All Forum Posts by: John Arendsen

If you're looking to invest in a rent/lease MHC just be sure you clear your intentions with the Manager/Owner before you move forward. Many if not most MHP owners will not allow  sub leasing. So  unless you're going to be the primary resident it may not be the best investment option for you.

However, if you're looking at MH's in resident owned MHC's i.e. condo conversions, sub divisions, planned unit developments (PUD's) or on a private lot or parcel then you just need to contact the HOA and find out what their sub letting policies are. Many HOA's do not allow sub leasing and definitely not vacation type rentals. So be very careful going down that road as well.

However, of the two scenarios above and as a North San Diego Coastal RE investor who invests heavily in stick built (site built), rent/lease and resident owned MHP's I can tell you from first had experienced that it is a very viable investment if you're in the path of progress. 

Unfortunately there aren't too many MHC's in that path but instead in blighted and/or undesirable geographical and socio/economic areas where you don't get the demographics that make it an overwhelming investment opportunity but moreover a better choice for low income affordable housing.

Now to answer your question about financing. There are some financing opportunities for MH's that were built after June 15, 1976 but they are few and far between compared to available financing for resident owned HUD Manufactured Homes (built after June 15, 1976). You can find low interest long term conventional financing if you are the primary resident or if you're purchasing a 2nd (vacation) home on resident owned land.

However, its a little tougher for investors to find many conventional lenders willing to loan on MH's unless you're willing to put a lot of skin in the game as the saying goes. All that stated once again I'm not painting the entire MH industry with a broad brush. I'm just talking about my particular farm. But you will no doubt find a lot of very good answers from some very well informed and seasoned PRO's on this site. Good luck!

Sounds like @Michael Gansberg has nailed it.

Sorry bout that @Bill Neves. Got distracted with World Series stuff. I was born in Chi Town in '45 so I was getting some calls. I'd say Go Cubs.................but they already did!!

@Bill Neves I'll recognize your comment with respect and appreciation. You make several good points. I too must admit that I've downplayed them when purchasing them and played them to the hilt on the backend when I went to market the.

June 15th to be exact

Actually @Steven J.a "Park Model" is more of a trailer than a "Mobilehome". In fact, truth be known, it's not even a "Trailer". By definition it's a "Recreational Vehicle" A Park Model must be under 400sf and cannot be set up on a foundation or used as an Accessible Dwelling Unit (ADU) aka "Granny Flat", etc. At least not in California.

Trailers were typically just that trailers intended to be towed behind another vehicle, hence the word trailer. They were built as far back as the early 1900's. In fact if you really want to get technical they actually pulled trailers behind horse and buggy rigs and covered wagons. 

Then in the 60's along came "Mobilehomes" which were built officially until June 15, 1976 and officially renamed "Manufactured Homes" in 1981 and have never been considered trailers, coaches or Mobilehomes since.

But in answer to your other comment, "As much as I try to give them a good name many just don't see it as 'manufactured.' That term is reserved for the off the line factory built homes that no longer look as much like a typical mobile home you'd find in a park."

At least you're trying to educate your buyers. That we must keep on doing if we ever want to elevate our industry out of the dregs they've been for far too long. Only we stakeholders will ever add value to our industry.

Oh come on @Jim Y., I've been a Manufactured & Modular Home Contractor, dealer and developer for 3 decades. I'm not buying into that thesis for a moment. Black is black and white is white. If you want to paint an entire industry with such a broad brush then I guess we'll end this conversation as friends and move on to something more productive for both of us.

Trailers are trailers, moiblehomes are mobilehomes and HUD Manufactured Homes are a whole new ball game. Problem is most folks don't call a spade a spade. Now granted, you can put a new HUD MH in the middle of a trailer park and most folks will call it a trailer because they don't know any better. But that stated I don't know too many folks that would even want to put a new HUD MH in a trailer park unless it was steps from their favorite surf break, golf course or trout stream.

But if you have an entire HUD MHC, in the path of progress, in a gentrifying community then it's a Manufactured Home not a trailer or a mobile home. But folks still call them trailers, coaches or mobile homes and in so doing they seal their own fate. As long as they allow that to happen and don't put up a reasonable resistance (aka education) they will continue to be called what we allow them to call them.

Back to my original thesis. It's up to we industry stakeholders to change that picture.

I have to giggle up my sleeve every time I see the Manufactured Housing Industry continue to shoot itself in the foot. In the last 150 years we've managed to come from a Horse and Plow to a John Deer, from a Horseless Carriage to an Automobile, from a Bi Plane to a Super Sonic Jet to a rocket to the Moon and back, from the Mayflower to the Queen Mary II. from Black & White TV to Big Screen 3DHDTV, from Super Mario Brothers to an MP3, from a "Big Momma" IBM that took up a square block on Wall & Broad to a tiny IWatch. 

So what's up? Why do we continue to call today's State of The Art "HUD Manufactured Homes" everything but what they are? Trailers??? Coaches????? Friggin MOBILEHOMES!!! Come on folks the sooner you get off of it, get over it and get on with it the sooner you'll begin to raise the image and integrity of your own industry once and forever!! And guess what? The sooner you'll be able to start making some REAL $$$$$!!! A G A I N!

You're keeping your own lid on this industry by continuing to refer to it as the "MOBILEHOME INDUSTRY" It starts with each and every one of us. We are the Masters of our fate andCaptains of our soul. 

Until and unless we raise the bar of our own industry we can't expect anyone else to. If you're sick and tired of your local TV newsies calling your MHC's "TRAILER PARKS" every time there's a tornado, hurricane or earthquake in your neighborhood, well...................................the ball's in your court. And that's my 3 cents worth (adjusted for inflation).

What kind of water lines? Plastic, galvanized, copper, Quest (HOPE NOT), other?

Are they fee simple lots or rental lots in a MHP?

Now if we're talking circa 2000 that's a little bit different albeit I'm still not keen on SW's. Probably because in SoCal there just isn't that much of a market for them unless they're going into a MHP with very small spaces.

That stated, most MHP owner/manages won't allow anything over 10 years old and for the most part the ones I deal with only want new ones. Now if you purchase an old beater and completely re do it from the ground up that might work. Especially in or around the coast as once again spaces are quite small and if you purchase from a tenant/owner very few MHP owner/managers can legally not force you to replace it unless they already have a pre existing stipulation requiring that the old MH be removed and a new one replace which a lot of MHP owners are requiring nowadays.

But for the most part MHC's are really trying to gentrify in MHP'd that are in the path of progress so there is a value added there. However, if the park is blighted or not in the path of progress then the values diminish considerably thereby dissipating the desirability and incentive to want to invest there.