All Forum Posts by: Logan M.

Having been a licensed General and Manufactured Home Contractor since 1987 and formerly licensed as a manufactured home contractor in Oregon, Arizona and Florida along with 21 years a manufactured home dealer, 30 years developer, investor, property manager that's always looking for MH deals let me bid you Caveat Emptor.

During my tenure I have worked for years at a time as a Disaster Response Specialist. That means when an emergency strikes be it a hurricane, tornado, flood fire or earthquake, etc. So when first responders blow the whistle we come a running.

We spent months or years at a time in earthquake, flood, fire and hurricane aftermaths removing, replacing and repairing mobile and manufactured homes. We spent 2.5 yeas in the aftermath of the '94 Northridge Earthquake, and over a year in Florida cleaning up after Charley and his 3 buddies ravaged the state of Florida in '04. My intention is not to submit my entire resume and CV. That would take pages not paragraphs. However, I do have a little experience in the Manufactured Housing Industry at all levels.

My Caveat Emptor is that within the framework of your search you personally visit and inspect it thoroughly as I'm sure you will. But even more importantly is to study the ebb and flow history of the park.

I would go back to its beginning if possible and do trend histories and area demographics before doing anything and you can usually do that with a Google search from the comforts and confines of your humble abode.

What I've come to realize in just the past few years is the increasing number of blighted MHP Communities that are no longer in the "PATH OF PROGRESS" and have dramatically declined SOCIO-ECONOMICALLY as a result.

As an ardent MH investor my self who's been searching for deals that pencil for 3 decades I can tell you first hand that there are deals out there that can and do pencil. But they're not always cheap.

In fact the more expensive MHP's are usually in the "PATH OF PROGRESS", yet relatively speaking, they continue to have reasonable Cap Rates and decent ROI. From what I've seen the extremely low priced MHP's are a real PIA to bring up to speed with new or upgraded homes, good renters and low vacancies, maintenance, etc.

I've always been one for onesie Twozie deals since I've been in the biz and it's created a very comfortable livelihood and consistent income stream, paid my mortgages off, and put all 5 of my kids through college.

However, at 71 I'm looking for more passive income and no more in the trench stuff. Small investor in large upscale or gentrifying MHP's in the "PATH OF PROGRESS". Just saying...............

The '94 Northridge Earthquake was intense!

I imagine a lot of homes were knocked right off their supports. I grew up in Simi Valley and fortunately, we didn't have a lot of damage some of our neighbors did making their home uninhabitable.

0 Votes

You may be able to get someone who wants firewood to cut them down and haul them away but I can't see a mill taking them unless you have really good wood.

0 Votes

Raleigh, North Carolina

Here are a few tactics I have tried:

1. MLS listings of all categories, this is a mess but a good agent can pull these. I got about 200 in Utah since 1990.

2. Knock the doors of tenants in the parks.

3. Use a program like RedX to pull the contracts of the tenants and call those asking for the owner.

One strategy I picked up from another investor is going into the park/calling a tenant and tell them you are looking for a place for your mother to life, ask about rents and rules etc

0 Votes

@Ryan Moran before you pay for a study I would suggest running your own numbers. Get some bids on horizontal work, bringing in homes then weigh it against the income and then compare it to being a campground.

It may be better to go the RV space route before a new MHP in less there is a ton of housing demand.

0 Votes

Toledo, Ohio

In my experience, you cannot increase density and you cannot fill vacant spaces that have been vacant for over a year but I do not believe they can stop you from replacing homes.

In fact, I think it is against federal law under HUD for them to try to stop you from replacing homes with anything newer than 1976.

Cities are predators when it comes to affordable housing, especially mobile home parks.

The nuclear option is always telling them that the only other way to increase your return is creating a community for Sex Offenders a much-needed category of housing, and they will start returning your calls.

0 Votes

Over the last few years, I have been able to build up a portfolio of over one hundred and fifty rental units. Within that, I have eleven single-family homes. Being located in Utah means that I have been able to gain a ton of appreciation while just like everyone else over the last few years I have had many with interest rates sub 4% down to 3.5%.

I have been going back and forth with selling my SFHs and moving them into larger multifamily properties. A few of my concerns are the timing of things, will I be able to sell now for top dollar or do I wait and put myself into a more difficult situation finding the multifamily properties when the market is stronger as rates come down?

I am also worried because everyone tells me to never sell anything which makes sense but if I can deploy the same capital into something bigger wouldn't I make more in the big picture?

Has anyone moved all of their SFHs into larger multifamily via 1031 exchanges, what was your experience through the process and what am I missing? I have seven mobile home parks now so I feel like I can manage something larger without a problem on that end.

1 Vote

@Humberto Valle you can look at HUD rules on manufactured homes but apart from that you want to look at your specific state regulations.

1 Vote

El Paso, Texas

I have a team of real estate agents in the Salt Lake City Utah area and am always looking for new ways to generate solid buyer and seller leads.

Are Biggerpockets leads worth the money?

Is anyone utilizing them at a high level for a medium-sized real estate team?

2 Votes

@Mario Dattilo, I would love to see what you are using for park rules as well. I have one I have created but it is not fully developed. I have great Utah leases though through an attorney I use.

1 Vote

All Forum Posts by: Logan M.

Logan M. has started 136 posts and replied 728 times.

Post: Compiling List of Mobile Home Park Owners

Post: Compiling List of Mobile Home Park Owners

Post: Tree Removal vs Selling for Timber

Post: How to get MHP owner contact info

Post: I have a campground that I am able to convert to MHP. Curious about Feasibility study

Post: MHP inside city limits

Post: Trading my Single Family Homes for multifamily properties

Post: What is the best resource for Manufacture Home Parks Code & Things to know?

Post: Should I buy BiggerPockets leads?

Post: Under contract on a 52 pad lot lease mobile home park