I have purchased several single family and multi families in the past but I’m currently looking to purchase my first MHP. However the whole process seems to be different and more difficult than what I have experienced when purchasing a single and multi family. So I would like to know if I’m going about the process wrong or if anyone could offer me some advice. Here’s currently what I’m doing.
- When I see a park on the MHP Store site I contact the broker usually via email. I guess I have just become accustomed to using email.
- Normally I’ll either receive a NDA or an actual info packet on the park from the realtor.
- Once reviewing the info I will email them any questions that weren’t in the info and here’s where I seem to run into a dead end many times. I will ask about manager, their pay, empty lots, water/sewer, number of POH, number of TOH, vacancies and rental rates. It seems many times I’m not getting any response to my questions. Sometimes I even try to follow up with a phone call and that seems to be hit or miss.
So my question is am I asking for too much info on the front end and should I just place an offer based on the info and discover the remainder during due diligence or do most of you get as much info as possible prior to putting in an offer? I haven’t had this happen on other properties that I’ve purchased or inquired about, it seems that those realtors are dying to give you as much and many times more info than you want or need. I know MHP’s are a different animal but am I going about this wrong?
Thanks.
One of the big differences between buying a SF and a MH park is that you cannot rely that much on the internet listings for parks, while SF is pretty much always based on published MLS listings. The best park deals come from beating the bushes via cold calling or direct mail, or from broker’s pocket listings. Think like the show American Pickers: you have to search in dirty attics for the good park deals, you can’t just go to the store.
Your track record with Mobilehomeparkstore listings is pretty standard. Apparently, many sellers never had a course in customer service. The only solution is to simply bug them – a lot.
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Frank, thank you very much for the reply and that makes sense I think I can see I’m going to need to get out of my comfort zone and start doing some direct mailings. As far as the questions I’m asking but not getting answered by the brokers is this something I shouldn’t really worry about on the front end and perhaps just make an offer and then find them out during the due diligence process and then negotiate the price later if needed?
Thanks again.
Snooki -
Outreach to brokers will also pay good dividends. Brokers often have ‘pocket listings’ they’ve not published on any website. They’ve often not published their best leads, because if they do, and someone like you is using a buyer’s broker, then they have to split their commission. So brokers will often initially shop their best deals to known buyers (who don’t use buyer’s brokers). Only if nobody bites do brokers then post deals on LoopNet.com, MobileHomeParkStore.com, etc. (and risk loosing half their commission, but at least they’ll get the deal done).
You’ve got to convince brokers you:
- have money
- know what you are doing
- and can close reasonably quickly
… but if you can do that, you’ll start seeing deals that few others do. Tell brokers exactly what you are looking for - by geography, size, etc. The more specific you can be, the better. Then brokers will remember you the next time they have a deal that matches your criteria. You want to be knows as the ‘Tallahassee seniors park guy,’ or the ‘Dallas Hispanic park guy’ or whatever your focus is.
My 2 cents worth,
-Jefferson-
www.mobilehomeparkinvestors.net
Thanks for the reply, again this is a whole different animal than I’m used to with SFH & MFH.