How feasible is it to find a park, perform due diligence, and line up financing all while holding down a day job?

Anyone have any thoughts or experience with just how feasible it is to find a park, perform due diligence, and line up financing all while holding down a day job?

I’m pretty sure that finding a park and doing a preliminary eval can be done on evenings and weekends.

Performing due diligence seems like something that would take quite a bit of time, and since my first park will have to be in the $500,000 range, I suspect that meeting and pitching local banks would also be fairly time consuming as well.

If you have a day job, you need to make sure you have the flexibility to take days off for any meetings you might have. I generally recommend parks close to home if you are keeping your day job, as long travel times potentially make a simple park visit a multi-day excursion.

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It’s definitely possible. You may consider finding a partner to help. My partner and I sourced (off-market), performed due diligence, lined up financing, and closed on 8 parks while still working a 50 Hr/Week corporate job. I was living in Houston at the time and all our parks were in the Mid-West. Just make the commitment, adopt a “failure is not an option” mindset, and don’t plan on doing much else with your weekends over the next 12-24 months.

Today we’re running a portfolio of over 2,000 sites in 16 parks and do this full-time with a larger team but when I started there was no option but to make things happen remotely, during nights and weekends. Having a partner that has strengths (and hopefully a little more discretionary time) where I have weaknesses and vice-versa has been key to our effectiveness and efficiency.

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This is great, and useful, information - thank you.

Also, there’s an advantage to finding and trying to finance a deal while still holding down a day job: You have proof of income/better financials than you would otherwise to show banks. Can be done. Good luck.

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Good point - thank you.

Absolutely this can be done.

Treat it as work and stay organized with your checklists, spreadsheets, etc.

Act with a sense of urgency and don’t procrastinate otherwise the follow up will pile up and you may feel it’s too much to do.

Good luck!

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Absolutely it’s worth it. I just bought my first park. 128 spaces distressed sale and closed 3 weeks from the contract date. This all happened while holding a full time job. If you want it bad enough anything can happen.

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I like this question. It is a good one. I too, agree that it’s entirely possible. I’m in the same boat as you working a full time gig and should be closing on a park in the next few months. I’ve had several opportunities that I’ve tied up, done the DD, engaged lenders, and passed on otherwise I could have closed on several parks already. I’ve been at it about 18 months. It took me a while to find a really good deal, but I’m also a bit picky.

One thing I can add is that it will take you a lot more time to work deals directly with sellers compared to working with brokers. Although I prefer to work with sellers, brokers can be a lot more efficient with your time. Either way, it does suck up a lot of your time. Although it’s entirely possible, I feel like your day job has to be somewhat flexible. At least if you want a decent sized deal flow.