Quote by MissingLink -
A strategy we have used to fill empty lots was to contact a dealer and offer him to move one of his homes to your park at his expense to sell it. Of course you would want to put a time limit on how long the home can stay on the lot if not sold. You would then waive the lot rents until the home is sold (you’re not getting any lot rents anyway). This accomplishes three things; #1 it fills the empty spaces in the park with quality product, #2 the esthetics of the park community improves and #3, you are positioning yourself to receive lot rents immediately upon sale with quality owners. I would be cautious on how many homes you would allow a dealer to move into the park. What you would not want is to have a lot of new homes in which the buyers default, and the lender comes in and empties out your park, which would be disastrous.
Michele Donnelly
Michele,
Excellent point - we bought a park from a couple who had just that exact thing happen.
They bought it for 700k, almost all the 70s homes were owned by one guy, weekly rentals, you are seeing the picture here. She tells the guy to clean his mess up and hold tight to the rules, he thumbs his nose and says, he ain’t payin’ her no lot rent - and that is exactly what he did.
She files for eviction so he files BK - a great thing to remember is protection always follows the letters BK - he collects his weekly rent for almost a year, she gets nothing and nearly drowns.
She finally gets through the bs, and kicks him out - by then so much stirring has gone on, the health dept is alerted and condemns all the homes. she has an auction and they sell for hunting cabins (that would never happen today - they would be scrapped), etc for $100-300 each (nothing basically) and she is left with an empty park - ouch.
I will tell you she did a GREAT job bringing in homes, filling them up - 40 out of 64 to be exact in a few years. Then I waltz in and buy 4 homes from willing sellers - she freaks - the memory is too fresh in her mind.
She is yelling at me on the phone - you are NOT buying any more homes in the park! I tell her to sell me the park - “no way, never happen”. I continue buying, assuring her I am a corporation, good manager, etc, we get up to 10 homes, we sit and talk, I buy the park for $500k cash.
there is always opportunity where there is/was blood. I didn’t need all the excitement of the BK mess, but she still remembers those times - and there is my opportunity.
Again, excellent point Michele - I hope this adds a layer of interesting stories to this thread.
Brad Simmons