On site manager

Hi,

Anyone got suggestions for finding a good onsite manager for a small (25 space) MHP in Arkansas. Would prefer retired person who has income coming in. Honesty is a must but seemingly hard to find. Maintenance skills a must, computer knowledge, bookkeeping etc.

Trying to find someone to run this park where it will profit from not having to hire overly expensive outside vendors for everything. Also want someone with common sense and an ability to figure out ways to make it more profitable. Great potential in it but outside managment is killing me cost wise and due to health and other reasons I cannot move there to run it. Would be a good job for someone wanting to get their feet wet in running a park.

Finding it hard to get anyone so far and the outside management keeps trying to hire tenants to do the work which obviously doesn’t.

Any suggestions would help.

Thanks

I have a suggestion that will help with the “honesty” problem: Do all your rent collections through a 3rd party billing company. Edison Micro Utilities is the one I use. Had a problem before where the manager took off with a large amount of money and the park I now own had a manager that was embezelling. Get the money out of the park and a lot of problems go away.

Also suggest you consider locating a good handyman to do your repairs. Onsite managers can get to be friends with the residents and forget to whom they owe their allegiance. Handymen love a client who provides them with regular work and now you have another set of eyes and ears on the property. May be even better to trade off work between 2 handymen so that it is unlikely that the manager becomes too “chummy” with both of them.

Rolf

This really is a plate full:

 Manager must: "Be Honest"; "Have Maintenance Skills"; "Be Computer Literate"; "Know Bookkeeping"; "etc"; "Must have new ideas to make it more profitable"- for a 25 space MHP what compensation is being offered for this "superperson"? Does the MHP have enough income to support a manager? Will this be a full time job or can manager have outside job to pay other bills? What benefits are offered to manager? Seems to be a lot of expectations - Look at it from a manager's viewpoint and back yourself into

the right person for the job. Hope this helps you out!

tc:

Edison (and there are others) charges me $4 per space to collect lot rent and utilities. They send out a bill which the residents receive about the 3rd week of the month. It includes a stamped and addressed envelope. I get all the money about the middle of the month. They can also collect for any financing you do such as a lease-option contract. Edison gives you regular updates via e-mail as to what is happening.

Why not find a nearby park that seems to managed well and hire the manager on a part-time basis? This is what I do for my 42 unit community. Also consider web cams to really keep an eye on it. Get some phone books from the area and assemble your own team to handle repairs. I would never allow my manager to hire workers until I assess their skills and form my own impressions of how they work.

Remember: I am about 2,000 miles away and managing a community with a part-time manager and workers who report directly to me. I spend what it takes to get good people and implement systems that make managing from a distance easier. You will have to be involved but you do not have to physically be at the site. It is your responsibility to train someone and to come up with ideas of how to make the place run efficiently. A manager can help but the responsibility for what you are seeking is ultimately yours.

I hope you don’t have any rentals in the park. Your management duties will go way down if you only do space rent and not home rent.

Rolf