Mobile Home Park Mastery

It’s always hard for deal makers to let go of certain targets, as their inherent wiring tells them to never give up. But there are situations in which deals need to be removed from the “never surrender” list. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the fact that, in certain cases, persistence turns into futility.

It’s been seven years since John Oliver and other liberal idiots launched a full-scale media attack on the mobile home park industry. Since then, there’s been very little of any real note. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore how the industry got so lucky and why, in this case, history really can’t repeat itself.

Filling vacant lots is mostly about buying new or used mobile homes and selling them. But there are some low odds shots you can also take to get the job done. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review some of the attack plans available to fill lots that have only a tiny chance of working – but are worth the effort.

Interest rates are up nearly double from all-time lows, and even though mobile home parks have a very low loan default rate, distressed deals still hit the market on a regular basis. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we're going to explore the correct way to approach buying failing deals.

When you’re looking at buying homes to fill your vacant lots, the first question is “do I go with metal or vinyl?” In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the good and bad aspects of both options.

There’s no more important determinant of lasting value than scarcity – and it’s one of the key factors that allowed mobile home parks to exceed apartments as the gold-standard of housing investment. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to examine how one single factor drove the trailer park industry into value dominance.

If you are selling homes in your park to fill vacant lots, you know the challenge of your prospective residents getting approved for their home loan. The national average for chattel loan approvals is 34.4% while the average for real estate mortgages is 91.2%. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore why there is this disparity and how to improve your odds.

When you buy a mobile home park you typically have a long list of improvements you want to make to the physical plant and operations. But should you share these concepts with the seller? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the fine line between transparency and inclusiveness and keeping your after-closing plans private.

All you hear in the news is the socialist perspective on capitalism and higher lot rents – that’s all the media will allow you to hear. But there are two sides to every story, and it’s about time that the true story of higher lot rents be told. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the positive and necessary reasons for higher lot rents and why park owners are actually the good guys in this story, not the bad.

The mobile home park industry has long faced the question of optimal park size. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the issue of whether to buy one really big property or several smaller ones, as well as the permutations of size on everything from financing to management cost.

Certain critical items in your park run on power and if it goes out, you’re in big trouble. The back-up plan is often a gas-powered generator, but which one do you get and what should you pay? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the facts about power generation.

How the U.S. Postal Service delivers mail to your tenants is not of your concern – until they make it that way. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the rules on mail delivery and how the postmaster can often try to manipulate you into exceeding your obligations.

Warren Buffett is no longer in charge of Berkshire Hathaway day-to-day operations, and the new CEO made his first investment ... into the housing industry. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore why Greg Abel bought Taylor Morrison Homes and what it means for the mobile home park industry.

One item that we can only guess on as mobile home park buyers is what our prospective tenants are like. There’s no vetting process in due diligence and we typically only know their names and if they’ve paid their rent. But you can actually learn a lot about your customers based on the cars they drive. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review what can be gleaned by the cars on those parking pads.

Propane is a liquefied gas that is highly flammable – and essential in many mobile home parks to provide heating, hot water, and the ability to cook. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore, in detail, everything you need to know about propane and why it can be an essential utility method in certain circumstances.

Sun Communities, a U.S. REIT, lost a rumored $500 million on the purchase and sale of its holdings in the United Kingdom. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore what happened and what the lessons learned are for U.S. park operators that dare to venture outside America’s boundaries.

There is no perfect mobile home park. But there is a perfect mobile home park deal. To get there you have to have an item so great that it offsets each deal’s inherent flaws. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the great deal points that can offset the negatives.

To buy a mobile home park requires effort and risk, and you’re not going to go forward unless you feel the profit potential is compelling. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review some of the standard units of measure that most buyers are seeking – and are attainable.

There’s an old saying that “time is money” but in the mobile home park business, time can be millions made or lost, with time being the key item to navigate with financing and investor commitments. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore how much time to budget for the key components to any mobile home park turnaround.

When you’re looking at buying a mobile home park, the seller will always tell you glowing stories of how great and valuable their park-owned rental homes are. They’re lying to you. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to expose the top truths about rental homes that the sellers will never tell you.

