I am looking at a MHP and have been notified by the current owner that it is in a 30 to 50 year flood plain. Should this be a warning not to buy?
Yes!!! My partner and I purchased a 55 lot mobile home park about 6 months ago. It was on a 100 year flood plain ( I did not know this but that is another discussion) You guessed it , this past January we had the mother of all floods and we were declared a national disaster area. It has been a hell of a learning experience but one I could do without. If you do decide to purchase here are a few suggestions. First of all make sure you have flood insurance. Most of the units in our park are park owned and this in essense saved our behinds. We were reimbursed in a very timely manner but it is difficult finding replacement units. Second place the units a little bit higher then you usually would. We are currently building a berm around the park that might help in the future. Also, your park should have an evacuation plan and ask your city or county what would happen to all of your tenants if the park had to be shut down for a period of time. I am not saying that you should not purchase the park but go into the transaction with both eyes open. If you have any other concerns I would be happy to share my experiences with you.