I’m hoping some of the experienced folks in here might be able to shed some light on how they narrow down the list of MHP Owners to contact. If you contact MHP Owners by phone or direct mail, how do you decide which ones to make contact with?
You can get names and contact information through public records, but getting the details of the MHP itself are not as easy. It would seem strange to call on or mail an owner just to find out that their park does not meet your buying criteria (size, occupancy, sewer type, etc.).
Do you get the details of the park first and then make contact with the owner? If so, how do you go about getting the park details (number of lots, rent amount, vacancy, etc.)?
Or do you just make contact with the owner and then tell them you’re not interested if the park does not meet your criteria?
Thanks for any guidance or suggestions any of you can provide on this topic.
How you decide on which ones to contact will depend on your specific parameters.
Ie does it need to be a certain size, location, utilities etc. Then generate your list of possible parks, work backwards and try to get the owner information only on the parks that meet your criteria.
Then try to make contact to fill in the rest of the blanks ( i.e. pads, lot rent, etc).
Its hard to figure that stuff out sometimes until you actually have a chance to talk with the owner.
And just because it doesn’t meet your buying criteria does not mean it will not meet another investor’s. If you can get an investable park under contract at the right price you can assign it to someone who deems it acceptable and a good investment. This forum can get you in touch with people depending on the market, # pads, occupancy, financial performance, upside, etc.
I hand off parks like this all the time for an agreeable fee if it closes, and figuring out the right price on Park particulars I am not familiar / comfortable and then successfully negotiating that “should” make me a better investor over time. Don’t forget about the relationships you establish doing this too and favors do get returned over time.
So instead of pouring time into filtering out certain parks I just mail everyone, cherry pick the ones I want for me and my investors, and find the right investor for those I don’t. In the end everyone wins… unless I back out because I contracted it at a high price and can’t find an investor, or the park is too fargone to turnaround - which happens from time to time. The free mistakes are the best ones to learn from.
What is market rate for a contract assignment? Do you ever assign shortly after going into contract or pre diligence if it won’t hit your parameters (i.e. well or septic vs city s/w). I’m actually coming across some attractive deals that don’t fit my exact criteria.
We pay 5% to 10% of purchase price as an assignment fee. We pay out about $500,000 per year in assignment fees. And that’s just us. There are a huge number of park owners that buy assignments. If you can find a park that has 50 lots or more, city utilities, decent infrastructure, reasonable density and around a 10% cap rate with upside, then you may be able to sell an assignment.
I have done basically the same. Start with the lists from bootcamp, narrow it down to my criteria but then I outsource the research to someone from upwork.com
I have them go to each assessors website and find the owners name and mailing address. There is a little bit more to it but it seems to work. The people doing this love it. They say its fun. Personally I dont think so.
I made some videos to teach how to go about finding the information. It works well.
Then I just have to convert to mailing labels and attach to the post cards.
I was mailing letters at first but the post cards are easier to keep handy and provide just enough info so interested seller has to call.
Even if the seller is off the wall with the asking price, I still ask if I could call in a few months and say HI. No matter how crazy the asking price is, I don;t hang up and say thats it. Eventually either the bank, appraiser or enough going around brings seller to reality.
Good luck hope you get lots of replies.
Yes, I outsourced it to freelancers as well. I did mailing and calling. However, I believe there is better way than to print out and put in envelopes hundreds of letter.