Seeking guidance on 1st deal - are my assumptions reasonable?

Seeking guidance on 1st deal - are my assumptions reasonable?

Loranger, LA · Member since 2017 · 9 posts · 0 votes

I own some acreage across the road from my home and would like to put 2 mobile homes on it (2 are allowed by Parish/County). The land is paid for and has a water well on it. The plan is to borrow money from a HML to put in the needed infrastructure such as culvert at the road, septic, water lines, power poles, & gravel drive. Once that is completed, I'll have two used mobile homes moved onto the property and begin renting them. I don't want to screw this up and end up in worse shape than we're already in, so I need advice.

I gathered rental amounts from every local source I could find within a 60 mile radius and converted each of them to a square foot price. I averaged all of them (about 50 locations) and the average rental price in this area is .80 cents per square foot of space. I've priced my rents at .70 cents per square foot (16x80 trailers = 1280SF each) in an effort to be below the average - to ensure occupany. I've plugged in 10% interest because I know my credit is too poor to get a bank loan and my hope is that a HML will look at "the deal" rather than my credit and I expect to pay higher interest rate, but I have no idea what HML may expect.

Not sure what additional information might be needed to make a good decision, so I'll do my best to answer any questions.  Thank you all, in advance, for your guidance.

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  • Rockledge, FL · Member since 2016 · 493 posts · 427 votes
    9y
    Jim, Right off the bat, your 2.99% contingency on the infrastructure is WAY too low. Minimum should be 10%. Also, what numbers are you using for taxes? If you are using current tax values then you are in for a shock. Better to overestimate slightly than underestimate. Also, you don't specify, but your 50 comps should all be mobile homes in and around the area, as well as the same age and state of repair that your proposed mobile homes will be. I think your 10% HML might be a bit low. Your roughly 70k budget is tight for a HML, so you might try a private lender or get the mobile homes financed front a lender that specializes in mobiles. Another option is to use the land as collateral to secure a loan and use that money to do the project. I'd go back and redo the numbers project after doing some more research into it, particularly in the areas that I have mentioned. Good luck! Jim
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