All Forum Posts by: Ronald Perich

Ferguson (yes that Ferguson) just passed their version of a crime-free ordinance. Some of the new rules include:

• Continue to pay $50/yr for each rental property for a business "license"
• That license could be revoked or suspended if a crime or ordinance violation is committed on or near the property by the resident or their guests.
• Owners must undergo an eight-hour training course with police and fire department
• Owners must update the property to make them safer and at less risk for crime.
• All rental property owners must live within 50 miles of Ferguson or have a manager within 50 miles.
• The license can be suspended if the utility bills for two or more months go unpaid or if the utilities are not turned on within two weeks of them being shut off.

Just curious what others think of these additional requirements. For more details, check out St Louis Post Dispatch

I lived in a mobile home park for a couple of years. We owned the home. A well-run park is no different from a well-run HOA. You have the rules you need to follow or they boot you out. There are about a dozen or so communities within 15 minutes of where I currently live. Some of them, you do need a bodyguard to enter at night. Or at least need to take a shower after you leave. Others are in better shape than the majority of neighborhoods in the area.

The reason many of the parks are in such disrepair is because the mom-and-pop owner is in their seventies, is still running it like they did when the built/bought it 40 years ago, and have just given up.

Other parks are just plain run poorly because the owners have the same attitude about the residents as have been expressed here. Every one of them are bottom-of-the-barrel folks.

You get what you expect. If you expect your residents to be trashy people, if you expect that allowing the underpinning to fall away and not have any recourse, if you expect they will always be late, it will happen.

But you really don't want to rent out a mobile home, at least not within a park. This is where you find a decent used home and sell it to them on terms.

A better strategy for your personal home (verify with a lawyer) and most of your assets is to get a trust established. Trusts help reduce the amount on probate needed when your "time" is up on this earth.

But keep the personal completely separate from the LLC.

A direct link to the article can be found at http://www.webuysmallmultifamilies.com/selling-at-a-loss/

My latest post over at WeBuySmallMultifamilies.com discusses the topic of selling your investment property for less than you paid. We talk about how selling a property, even at a "loss" is going to give you back something even more valuable - your time.

I then show an example of selling at a loss. In this case, even at a loss, the owner ended up making over 35% return on their investment every year.

And if they sold it to me using owner financing, how they could make even more money.

Feel free to join in the discussion!

@Janene Tompkins, according to his Facebook page, they ended up purchasing the park in September. https://www.facebook.com/archimedesgrp/

@Ray Lai, a quick way to determine market rents is to simply search Zillow for what is currently being market for rent in that area. I did it for the St Louis property and I didn't find one property listed for over $1000/mo. So their projections are way out of whack.

The particular house you are looking at was last listed for rent at $995/mo. I don't know if that's what it ended up renting for, however.

Something else about the Ferguson. They just passed what I consider to be a very anti-investor ordinance that has a lot of difficult rules around crime-free housing. Read about it at http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/florissan...

Hope that helps you make a more informed decision.

To you investing success,

Ron

I don't know if you heard this week's podcast yet, but this question was asked of the guest. He plans for it by saving up money and replaces when it goes out.

My guy charges $200 to plow and salt after 2". I have 25 spaces and front and back sidewalks. He also happens to be my grass mower, so he gets my business all year round

That's hilarious! Love the out of the box thinking!