Mobile Home & Snowbird Rentals in Florida
I am considering investing in an active mobile home community in Central Florida where many snowbirds land each year. I would like to know if anyone has experience in this area. How do you handle the holding costs for the 6 to 9 months the rentals may be vacant? The park I am looking into has two 55 plus communities and a family community. They have a rigorous application process and they are willing to work with me as an investor to help get quality tenets to the park. Please let me know what advise you have for a newbie investor.
@Terri Mooney I'm a bit confused , are you buying a couple of units in the park or investing in the whole park ? If it's a few units then what kind of terms are they willing to work with you on. The more information you can disclose the better the advice will/ can be .. You don't have to disclose the address , keep that to yourself. Also you don't have to disclose how much money your thinking of investing , I always tell newbie to never disclose the amount of money they have to invest because there are professional scam artist out there / although I don't know or haven't heard of any targeting BP but you certainly don't want to be the first . Anyway I'm sure many are willing to help give advice but it needs to be a bit more detailed ..
God Speed ,
Michael Short
Thank you @Account Closed for reaching out and to clarify, I am looking to buy a couple of unit at this time in a park that will allow subleasing as long as the tenants are screened by the park. My husband and I purchased a manufactured home and are in the process of updating it. We were able to purchase it for not a lot of cash. There is a much newer home in the 'family' park that would bring a good return as per the BP calculator as a buy and hold.
If this one works the way we think it will, we would like to invest in additional units.
@Terri Mooney are you new to RE investing in general? I always tell newbie FL investors to give the Invest Florida Show podcast a go. There are a few episodes that cover mobile home investing that you may find helpful and you can contact the guests for the episodes directly for more advice/info
Park owners will collect rent regardless if the tenant chooses to live there full time or part time - it will be your problem to make that work as part of the deal. If the market rents will not drastically offset the hot season lot rents then I would look at a year round tenant instead.
Be careful with the Park's subletting requirements. Some of these are so strict that it can be impossible to find a tenant at the price you want to make the economics desirable. What is your backup plan if that happens?
I'd also suggest you only do one deal in this park and let that finish before you do another one. Calculate and quantify your costs and benefits before getting too heavily invested in a single Park. If it does not go as well as expected and you find out something you don't like about this Park, you just unload your one unit and wash your hands of it.
Whenever I am investing in a new market where the demand is unknown I use a test advertisement on Craigslist or in the newspaper to see how many phone calls I get. If you're getting an average of 3-5 per day over a week you're probably going to fill the unit at the price mentioned fairly quickly.
Good luck.
Thank you Parker and Jeffrey. I appreciate the input and I have the podcast on my list for my 2 hour commute tomorrow. I have fallen in love with podcasts and now I feel blessed to have my two hour commute. I can learn and drive. I think we have decided not to purchase within the park for snowbirds due to the holding costs and rents. Doing the research, however, we may consider investing in a mobile home park.
We have been in the industry for a little over a year but due to 3 surgeries, we were set back a bit. Now, however, we have a renewed interest in investing. We live in between Tampa and Orlando in Florida and we know the area very well. We will be attending REIA meetings in our area as well.
@Terri Mooney I own a park in GA. It's a cash cow but I do all long term rentals. Being that I sell vacation rentals here in Orlando and see how much goes into management, I think it's a huge project to do STR on a mobile home park but if you have a way of getting the marketing dialed in and someone to oversee the park I'm sure it will work out. Personally I think they're a lot less maintenance as long term rentals. I just got rid of my two lot renters that were renting homes out in my park because the other tenants complained about them. It's going to be really hard to run background checks on every short term renter and the concern most of the tenants have living there is that you're going to be renting it out to criminals or drug dealers etc. Make sure the park you're leasing the land from is 100% okay with it because the second their tenants start to complain they will evict you and to move a home is very expensive.
Thank you Erica. What great advice. The park I am in has an extensive background and credit check system they have to run on anyone who wants to come into the park(s) to rent or buy. They are willing to cover all those costs and let me handle the rentals. I have heard the park wants to get out of the rental business and sell me the homes very cheap but I worry about the holding costs. The family park within the community seems to be a better fit for me right now if I choose to go this way. That could be a long term family rental or snowbirds. The lot sits on a lake so it will be very desirable. I have been talking also with someone who has done vacation rentals in Orlando as well and is very familiar with those. We will meet again soon. Thank you again for reaching out to me with your expertise.