All Forum Posts by: Chris C.

I am to get back with the owner with my offer of structuring the deal based on filling the park. Payments will be based on occupancy.

The owner and I discussed a test to see if it can be filled under the current economic conditions. We discussed part of the deal being a test on the first 4 lots. If we can fill them within X amount of time then we will continue. Part of my proposal will include how to structure that including the exit if needed.

I hope to partner with a dealer, and anybody else who will help, to fill the first 27 lots. Once those are up and running I will probably have my own onsite dealership. We are already laying the ground work for the dealership and onsite financing but will have to do alot of work to be compliant.

Thanks to all you guys for your responses.

What is the consensus? Good oppurtunity or walk away?

I have the opportunity to purchase a MHP with an interesting twist. It is a total of 55+/- acres. 9+/- are developed with 27 pads. The park has paved roads with curbing, drainage, etc. Utilities are Public, individually metered, and all under ground. It has a beautiful brick entrance way. To say this is a nice park is an understatement. Park is well located near a medium size city, close to the local hospital, and walking distance to bus stop. The city limits join the property but it is not within them. A small river runs along the longest boundary. The undeveloped land has all engineering and surveying completed to build out to I believe a 170 pad park. All 55 acres are $599000 or $399000 for the 9 developed acres and option on the rest.

The twist is that it is completely empty. It was built right before the recession by an older couple who have since decided to retire and have no interest in doing anything further but enjoy their retirement. Bush hogging and pole/meter base and homes can be sited immediately.

I currently receive $150 a month lot rent in a park not near as nice as this nor is it as well located. I believe $200 a month rent is not unreasonable but I like to be very conservative so I say $175 lot rent would be safe.

Is this a deal?

How do I fill the park if I do purchase it?

I have talked with a local dealer who sales all of 21st repos in the area and he said he would be willing to put homes in the park and sale them sited. Pros/cons of this?

Thanks for any advice or direction.

What I have been looking to do is essentially a combination of ideas here.

While Ken's program is very good it is still structured for a large community or retailer with at least the owner working full time in the business and usually having employees to help with getting compliant and maintaining compliance. I am a full time employee who is working very long hours just to build my investing business on the side. This was a discussion I had with several of the attendees at Kens workshop about how I manage my investing while also working full time. That is where I was considering the 25 deals a week in Bills scenario because realistically I will need to pay someone to manage this process.

The cost that Ken is offering his services for is very reasonable and no doubt he will be one of my consultants however I still can not justify making that large an investment of time and money on the small volume I currently do. These are the type of investors I am trying to reach out to and figure out a path. Guys like me who are getting turned down due to low volume from some of the companies that offer origination services that Ken has recommended but are also to small to develop a fully compliant entity.

The idea Bill offered of working with a local MO seems on the surface to be great but their are 2 issues with that. One is Ken's point, the MO needs to know exactly what they are doing. This could be overcome by working with Ken and the MO to insure compliance. Second, which is the biggie, is that I can't find any MO's who are interested in doing it. In South Carolina an MO has to work for a finance company. If they work for a finance company then they generate their own loans and have no reason to help me. There are no "independant" MO's in SC. Is there an MO in SC that I could possibly work something out with? Probably, but I am still looking for them.

This takes us back to the original scenario of creating a finance company from scratch to originate owner finance notes. I am to small for a true captive finance entity with in my business. I need a team of experts like Bill and Ken to assist me and a team of investors to create this entity. I think Bill laid out an excellent rough draft of how to structure the organization and I know Ken has the specific knowledge to assist in the compliance.

Is this the best route? I don't know but it really excites me to have two business leaders of the caliber of Bill and Ken discussing it and I feel certain that a path can be developed to follow.

Even for investors in other states I believe we can still work together to develop this business model and share cost. The basic business structure and the federal compliance will be the same. We will only have to partner with in state investors and make fine tweaks for individual state compliance. If anyone is interested Post or PM me and let's at least discuss it.

