All Forum Posts by: Chris Ebert

There are a few national companies (the names escape me) however they can be quite pricey if you don't have healthy lot rents. 

@Matt Slakey, it's very simple - you evict that person. 

@Charles Seaman, 30% is a good rough estimate for a tenant-owned, direct-billed park as there are plenty of factors that go into that # (e.g. - $200 lot rent vs. $300 lot rent will skew the %). How big is the park and how do you plan to manage it?

@Luke Simonetti, your best bet is to call around to banks.

@Abad Marroquin, can you legally raise them to $300 - it appears yes. Should you raise them to $300 day one? I would advise against this. A 200% rental increase for anyone out of the blue is sure to hurt. Not to mention the fact that you're tenant base is most likely low income. Mobile home park owners jacking up rents on poor residents is the topic du jour in the industry. Tread lightly.

@Lance Marshall, your post reminds me of something I learned in Econ class:

Question - How do gas stations determine their prices? 

Text book answer - supply & demand, cost of capital, etc. 

In Reality - they look across the street at what a competitor is charging and adjust as necessary

My point is that all of your calculations and strategy appear sound, but at the end of the day, the person who is most likely going to buy a park that size with that many park-owned homes won't be modeling out NOI, splitting cash flows between lot rent & home rent, etc. This is someone who is looking for a good investment and willing to be hands on. I don't believe that size of a park has a clear "market value" due to the geographical limits of your buyer pool. I hope this helps.

@Mike Zhou, why are you concerned with the empty lots if the current NOI gets a 14% cap? Are the homes park-owned or tenant-owned? This will change the equation from a management perspective. If it's all park-owned you'll have a difficult time managing from a distance (in my experience).

@Konstantinos Porfyris, a lot of questions to determine if this is a good deal but given it's all POH's, what's the average age of the homes and how do you plan to manage it?

@Courtney Johnson, if you're interested in Kinston, there's a larger park that I believe is still available (~$400,000) and would be a much better deal than what you've outlined. Biggest issue is that it's in a floodzone. Shot me a note if you're interested in learning more. 

@Robert Lenfestey, how can you justify that the residents are responsible for the poles aside from you not wanting to pay for it? I get it, I love all lot-rent parks, but at the end of the day you are providing tenants not only land, but infrastructure for their homes. If a septic tank or well were to fail thru no fault of the tenant you wouldn't hold them responsible. Nor would you put it on a tenant should an underground water/sewer line break.