All Forum Posts by: Mark Lawson

I have developed a few and have two under contract now. The biggest consideration is what type of park you are trying to build. Do you want a recreational park where people are coming to camp as a vacation or long term renters who will stay for months at a time. 

In 2018 there was a study that over 1m Americans are now living in RV's full time and there are about 16k campgrounds. There are about 42m people that go camping each year in the US so those who are living in them full time are in competition it the rec campers for the spaces. Many of the 16k campgrounds are state or county ran parks which do not allow long term stays (most 3 weeks max) so there is a high demand for long term campgrounds. 

They are nice because you are renting dirt and there is no carpet to change, no walls to paint, ect and the long term parks are less hands on. The key is finding them at a good value because the demand is high and the prices have skyrocketed so you have to look for the undervalued parks that you can add value. With high labor and material cost building them is very expensive. 

I am also in the Chattanooga area. Do you own a home now? If not try to go the FHA route and some parts of Chattanooga including parts of Catoosa County which is a very hot market as well are in the USDA zone that requires a 640 score with no money down.

And there is always an option to partner with someone on your first deal or two to get some cash to be able to pay more down since most hard money guys want you to have 30% down. 

No, the bank is well aware that the buyer would be leasing the home back and they say they have no issue with it. I think they look at it like they would rather find someone to do this than sit on it for two years. The state of TN has a two year redemption period which was not waived in this case so no buyer in their right mind will touch the house until that two year period is over. They either get out now with their asking price or sit on it for two years.

It is not a short sale. The property has went to foreclosure already and the 1st lien holder purchased the property at the courthouse steps. He does have a two year redemption period. He would not be living in the property at a lower monthly rate than the payment was previously and I never said that. I said he had other debt that would be eliminated during chapter 7 which would offset the increase in the monthly house payment.

How do you figure this is fraud an illegal? As long as the bankruptcy court is aware there is nothing wrong with it according to my attorney. You are giving up ownership of the home.

Does anyone know a good place to look to find some (need one) investors that would be interested in purchasing a foreclosure and lease it back to the owner on a lease purchase. The home can be purchased for $180k on short sale and the value is around $240k to $250k.

I have seen a lot of discussion that these do not make sense because if the home owner can not afford them in the first place then he cant afford the lease payment but in this situation it will allow the home owner to file chapter 7 vs chapter 13. He owes $240k on the house now plus another $200k in debts. If he files 13 and keeps the house then he will have to catch up back payments and still pay $50k of the other debt so he will have to repay $290k.

If he sales the house to someone and does a lease back with a option to purchase then he can wipe all his debt away and only have the house payment do he saves at least $50k or more depending on how much the investor is going to want on the lease purchase so he cuts his monthly payment by a good bit.

If anyone knows any investors doing this please let me know and I can put you in touch. The property is in TN in one of the major cities.

I am close to you in between Nashville and Chattanooga.

As a real estate company owner I have seen some dumb things from out of state buyers regardless if they have seen the land or not. Make sure you get a good agent that knows what to look for. Make sure you have perk test done, the land is not land locked, check the deed for resctrictions, ect.

Well speaking from personal experiance as a real estate firm owner I would not sponsor anyone due to the large cost and paper work involved in this. I have sponsored people in another industry before and got some great employees but real estate agents are a dime a dozen and due to the large cost involved with this I would not think you will find a lot of companies that will be willing to do this.

One option is if you have some cash buying or investing into a franchise or a local mom and pop firm if you have any extra capital. This makes becoming a citizen much easier and you will have a much easier time getting into a new market and getting listing.

I found a local partner to help fund part of the deal and it ended up not bringing as much as I thought it would.

On another subject I do have a house that is coming up for auction that was owned by the same guy that I might need some help financing.