paying? My husband and I would love to own a park someday, it seems like the perfect place to be in to get these deals, and to know what things are going for.  We have it in a 5 year plan, to purchase either a park, or Quadruplexs. We'll have to see where the market is then.  We'd love to do it sooner , but we wont have a substantial down till then.  Sorry I'm not super helpful, but maybe we can get the ball rolling, here!

Thomas - In my experience with pre HUDs, the brand of the home often makes a great deal of difference if everything else is equal. However, even the best of brands pre HUD or HUD cannot overcome years of deferred maintenance or abuse.

In a park I developed in Florida with 24x60 first year HUDS, all but two of those 600 homes were still fully operational in 2005 and owner occupied. The brand was Jacobsen.

minor correction: first through fourth year HUDs. It took four years to fill the community.