All Forum Posts by: Leslie A.

I've been around these boards for a few years now and I've noticed a few things.  One is that people have presuppositions about different asset classes.  Namely, low-income housing and Mobile Homes/Mobile Home Parks.   It seems to me that many experienced investors make blanket statements like "never invest in low-income areas" or "never invest in mobile homes - they're depreciating assets". 

Of course, veteran investors should be listened to.  They've often learned those lessons the hard way through experience.  But I think others are basing their opinions on stereotypes.  They've never lived in a low-income area or in a mobile home, so they think only druggies and thugs live in them.

Those of us who've lived in these places know that yes, there are some undesirables, but there are other areas that are safe and full of hardworking people who need a good place to live. 

Personally, I haven't ever lived in a low-income area or trailer park, but I have lived in mobile homes on land and I've lived in working class areas.  What I've seen is a lot of decent people that maybe don't want to have to force their wife to work so they can afford the top areas.  They might want her to be able to be home with the kids, so they live in a less expensive area.

When I was first married, we bought an inexpensive used mobile home to live in and poured our money into savings.  We also took trips and had a great time with all that money we saved on mortgages and rent.

I've been watching a show called "Married at First Sight", where these people get married to people they've never seen before they walk down the aisle.  It's really good.  But in one of the recent episodes, one of the women went on and on about how ashamed she was of growing up in a trailer park.  And how ashamed she was of her family who still live in trailers.  It just seemed strange to me.  What's the big deal?  Who cares?

Sounds like a good plan, Chance.  Hope all goes well for you.

This next deal isn't mine, but my sister and brother-in-law's.  We had another renter just begging us to rent him one, but at that point we didn't have #3 ready yet. 

My sister had contemplated renting her personal RV, so I suggested she rent it to him. She did end up renting hers to him for $180 wk (779 a month). Hers is not a FEMA trailer and it's much nicer and bigger with a slide and a bigger bedroom of sorts for the bunks on one end.

All 4 of these are in that same park.  At this point, we're looking for more to buy, but have been busy getting ready for school to start and going out of town, so haven't got anything lined up yet, though we do have a renter waiting.

This is a picture of a typical FEMA trailer.

Ok, next deal. 

My husband's boss had 3 RVs out behind the office of the trucking company, so I sent him a text and asked him if he wanted to sell any of them.  He said he'd sell one for $2,000.  I went to see it and offered him $1,250 hoping to get to a price of $1,500.  He said no, but he'd take $1,250 for the other one and $1,750 for that one.  I offered him $2,750, but he held firm at $3,000.  Which was actually a great deal, so I paid him $3,000 for two trailers.

Note that all three of the trailers at this point are FEMA trailers. Around here, there is a pretty good supply of them, with the retail for one in good shape being $5 - $6 k. Now, I'm not sure of the liability issues with renting FEMA trailers, so if you want to do that, you should probably look into it. Many, many people live in them around here.

My sister and brother-in-law partnered with me on this deal.  I paid the $3,000 and they agreed to do the repair work and pay for all the repairs.  I did end up doing a lot of repair and cleanup with them, though.  However, their expertise is a thousand times better than mine and they have tools, etc.  We worked our butts off!  I tip my hat off to anyone who can rehab a house.  These tiny trailers are a lot of work, so I can't imagine doing a house.

We bought these 7/20.  We had the first one rented on 8/2 at the same $150 wk as the first one.  The second one was rented on 8/12 for $160 wk (because we charged $10 extra a week for her having a cat - total monthly $693).

Rental #2 - purchase price $1,250, fix-up costs $705.22.  Total investment $1955.22.  Retail value around $5,000.

Rental #3 - purchase price $1,750, fix-up costs $458.72.  Total investment $2208.72.  Retail value around $5,000.

Ok - here are some numbers and details:

First RV - Purchased 6/27 - price $3,000, fix-up costs and prep for rental $364.98, paid $300 to my sister and bro-in-law for some help they gave me on rebuilding the bed, fixing the a/c, etc, plus paid $100 to the seller to move it to the lot for me, will need to pay title transfer fees of about $250, making total investment right around $4,000.

I placed this RV in a park that is a traditional mobile home park (a pretty nice one) with a special section for RVs.  It has showers and a washateria, and sits by the river.  I called all the RV parks I could find and the ads, but the day I needed to move the RV in, this one was really the only one who had a space available.  I talked to the manager and told her what I wanted to do.  That made me nervous, but she was quite helpful and receptive.  Lot rent is $260, which includes water and basic cable. 

After I put the RV in the park (I had the seller deliver it to the park), I did the repair work there.  It took 11 days, because as I said above, I don't know how to fix anything!  I told one neighbor I wanted to rent it.  He told his next door neighbor and she came to see me about her son renting it.  He became my first renter. 

I decided to charge rents by the week, but with a 6 month lease.  The reason is that you can get a lot more money that way.  If I wanted to rent it by the month, I'd probably need to charge about $500.   I charge $300 deposit and $150 per week for this one. ($150 x 4.33 wks per mo = $650 mo) plus $20 week for electricity.  The park bills me for actual electric usage and I apply the renter's $20 week to that and refund difference.  Out of that rent money I have to pay $260 lot rent.

I will make another post to tell about the others.  I'm afraid I may lose this draft.  Don't want to type it all over.

@Curt Smith 

I've posted a bunch of details in the thread on this board called "First Rental"  Just let me know if you have any questions beyond what I've posted there.

there used to be guy who posted on here who found private lenders for buying MHs through the local REI group. His also had a MH focus group.

@Alphonso Clark  I just started buying to rehab and rent out, although I'm renting travel trailers, not mobile homes, but the same strategies would apply.  

What I did was save up $10,000 and put it in account to use for investing (I put every dime of my husbands large raise plus our tax refund in there).  I bought my first one for under $4,000.  You can find MHs in that range, too.  Then I bought 2 more for really cheap.  I continue to put in about $1,000 savings each month, plus all the rent money I collect.

I'm on track to buy one each month and each one has gross cash flows of $390 or more after paying lot rent. 

Hi @Andy Luick 

Thanks for sharing that.  From personal experience with relatives and friends, I pretty much believe that anyone with more than one DUI is an alcoholic.  If they've been caught twice, imagine how many times they did it and got away with it.   Of course, an alcoholic can reform, but it seems like they'd always be at risk of relapsing. 

Like my guy who'd been caught twice with prostitutes.  Thinking about it, just makes me imagine he must have consorted with them many times to have been caught twice.  Which makes him seem unsavory to me, in general.