Georgia Park with high extremely high vacancy

[Tyler Hardy]

I'm a beginner to REI and I've been bitten by the mobile home bug. I've evaluated a ton of properties and even started getting an investor involved in one park so see if we can make a deal. I called on a park here in my area (that I don't think is a good enough deal to move forward on) I stumbled on another park right next door from an areal view. The first thing I noticed about the park was the large number of vacant pads and an extreme lack of cars parked next to the existing homes. I rode out and took a look for myself and I was right. This is about a 100 pad park that seams to only have around 10-15 tenants.

My first thought on this realization was, "this is a huge value add" then the numbers stated to add up in my head on costs of tear outs, remodels, marketing, utilities, and all of the other costs of in-fill. I've tracked down the phone number to the owner and I'm calling today to see if they are interested in selling. 

My question to everyone is this. Should I be concerned with such a high vacancy rate (we're talking 90%+)? I see a huge opportunity once it's filled (if bought for the right price) but I also see my expenses shooting through the roof. In my quick drive by I counted as many as 20 homes that would most likely be need to be removed and at least 20-30 vacant lots. Does anyone else see the potential I see? What questions should I be asking the owner here? Does this even sound like a park that a new investor should be going after?

[Trent Chance]

@Tyler Hardy I'm usually not pessimistic but I'd avoid this one. You mentioned 20 homes that need removed. This will cost $2-4k per home. Filling the lots may take years if you have no experience or capital filling that many lots unless you have a unique way to bring in that many homes and sell them at once.