All Forum Posts by: John Arendsen

Anyone have any hands on experience as

guests/clients or your own vacation rental investments?

I'm anxious to hear from folks who've had personal hands on experience with both. We will be expanding our vacation propertyportfolio and are curious to know which may be the better choice for the quality of clientele/guests, ROI and ease of managing.

I've heard various opinions about how difficult it is to schedule both without some degree of conflict and/or confusion and found some very interesting opinions, attitudes and philosophies about this cottage industry that just seems to be getting bigger, better and more successful by the year.

I do realize that there are a lot of municipalities and neighborhoods protected by HOA's and CC&R's who are resisting this movement in much the same manner that taxi drivers are resisting UBER and LYFT, however, it doesn't seem to be slowing it down let alone stopping it.

I understand and empathize with this dilemma inasmuch as it does pose certain problems and tends to disturb the status-quo of otherwise quiet residential family communities and that has to be addressed and dealt with.

However, in destination tourist and vacation communities it's a train that's already left the station and there's no turning back albeit there will be a price to pay in the way of Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) on the rack rates for this type of rental activity. This is only fair and to be expected.

I personally don't have a problem kicking my fair share into the kitty. After all it is a business for profit and participating and accepting communities should be allowed to derive some benefit for this privilege.

Every state has their own entities that regulate and manage the MH industry respectively. In California it's the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) who regulates the MH industry and issues MH salesperson's and MH dealer's licenses. MH & MOD contractors are regulated by the California State Contractors License Board (CSLB whereas in Florida it's the Department of Transportation who handles any/all MH related licensing. Hope that helps.

You need to contact @Ken Rishes.

I think the whole problem begins with the word "HANDYMAN". Having been a licensed MH Contractor/Installer in Florida in the past as well as Arizona, Oregon and a General & Manufactured Home Contractor in California since 1986 I can tell you first hand that you'd be far better off dealing with a "LICENSED CONTRACTOR" any day of the week vs. a "HANDYMAN" who most generally doesn't have a license or they wouldn't be posturing as a handyman.

You get what you pay for and hiring an unlicensed, unbonded and most likely uninsured handyman is a big liability that can end up costing you more time, money and grief as it obviously has already. Time is money  and if you think you're ahead of the game anymore today than you were when you first invested in the MH's by all means keep looking for those handymen that flake on you and continue keeping your $$$ tied up.  But if you want to revisit your investment capital and realize any decent return then belly up and hire someone who you enter into a time sensitive and binding "WRITTEN CONTRACT" with. My 3 cents worth adjusted for inflation.

Good Luck!

Amen and MERRY CHRISTMAS bro

In Cali it's the California Department of Housing and Community Development. In Ariz it's the Dept of Transportation the last time I was a licensed MH contractor which was about 10 years ago. In Florida it was the DMV. Also the last time i was a licensed MH contractor which was 2004. 

All that stated I just did a scant Google search under "who regulates mobile home parks in Ill and here's what I found. Should be your answer.

https://data.illinois.gov/Public-Health/IDPH-Manufactured-Home-Communities/bwdr-3569/data

When in doubt Google it out.

Depends on the year. If it's a pre HUD home built before June 15, 1976, I wouldn't touch is for a variety of reasons.

• Built like a trailer with 2x3 inch exterior walls and 1x2 or 2x2 interior wall const. which makes them very flimsy and difficult even dangerous to repair.
• Interior paneling is usually a 3/16 inch photo-finished veneer which for the most part isn't even manufactured any longer.
• Flimsy aluminum siding no longer manufactured and hard to repair.
• Trying to replace interior wall paneling and/or aluminum siding with heavier materials which is about all that's available with today's material selections can drastically overload exterior walls causing sagging and settling unless reinforced by perimeter piers which still isn't a good idea for lots of engineering reasons.
• Roof were usual a 1x2 truss system with a rolled aluminum skin place on top. The roof trusses if not inundated with dry rot and termite damage may also have lots of truss fractures caused by tradesmen not knowing where or how to walk on it or by falling branches and wind driven rain issues.
• Particle board sub flooring is held together with Elmers Glue. This is water soluble and once wet if not dried quickly will dissolve the holding agents in the glue and return the particle board back to sawdust which is what it was before the glue dried when manufactured. Additionally lot's of particle board was laced with formaldehyde which is a caustic chemical.
• Formica counter tops are known to have been laced with formaldehyde as well.
• Acoustical and popcorn ceilings in that circa were known to have asbestos in it which is a highly carcinogenic chemical and can be very detrimental to ones health.
• Above ceiling and wall insulation was also know to have asbestos in it.
• A lot of plumbing in those days was made from "Quest" Poly Butylene which proved to be catastrophic and ended up costing Shell Oil huge losses in a class action lawsuit in order to cover court ordered replacement on hundreds of thousands of mobile homes.
• Finally, once you start going down that road it will be like feeding a cancer that just keeps manifesting itself. 

Too many other things to consider as well but I don't have the time nor the inclination to go over them. If you're intent on keeping an old "toilet" as most MH specialists call them the best thing you could do is strip them down to the bones, reinforce the skeleton and start completely over which will not make it a viable investment for a rental.

In fact I'm doing one now and will be happy to send you photos of my progress. However, the MH is in a MHC less than 300 feet from the ocean in a very mixed residential community  neighborhood with an average price tag of 3 million dollars. 

I'll spend about 30-50k to rehab it but it will be totally updated and I should be able to sell it for about 250k plus 1k/mth rent. The reason I had to go this route was due to the existing legal non-conforming setbacks. Had I removed the 12x36 foot MH I would have had to install any new one with a Park Model because I'd never be able to use the same footprint due to the set back requirements.

Hope all this helps.

That stated, I do own and rent several MH's in MHC's, however, I do have the permission from the MPO/Manager.

Let me echo @Thomas S.. Many if not most MHC rules and regs strictly prohibit sub leasing. At least that's the rule and not the exception in Cali.

Not all that easy @Max B. Been doing these for awhile now and so far never in my garage. I've done everything from site built, to HUD Mfg, to Mod, to Prefab. My sons and I have a lot of experience in this biz and if there's one thing I know you won't and can't find too many ways to do it on the cheap.

In the first place you're confined and restricted to the local zoning and building codes. So if you're in an area that has stringent CC&R's you're not going to be doing fiberglass shingles and Hardboard siding if they require stucco and tile roofs. But then that's just the very basics. 

Next you and most importantly you need to think about infrastructure. If you're on septic you may not even be able to build anything legally. If you're on well,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Oh Well! Electricity, gas/propane sewer, etc. a whole other story. No, you won't be doing too many granny flats on the cheap unless the primary dwelling is cheap also.

But thanks for your comments and keep them coming.