Hi,
I’m looking for options on a 70 lot MHP management. It’s a lot rent only park on well and septic. The current owner uses professional PM that charges 10% and I’m thinking if switching to “on-site” manager would be a viable way since it’s lot rent only park.
Any suggestions? Thanks
What is the general location of the park?
It’s near Raleigh MSA
Just about any park can be managed by an ‘on site’ manager. I’ve never owned a park with a well but you’ll need to have a manager who can handle the water testing requirements if any. I have 66 tenants and I manage the park remotely with the help of a local handyman and his wife *I’m very involved as well(. They print and deliver leases and notices, enforce cleanliness rules and take care of the maintenance that needs to be done. I invoice my tenants and require that they deposit their rent directly to my bank account so my handyman doesn’t have to get involved.
We are in a similar situation - 85 lots and a water well system. In Texas you have to have a licensed operator for the water system, which is currently one of us from the ownership group. But, we are looking for and interviewed our first water operation company AQUA Texas. Waiting on a proposal.
thanks. what kind of quality/characteristics would you be looking for on-site manager candidates? Or if you could share what kind of question I should ask to get to know them better and make a decision. Thanks !
Got it. Looks like water testing will be a big task. Here is the same we need a water operator (license or owner) to do the water testing. We might have to do that ourselves when we make the trip there every month. But shouldn’t be too bad…
I am also interested in a PM, and onsite seems to makes sense to me, but wondering what kind of compensation is generally expected.
I’d say Honesty is a huge characteristic along with timeliness (your notices will have to be delivered in a timely manner). If you are going to work with a handy man, ask him how long he’s been in business and living in the area, ask to talk to some of his customers, ask him if he is somewhat savvy with a computer (can they email, print docs, etc… some people still don’t use a pc), find out what his hourly rate is. I
One thought: your pool of manager candidates is limited to your residents. You may or may not have an existing resident who’d make a good manager.
I personally prefer to put the management team together on parks as I’ve not found PMs that dedicate enough time to a park as they are juggling a volume of properties and they are remote just like you are. 10% fee isn’t an issue but when they don’t stay on top of things their communications, reporting and follow through will suffer.
On the ground doesn’t necessarily mean they need to live in the park but they need to be close by and available when something comes up and communicate with tenants.
A good manager who performs well, good systems, operations plan and a good maintenance man are essential to smooth sailing. Any good PM should have these in place to do an excellent job. Weak spots in any of these will cause issues.
Well testing should not be an issue at least not where I am in SC.
Thanks, guys! Very helpful information!