Lonnie dealer owning a lot of homes in a park

were looking at a park that has 75 occupied. Of those 75, there is one 3rd party lonnie dealer that owns 30 homes. Hes a local in the area, the owners give him a home whenever one becomes available that needs work. hes pays lot rent regardless if the unit is rented or not and it appears he has been great about paying on time every month.

Our concern is #1 - the tenant base is subpar as they are renters and not owners, and #2 - the risk of the owner yanking homes out of the park. Although we believe this to be a small chance since he doesnt have the funds or wherewithal to start pulling homes, nor would it make economic sense for him.

What would you require on purchasing a park like this from the lonnie dealer or current owner? The lonnie dealer isnt interested in selling the homes in a bulk sale unless we paid far more than what the homes are really worth.

I’m not sure how much you’ve negotiated with this Lonnie Dealer, but for him to only sell the homes for more than they’re worth is a bit short sighted. Lonnie Dealers run the risk of management change with new ownership, which includes getting rid of Lonnie Dealers. Cost of doing business and a reason they shouldn’t get too heavily invested in a single Park.

If you set your Park rules to benefit the home owners and make the Lonnie Dealer spend a lot of time adjusting to those then they become more motivated to sell. Even one simple rule being applied to 30 homes can cost him quite a bit of time and money. So long as the rules are applied to everyone there’s no reason you cannot do this.

The ultimate bullet in your belt though - what prevents you from non-renewing all of those leases and making him spend 150K in moving fees to get his homes out of there? There’s potentially moral or maybe legal issues doing this depending on your state, but it sends a strong message that you mean business.

I would not purchase a community where one person would have as much leverage as he does.
If your State regulations permit you to have a rule that does not allow home owners to rent out there homes you could purchase the community, implement the rule, and give him a reasonable amount of time to sell them off.
You risk having him simply walk away but if he sells the homes you need to screen for higher quality tenants than his present renters.

@steven , as per your post:

  • “Of those 75 (homes), there is one 3rd party Lonnie Dealer that owns 30 homes.”

Personally, I am not a fan of Lonnie Dealers.

My Husband and I had a bad experience with a Lonnie Dealer.

I swear that our Lonnie Dealer stood outside a Bail Bondsman’s Company to get their new Tenants (which meant our new Tenants).

One of our Lonnie Dealer Tenants decided it was ok to go outside in yard and use the bathroom. We brought this to the attention of the Lonnie Dealer. The Lonnie Dealer thought it was funny. The Tenant said that he felt it was acceptable behavior.

No…this was not funny…nor was it acceptable behavior.

We ended up evicting the Lonnie Dealer’s Tenant and the Lonnie Dealer from the MHP.

The Lonnie Dealer only owned 2 Mobile Homes. One he could move…which he did. The other could not be moved (because of age), so we purchased it.

Lonnie Dealers do not care about your Tenant Base.

If you allow Lonnie Dealers in your MHP, the Lonnie Dealer’s Tenant Base will run off your good Tenants.

Personally, I would not purchase a MHP with 30 out of 75 MHs owned by one person.

We wish you the very best!

Another park could pay 120k to move the homes and maybe get a reduced rate of 100k to move all the homes or at least the ones that could be moved.

So you could lose that Lonnie dealer without cost to him