Hello MHU Community. I’m interested in starting a mobile home park in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina area. I have have 0 experience in real estate but I know it can be very profitable. I have done a lot of research and I’m going to take the Boot Camp Course this month as well. I’m just needing some advice from someone that has experience and know the do’s and don’t. I have my budget and even made a business plan just to be on the safe side. I would like to make sure” I don’t bite off more than I can chew.” Is it a really profitable business?
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Welcome Janie. If you have no MHP experience you’re likely better off trying to buy an existing small park first. There’s a reason few parks get built these days, it usually isn’t profitable to do so, and is a tough challenge to make work.
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Hello, Janie. I completely agree with Noel_S. Starting off with a pre existing park is a much safer way to proceed, especially with no experience. I fear that you may be biting off more than you can chew if you decide to develop. Take the boot camp and formulate a strategy to move forward. Good luck!
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Janie…I admire your ambition! I completely agree with both Noel & Kyle. The boot camp will be very helpful.
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Hi Janie, - I too am a newbie and had thought of starting a new park in Hillsborough, NC. Did you take the MHU course? Did you find it helpful? Are you moving forward with your plan?
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Building and filling a park with tenants will take years of negative cash flow. During much of that time frame, you will not learn the business because you will be in design-build mode. By the time you go operational, you will start learning the business, but it will be a slow-go. If you bought an existing community, you will learn how to operate it as soon as you start your due diligence process, and once you own it, you will have positive cash flow. For that reason, I would suggest learning the business on an existing park before building a new park. Most experienced operators find that they can buy a mobile home park for far less money than building one, which is why there are more repeat buyers than repeat builders.