All Forum Posts by: Logan M.

 I would add a caveat to Manufactured home appreciation, they are nearly 100% dependent upon location. In our area, just outside Salt Lake, we had a huge amount of appreciation for these homes.

Now if you are in Mississippi I am not sure they would even retain value.

 I think the biggest takeaway on this post is that in a macro timing sense, you don't have any control over it so don't base your investing strategy on it.

If I find a deal that makes sense I act regardless of FED rates or the time of year.

In 2019 rates began to climb and the numbers started to become tight, almost nothing worked based on the the sale prices. I felt like I missed out on low-interest rates and was frustrated that I had not been born 3 years earlier. (That is a joke)

Then in 2020, COVID happened, which nobody could have anticipated. I was just smart enough to buy a lot of real estate in early 2020 and was able to get a ton of appreciation and strong rents.

Looking back at this situation I have relaxed a little bit and have come to realize:

#1 Nobody can time the makert

#2 Even some of the worst purchases with time can start looking good

#3 Real Estate with Leverage over time is the ultimate compounding that you cannot find anywhere.

Another consideration is the many ways to make money on a property: Rent, Depreciation, Debt Paydown, and Appreciation.

I never thought that debt paydown would be such a large number so don't discount these four ways to make money.

Looking back, I had no idea what I did not know about real estate investing, but the one thing I did right was continually working to learn and improve. Too often in our world today those trying to get into real estate investing feel entitled to success because others have it or don't feel like they have to work for it.

My #1 biggest tip for those breaking into the real estate business or any business is to be willing to do whatever you can to learn skills. When you start, the money you will make hourly will never be close to what you can make when you become successful. I don't call it working for free I call it working for fun and I have put in thousands of hours working for fun. 

This is the problem 99.9% of people will work and make little to nothing to get ahead and if you want to break out of that you have to do what the .01% do and not what the 99.9% are willing to do.

The best time to start is now!

What part of real estate do you and your husband work?

This year I bought a Mobile Home Park with 35% occupancy with no vacant spaces, meaning 65% of spaces have a vacant home/unit.

A few strategies I used to feel comfortable on this deal were:

1. Create fake ads to test rents and demand.

2. Walk through each unit to determine the amount of work that needs to be done.

3. Gauge the upside potential and my break even.

I was able to hire a handyman who has been working on one unit after another and we have been finding tenants to fill the units.

Today only a few months later, we are 79% occupied. My biggest struggle has been dealing with certain tenants but overall we are doing well. 

Also, this park is a 2-hour drive from me so utilizing technology has been a game-changer.

 I will check this out

Recently, my assistant resigned for health reasons (Magically when he ran out of PTO). This has created tremendous property management work for me on top of the normal real estate businesses I run.

What I have realized is that it has created an opportunity for me to see my systems and processes for what they are, which is far from perfect.

Initially, when we start investing we can throw time and some money at problems but our shortcomings are magnified as we do more and more deals. I am not convinced that anyone is running the perfect management system for their properties but I do think that there are much better ways to run the business.

I don't manage any properties that I don't own (Besides one, long story), the big takeaway is to know where you want to go and stay in your lane. The most stress I am feeling now is because of the work that is deviating from my normal investment business.

Hopefully, I will be able to hire someone soon that has property management experience but until then I am in the trenches a little more than normal.

I think that small parks may be the "gateway drug" to big ones. There is a lot of opportunity with small ones but the scalability creates lots of challenges.

 Amazing