All Forum Posts by: Mark Smith

I own 2 parks in Indiana and my experience is the same, with good communications and working with our residents, our collections have not been impacted, nor have I seen a taper in demand.

Scott,  Amazing report but it reminds me of the concept that "Less is more"  Some things to consider.

Who is your audience?  This feels like it shotguns data that many investment strategies would be interested but you leave it up to the reader to comb through 70 pages to find the nuggets that are meaningful to them.

You may get more mileage tuning the presentation to targeted investment strategies (realtors, wholesalers, multi-family, landlords, rehabbers, and builders etc...).  By focusing on a sector or strategy, you can prioritize and organize the reporting so the reader doesn't have to work so hard finding what is important plus you could get this down to a size the reader could actually consume.  This give you multiple products to market/sell as well using the exact same research/data.

As it is right now, I see this as a data dump but if you create targeted reporting, it gives you the opportunity to display your consulting chops and leadership by providing razor sharp analysis for that specific sector.  Now that is value.

my 2 cents

Over the next six months, I need to fill about seven lots at one of my parks in Indiana and I'm not finding good options right now so if anyone has some suggestions, I'm all ears.

Thanks,

Mark

I think this depends on your investment strategy, what kind of an investor are you planning to be?

I'm biased, I love mobile home parks.  Properly managed in the right location they are one of the best cash flows out there.  Plus, the supply of parks is dropping and for some reason (insert politics here) in the US we keep creating new low income folks so demand for quality low income housing continues to go up.  Properly managed means, you run it like a parking lot, not like a horizontal disconnected apartment building (owning the homes too).  You get economy of scales and many parks today are poorly managed with all kinds of junk for expenses and rent not current or rent rates not at market levels.  So once you take ownership, you can add significant value quickly by just cleaning up the expenses, getting rent to market rates and enforcing the two big rules, "No pay, no stay" and "No play, no stay."   Once the park starts to look like a community again, you can fill all those empty lots (this part isn't so easy but doable) and double your tenants in many instances.  Then refi out your original cash and then some and do it all over again plus.

Resilient too, we did not lose any income during covid, sure, we've had some slow pays but we are 100% current on rents for January 2021. 

You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a new self storage unit, those have been great investments but it looks to me like the supply/demand curve is shifting in favor of the supply side so it will or has already become a renters market.  Then it's a race to the bottom and I'm not interested in that at all.

Multi-unit can be very similar to the Parks with one big difference, all the maintenance.

PM me if you'd like to know more.

This is a toilet leak, you will never see a puddle in the basement, the water is just going down the drain.

So reading through the thread to precisely define the two issues:

1. The sewer lines need to be either replaced or lined.  What's still not clear is if this is an issue in the building or the underground piping leading from the building to the sewer tap or both?

I don't' see an issue with lining the sewer lines if that is the least expensive approach, the only other way is to dig it up and replace it all. You should get a quote on both options before you decide.

2. There is a foundation issue "on the left side" causing a slope/sag that is translating as cracks in the stuco and unlevel floors.  If you see it our not, this kind of issue translates all the way to your roof, causes your doors to hang wonky and can cause your sewer drains not to run as designed if they run parallel to the sag and no longer have the slope they once had, or worse there is a "belly" in the run.

This issue concerns me most and should be corrected first. I don't think this is as simple as sistering on a couple joists to correct the floor. Based on what you posted this looks like a foundation problem and your best approach is what was posted earlier, getting a couple quotes to fix the foundation.  Be prepared, you may need to do the entire foundation not just one wall.

Re-reading your original, if this is under contract, get the quotes rework your numbers to make sure the business case is still sound and if not, walk or renegotiate the deal.

Good luck and keep us all posted as to how this goes.

If this works at a 10 Cap, offer at a 10 cap (235ish?), it looks like after pushing rents you could get this to a 12.5 cap ish.

So, what do you plan to do with all the park owned homes?

Also, these numbers look very similar to the small parks in Indiana, what state is this in?

Sounds great, just confirm with zoning you can add that second unit onto the property.  Water leaks are not good on older mobile homes so if the roof needs fixin, give it a real good walk through i.e, the floors are possibly weak.

Around my part of the country it's hard to get any kind of bank financing on a deal like this so, consider the cash you put in frozen until you find a new cash buyer.

Seek legal advice on this question, it's more complex then you realize plus everything you own is at risk currently from everything else. What ever structure you decide to go with, will need to be drafted by good legal so might as well get started.  

I may reach out to you in a few months per your request.