This is exactly what I am trying to put together.

Unfortunately there are not enough investors concerned about these new regulations. I do not fund anywhere near enough loans to do it alone and will be the first to admit that I do not have the knowledge that Bill or Ken have to properly structure this. I would of course hire consultants such as Bill and Ken but as Bill stated it will take at least 25 deals a week to get this off the ground.

For now I have rented my last couple of homes and have been investigating lease/option scenarios such as http://leaseoptionmhsales.com but financing is what got me started in this type of investing and I would like to return to it.

Thanks Ken and Bill for all the insight and keeping the conversation going.

I am still looking for other like minded investors in or out of South Carolina interested in discussing the formation of an entity to facilitate some form of owner financing. Small park owners, "Lonnie Dealers", small retailers, etc. could all benefit from this type of collaboration.

I try to monitor certain sub categories with RSS feeds through Google Reader. When I do this I get either all the updates in the main category or all the updates across all the forums. Would like to be able to use my reader to only monitor certain sub categories. Is this a problem with the site or an issue with Google Reader.

@Jackie I too looked for the video you spoke of but can not find it. I also posted a request on our local REIA club message board for a mortgage broker and got no responses other then for me to pass on any info I recieved to other investors. I do not know about other parts of the country but here Mortgage Brokers broker loans to established lenders and do not see the need or cost benefit of helping investors.

I will continue to monitor this post but I am not going to try and convince people that a serious discussion needs to take place concerning this subject. As the CFPB starts to become more active I believe we all will see the need to better understand the implications of this government entity.

If you are interested in mobile home lending as I am then it is time to face the facts that we cannot continue business as usual. The Safe Act only woke me up to the myriad of laws that we should be complying with and are now going to be enforced by the CFPB.

If you have not read any of Ken Rishel’s post then you need to search the forums (and internet) and read some of his information. The CFPB is a serious threat to our business model and it appears we are not going to get any concessions. Just look at http://www.consumerfinance.gov. Several large links for consumers to file complaints but no link anywhere on the site to assist businesses with becoming compliant.

I am currently trying to figure out if it is worth the effort to become compliant or pursue other investing strategies. I may not be able to bridge the gap between being a small investor and the cost of becoming compliant.

My only chance is to work with other small investors to develop strategies to meet the demands of this new government entity.

How can we work together to meet these challenges in a cost effective way.

Examples of Federal laws that you should be in compliance with and should make yourself aware of. There are very real fines and even criminally penalties at stake and now an enforcement agency that is crusading to enforce these laws. No more flying under the radar.

Safe Act
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction (FACT)
Red Flag
Gramm-Leach-Biley Act (GLB)
Equal Credit Oppurtunity Act (ECOA)
Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)
Homeowners Equity Protection Act (HOEPA)
Patriot Act
OFAC
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
Now add your states laws.

I have some suggestions but want to wait and see others response to this issue to see if anyone is interested or feels the need to act.

If you can't sell it and make a profit then you paid to much for it. Then you are stuck with a rental. I made this mistake with one of my first deals. Paid to much in rehab got stuck with it and now it is a rental. Making money on it but I didn't start this to be a landlord.

Hopefully someone else will have some other creative solutions but I can't think of any that will still turn a profit.

@Lee I do invest in mobile homes. I primarily buy and resell with owner financing. I own a MH park and do a little note investing. If you would like to discus the local market PM me and we can set up a phone call.

I have picked up several private investors and now have enough coming in monthly to pretty quickly fund the next deal. Take this down time to start learning about private investors and start marketing toward them. Once you get over this hump you will be surprised how quickly things can start to roll.

@Annette, You probably already know this but advertising that you have some money to invest and not much knowledge will probably get you a lot of request over the next couple of days. Be very careful. Search out some trustworthy people on this site in Texas. This board has some great people and I am sure you wont have any trouble finding someone to help guide you.