Is Investing in Mobile Homes Without Land Still Worth It?

Question

Hey BP Fam,

While our main focus is raising capital, our websites consistently generate leads from Mobile Home Sellers throughout GA/SC.

I’m curious to hear from investors who are actively buying and selling mobile homes without land.

At HAS Holdings, we consistently generate several organic mobile-home seller leads each month. Lead generation really isn’t the biggest challenge; it's the Dispo.

When a home doesn’t come with land, the buyer pool can narrow quickly. You may have a perfectly legitimate opportunity, but you still need the right buyer who understands mobile homes, can handle the title and logistics, and—if necessary—has somewhere to move the home.

It's got me questioning whether mobile homes without land are still worth pursuing as a standalone investment strategy, or whether the better move is to tighten the buy box and focus more on homes that come with land.

For those of you actively doing these deals:

• Are you still buying mobile homes without land?
• How are you building your dispo/buyer network?
• Are you primarily selling to park owners, individual buyers, other investors, or movers/dealers?
• Have you found certain price points, ages, sizes, or markets that make these considerably easier to move?
• Or have you stopped pursuing mobile-home-only deals altogether?

Are you still buying mobile homes without land?

How are you building your dispo/buyer network?

Are you primarily selling to park owners, individual buyers, other investors, or movers/dealers?

Have you found certain price points, ages, sizes, or markets that make these considerably easier to move?

Or have you stopped pursuing mobile-home-only deals altogether?

We’re getting leads organically, so I’d hate to walk away from a working lead source. But a lead only has value if there’s a reliable exit strategy on the other side.

I'd appreciate hearing what’s working for people doing these deals today—especially anyone who's solved the disposition side of the equation.

What would you change: the acquisition criteria, the disposition strategy, or the business model altogether?

Thanks for reading!

Avrom

Philip Joseph · Answer

I had a friend talk me into buying 4 mobile homes in a part he owned back in 2015. After 4 years, I looked at my numbers and found that I was barely breaking even. I made the decision to sell the trailers back to him and cut my losses. Here's the issues I had and the trailer owner that he did not as the part owner.

• high turnover: I found there was constant evictions are someone leaving after a few months. I had to deal with no rent for a month and the cost to renovate. Note, I was still paying him the lot fee even when it was vacent.
• Management: My trailers were 6 hrs away, so I had to pay a management company to management them and to handle the evictions. This took another 10% of my money.
• Cheap to fix and easy to damage: I found the tenants where constantly complaining about something. There was always something leaking, soft floors, loose stairs, etc. I had maintenance fees every month. And the park charged an extra fee for law care if the tenant did not take care of it...And good luck trying to recoup the money from your tenant.
• Insurance is high: The insurance was high compared to the actual value of the trailer. This was probably due to the fact that only a few companies would insure them in hurricane country.
• Does not increase in value: After having them for 4 years, i sold them at a loss which was fair market value. Trailers do not appreciate like a house.

high turnover: I found there was constant evictions are someone leaving after a few months. I had to deal with no rent for a month and the cost to renovate. Note, I was still paying him the lot fee even when it was vacent.

Management: My trailers were 6 hrs away, so I had to pay a management company to management them and to handle the evictions. This took another 10% of my money.

Cheap to fix and easy to damage: I found the tenants where constantly complaining about something. There was always something leaking, soft floors, loose stairs, etc. I had maintenance fees every month. And the park charged an extra fee for law care if the tenant did not take care of it...And good luck trying to recoup the money from your tenant.

Insurance is high: The insurance was high compared to the actual value of the trailer. This was probably due to the fact that only a few companies would insure them in hurricane country.

Does not increase in value: After having them for 4 years, i sold them at a loss which was fair market value. Trailers do not appreciate like a house.

BL. They are really easy to get into, I purchased 4 for $35k, but you will be lucky to break even after all expenses, repairs and vacancy. The real money is in owning the land/park. I chose not to buy anymore park homes. I would be curious to see if anyone who does not own the park is making good money.

Cajun

Avrom W. Smith · Answer

You touched on some great points, Philip, and you're absolutely right. Mobile homes are easy to get into, and unless they come with land, I find acquiring them without the land becomes a real bottleneck. Even with sellers willing to part with them at a low price, the cost of moving these mobile homes off the land is almost as expensive as the mobile home itself. It's created a real bottleneck in my business. Thanks for sharing, and I'm hoping some others will provide some insight. - Cheers

Is Investing in Mobile Homes Without Land Still Worth It?

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