I’ve been a mobile home park manager off and on for about 12 years now. I’m good at it and enjoy the work, just have had trouble finding the right fit. I’ve managed parks as small as 60 units and as large as around 350. And have managed 3 parks at the same time. I’ve also managed motels and apartments.
I have a degree in computer science, have taken all the California real estate courses but didn’t get my license. I’m experienced with Manage America, Rent Manager, and other management software. I’ve been a licensed process server and eviction specialist, so I know how all that works.
The reasons my previous management positions didn’t work out vary. Usually it came down to a conflict between me and the owners or regional manager. For instance when I was managing 3 parks in Wisconsin for a large company I accepted some of my manager’s duties like running weekly conference calls, filing all evictions for all the parks the company owned in the state, was the contact for anyone of the other managers who had any computer or Manage America problems or questions. I went above and beyond what I was hired for. After about 9 months a regional manager position opened and I expressed my interest. My regional manager, who was in charge of hiring for the position, told me she didn’t like me and wouldn’t consider me for the position, she then hired her friend who had only worked as an assistant manager for 4 months. At that point I quit and moved back to California.
Another position where I managed 2 parks in California, it went well for a few months, there was no regional manager, just the owners as my point of contact. The owners had some kind of business deal with a guy and part of the deal was he would be hired on as a regional manager. He had no experience in property management. After about 2 weeks he told me to hire a cleaning crew for a couple units that came vacant and then proceeded to tell me to make sure I didn’t hire any Mexicans. Of course that was unethical and illegal, so I reported this to the owners so they could talk to him and keep themselves out of trouble. Two days later I was fired.
My most recent management position had owners that were not local. I couldn’t get any work done because I spent at least 80% of my day either on the phone with them or answering the literally dozens of emails a day they would send me. I tried very hard to get them to give me a little freedom and let me send them weekly reports, but it was overwhelming the amount of details they wanted every day about every unit. They also insisted I setup an LLC and they pay me as a management company so everyone else who worked there would be my employees and I would be responsible for paying taxes, having workers comp, etc, that the owners would not reimburse me for. I eventually left.
So I’m basically looking for a park, or multiple parks to run, have some amount of freedom to do things the way they need to be done, I don’t need to be micromanaged. I always do what’s in the best interest for the park, the owners, and the residents. I’m okay with a lot of units and full time work, but I’m also fine with a smaller park and part time work.
I’m willing to relocate to just about anywhere. I’d prefer to stay away from big cities like LA and NY.