All Forum Posts by: Bill Neves

@Account Closed

Answered in your other post.

@Account Closed

Congrats!

You have a good plan. Have them bid the job, you buy the materials. As was mentioned... have them pick up materials. Logic? They would have to pick up materials anyway if they bought them. Once you have done several, you can order online or by phone and save running around time, if you choose.

I'm sure you know... You can buy and put on 'will call' at Home Depot, Lowe's and other places.

You didn't mention the year of your project. If it's newer it is easier, but if older it can be a challenge when first starting. As was mentioned, part are not all created equal. Newer tubs can be standard 60 inches but older ones are 55 inches. That can be a problem, yes?

As was also mentioned, mobile homes are NOT houses. Make sure your contractors/handymen(women) KNOW mobile homes. Critical with older ones.

How to find a good contractor? Referrals - if in a park, ask the manager who they know and trust. This gives you a shorter path to find them and praises the manager as having good opinions. Give them a small job and observe/monitor to see what they say and how they perform. If ok, you can give bigger jobs.

When I started mobile home rehabbing, I hired a contractor who 'said' he knew mobiles but did NOT know mobiles. I gave him a whole project to do. It was a disaster. I had to fire him and crew and bring in a contractor I knew could do it. That crew was on another job so didn't bring them in initially. Lesson learned.

Good luck!

Rules are different by state. Most states allow selling a purchase and sales agreement with an assignment form.

Some states have outlawed wholesaling or have restrictions so check within your state.

Good luck.

@Nathan Waters Each park will have different rules and regs. As Rachel mentioned above, just go talk to the manager/owner, tell them you are 'interested in buying in the park' and ask for a copy of the rules. I don't mention that I'm an investor. I've had negative reactions in being an investor until they know you. Connotation of course is coming in to 'make money' off the residents in the park.

If it comes up in conversation, I say I fix them up nice and sell to a 'park approved buyer'. You are an investor but honoring the park manager. As has been mentioned here a hundred times, they are the gatekeepers and make or break you working in THEIR park. 

@Rachel H.  mentioned they can block you working in the park. 

You can also be the manager's friend by asking if they have any 'problems' that you could help them resolve. It ain't about you it's all about them.

We also have an in with a corporate park group in my area that runs 6 parks. I am in Arizona on a 3 month snowbird trip and one of the managers called after we were here, and offered us a home to work on. We have only seen it in pics and the contractor is doing the work. Nice arrangement?

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@Account Closed One caution with 2/1 in all age parks... you are better off getting a 3/2 if you can. 2/1s sell in senior parks no sweat. But a bit harder in all age parks.

I agree with @Rachel H. I've done this several times in the past and it works great.

You can always say you were hired to find out what houses in the neighborhood are for sale. 3rd party validation works great. And instead of asking if theirs is for sale... ask if they know of any in the neighborhood for sale. Quickly explain that they cannot be listed with realtors but you can offer them a referral fee if you buy one. $100-$250 usually gets action. 

We got a mobile home deal recently that netted a nice pay day by offering $250 for referrals in a park. Someone called and said a neighbor was 'thinking' of moving. I called, got the deal, fixed it up and flipped it.

Good luck and have fun!

Thanks Rachel. Good stuff.

Unfortunately, this is one of the downsides of working in parks. Golden Rule: They with the gold makes the rules. Approval is at their discretion.

Is this happening to you or just your neighbor? 

Find out what the park requirements are and as long as they comply the park should approve them. Although 2 of the people were police officers, what is their credit score or income? Many times there is criteria we aren't aware of. The park is not allowed to tell you due to privacy laws.

I'm clear with people about the park requirements BEFORE they apply at the office. No surprises. If they don't comply, they usually leave. Saves time and frustration.

I had a park one time refuse to approve people for several months. And I had 2 for sale at the same time. I had rehabbed them both and they were in great shape, staged and showed well. I played dumb and told the park owner I was so sorry but I was going to have to move 1 or both because I couldn't find anyone satisfactory to the park.

The park owner was stunned (parks usually hate to have homes moved) and asked what she could do to help. I told her that I needed to get 2 people approved by month end or I would have to do something drastic. I didn't want to but was losing money.

Magically 2 people were approved by month end. I will not work in that park again. There are lots of parks if that's your preference.

Plan B - there are groups... There is one in Washington state...  that represent manufactured home owners and unfair practices by parks. You could call and ask their advice. Sometimes a simple anonymous inquiry call from an attorney is amazingly effective. Not your attorney, just representing "a client in the park" who felt like things aren't being handled fairly. 

Good luck!

@Mike G. @Richard Wormwood

You can check out Mobile Home University. They are the go-to folks for learning about buying parks. Check out info in this blog.

Several of us who do not choose to own a park, do deals in parks and do pretty well with that.

What are your goals, risk tolerance and funds available? 

Do you want cash flow? Big paydays? Combination? Only you can answer that. We know of people, who get great cash flow and big paydays. But choose not to own a park.

Have fun!

@James D. @Alex Shaughnessy

I posted when I was fresh to Bigger Pockets. That was quite a while back. I think someone must have asked for some positive feedback. I just happened to see it.

Anyway, if I whined about every deal or course that didn't go as expected, I would never have learned what I've learned and done the home run deals. 

Onward and upward!

@Jeremy M.

Depends on what your plan is. Do you want to cash out and move to a bigger property?

Or get cash flow for several years? 

Having cash flow that covers your monthly overhead, makes you somewhat financially independent = don't HAVE to work for income.

So again, it depends on what your plan is.