Bakken oil field mobile homes???

Question

Anyone else thinking of buying some mobile homes from the man camps up in the ND area?

Seems like you can get a killer deal on a nice well built mobile home. Usually 2011 and newer. 15-20k. These things are nice and can roll down an interstate relatively cheap.  I have my eye on some lots in town to put them on just cuz the rent to value ratio would be stinking awesome...

What would you do with them?

Jeffrey H. · Answer

If I owned a nearby Park not subject to the economic swings of a single industry such as in Bakken then I would buy many of them for infill.  I wouldn't be paying 10-20k for them either - think 5k.

It costs a lot of money to move, block & level, and setup a home...that's money you don't get back - especially if you're moving these into someone else's Park and paying lot rent.

The new homes being offered for dealers are extremely competitive right now, and buying a used 20K home is a sucker's game if you're only looking to collect lot rent.  Being a landlord for a mobile home has its own set of challenges.  Many people do not want to repair these on an ongoing basis, but there is money to be made there if you're okay with that model.

Joshua D. · Answer

@Mike Hanneman

@Jeffrey H.

Thanks for the input guys! We are about 6 hours from the oil areas and we seem to be hardly affected at by the prices.  The 20k for these fully furnished homes, included the transportation and set up fees. I agree that a lesser price could be got. Exactly why now might be a good time to invest.

I currently own a mobile home in our handful of rentals and it has outperformed all our other properties 10 to 1 in income and in apritiation. We brought it into our town from 4 hours away and set it up on a lot we got. Paid 6k for the home and it rents for $800 a month. I would do this over and over agin if I could...  And I think I will.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Mike Hanneman · Answer

I think you could be able to get them cheaper if you called them up and threw a price out there. I too wouldn't buy them for $20K. Most of those man camps are deserted so they should be willing to get them out of there cheap.

But you need to look into what it will cost to get them to you and setup properly, that's where you might find out these aren't that great of a deal.