Most Americans make decisions on impulse and emotion and then rush to find the logical reasons for doing what they did – and mobile home park residents are no different. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore how to do a better job of appealing to both emotions and reasoning.

Just like the Kentucky Derby, you can't jump the gate despite your enthusiasm to start the race. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we're going to review the typical protocol of what the buyer should, and should not, do in the absence of a fully executed agreement.

Walmart is remodeling stores in pursuit of households earning $100,000+. Dollar Tree is expanding their offerings to bring in higher - earning customers. And mobile home parks are in pursuit of the same category of shoppers. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to examine the reasons and steps being taken to move up a notch from simply “affordable housing”.

A mobile home park is a bit of a political animal and you have to be able to interpret the degree of danger discussions with city hall bring to the table. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we're going to learn the differences between city hall suggestions, requests and demands.

Just like the recent Artemis launch, bringing an old mobile home park back to life involves successfully navigating a number of stages – each with a most basic purpose. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore these phases of a park turnaround and what you have to mainly focus on to be successful.

Buying and operating mobile home parks comes with many decisions that are made based on understanding the odds and risks. But there are some things that you must never do because the results can be so damaging that they might end your career. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review these forbidden things.

Sometimes the best way to get a deal financed is simply to step into the shoes of the existing park owner. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the concept of “loan assumptions” and what you need to know about this often - overlooked option.

Every property will, at some point, have a utility disruption. How you handle this eventuality is extremely important in mitigating the irritation of your residents. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review some of the logical steps that can help you in better handling this inconvenience.

The Fake Occupancy Trap Most investors think that there are only two classifications for any lot: vacant or occupied. But there’s also a third category that few talk about and we call “fake occupancy”. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the meaning behind this term and how you can prevent your mobile home park from falling into this trap.

There are around 44,000 mobile home parks in the U.S. yet only around 4,000 of these are owned by larger players – the most fragmented of any real estate sector. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the reasons why the “trailer park” industry has still not consolidated.

In virtually every sector of real estate, a big focus of due diligence is market occupancy – except for mobile home parks. Why is that? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the unique reasons that the occupancy of other parks is not always an accurate indication of demand and, for most buyers, is mostly ignored.

Buying a used mobile home is supposed to be a positive step to fill a vacant lot. But sometimes it can rapidly spiral into a nightmare scenario. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review what can go wrong with a used home purchase as well as how to proactively guard against those issues.

Every park owner wants their residents to feel secure. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore options to enhance your park’s safety as well as concepts that have proven to be more of a disadvantage than a benefit.

Maybe you came into a windfall and want to invest a little more money than you budgeted. Or perhaps you want to test an extra enhancement to help your park break through to a new level. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review things you can do to get that extra edge – if you’re willing to pay for it – and some concepts that are always a waste of money.

Most mobile home parks have a powerful marketing tool that is rarely used but highly effective – and nearly free of cost. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore how to use your road frontage as a successful marketing opportunity on a number of fronts.

We used to have three different population classifications and now we have five. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore how and why America added two new types of population classifications and how you can use that to your advantage in finding good mobile home parks to buy.

In bringing old mobile home parks back to life, a common challenge is how to use the existing pieces to create reasonable aesthetics. But some parks don’t even have any pieces to work with. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore available methods to make even the ugliest of properties attractive again.

The demand for affordable housing is enormous, and most homes sell fast in today’s market. But if you’ve brought in a new or used home – and it’s not moving quickly enough – then there are some steps you can take to make it more desirable. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review some of the lessons we’ve learned to help get homes out the door.

Back in the late 1990s – a period in which few investors gave a second thought to mobile home parks – there occurred perhaps the industry’s greatest failure. Known as the “Great Chattel Collapse”, this horrific event resulted in a roughly 70% reduction in mobile home manufacturing and bankrupted many home lenders. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore what lead to this event and what the industry learned as a result.

Mobile home parks are often like villages in which residents rarely tread beyond their familiar territory – yet there are huge benefits for park owners in helping to make their connection to the community at large. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore how mobile home park owners can expand their residents’ support network.