Hey MHUers,
I bought a park two and a half months ago and the other day had the manager take a drive through video of it. What would you say are the top priorities this park needs?
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I saw a few things that I would look at immediately:
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You have nice asphalt roads, but you can see where they’re starting to crack and need attention. Get those areas repaired and sealed with tar or equivalent so that they last as long as possible; You also see where gravel is being used to fill in some areas instead of doing an asphalt patch, which is also a band-aid the Seller didn’t want to send money on.
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The skirting in the park looks like a 4th grader completed the work. All those homes need to have skirting installed in a professional looking manner.
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Lots of homes have aluminum foil in the windows and that needs to come down and be replaced with blinds, shades, curtains, etc.
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Seems like there is loose enforcement of how cars are parked. Some in the street, some are perpendicular in the driveways. Also keep an eye out for kids toys being where they should not. Do your rules allow for basketball goals to be toted around?
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Once you get all of the above addressed, you might want to consider having some of the units be painted colors that are less “vibrant.” Some of the neons and bright pastels give the indication you can paint your home whatever color you want.
Final items to consider are lighting and fencing between lots.
Nice park in general though… congrats!
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Nice Park. Establish rule that all improvements have to be pre-approved. Orange and yellow NOT acceptable colors. Had a lady trying to have her home painted red white and blue once. Patch street when needed, keep the empty lots looking good for new prospects. No fencing, way too much maintenance.
Obviously a very utilitarian community, very little display of pride of ownership on the part of home owners.
I would implement rules requiring that all residents maintain their homes to a strict standard. Skirting, paint (colour) etc. should be controlled by the park owner. Trailer tongues should all be removed as well to upgrade the appearance of the community to a more permanent appearance. I would also concentrate on getting rid of all RVs and get in mobile homes. RVs mixed with permanent residents sends a poor message.
Garbage bins should be relocated to the back of the community and children’s play area removed for liability reasons.
You could also just sit back and collect the rent checks. There is no necessity to “improve” the community and no obvious lack of maintenance issues. Unless you wish to attract a higher quality tenant base that would upgrade their homes the community could stay the way it is indefinitely.
Kudos to you for posting this. Its really brave . Don’t worry, no park is nice enough for Greg to live at. I didnt get everything but see some of these screenshots.
Some comments. Looking up the area code, seems like you are in a great market. New construction homes, looks a main area, guessing those houses are probably 200kish give or take.
Some answers will vary, I’m assuming you don’t own the homes. If you do , clean up the ones that are yours. Lots of stairs needing repair missing spindles etc. I really don’t like the vinyl lattice skirting. I would work to get people vinyl skirted .
I personally don’t have any issues with the colors. If this was a park all brand new homes, may be but lots of older homes, if they are painted different colors i wouldn’t have an issue with that here.
Maybe getting a sign , website, direct people to for lot pictures home pics, community info. I’m guessing your market is strong enough you can get a dealer to drop a spec home in a vacant lot.
Playground looks like a liability, i would remove it or if you deem you want one after talking with insurance company, get a new upgraded one up to current standards, issue waiting to happen.
I like a lot of stuff about it . Think it has great potential ( without knowing the DD items /pricing etc) . To be a good performer.
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Dude, awesome response.
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Wow, great responses, thank you guys. I’ll address a few here:
-We have a sign being made now, it will be installed soon and have phone, website, all that.
-I did not notice the cracks in the asphalt, apart from the big ones from the dump truck. I’ll keep that on my radar now.
-We will replace the playground with a new playground soon.
-We are planning on replacing RVs with MH over time, especially in the front
-I hadn’t thought about the lattice skirting, but it does look not great.
-Thanks for the tip of putting up a sign for the vacant lots. We will have new homes in their with the CASH program soon.
-I would like to define parking spaces more. I also don’t like it that the border between the street and the grass isnt always a straight line and has random gravel interspersed.
-A lot of input on the paint color, I hadn’t thought about that at all.
-Planning on planting 11 crepe myrtle trees at the entrance and in the middle of the park.
-I’m aware of the aluminium foil in the windows, and other issues. I will have to issue many violations notices. It will help that we’ve begun to make improvements, new entrance fencing and sign for example, so they will want to improve their areas as well.
Super helpful responses! Thank you!
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Fair enough Greg , it was uncalled for my apologies. The opposing view points are what make the gears in this place turn. It was unprofessional on my end.
@Deleted_User_ME
How to fix the issue of defining the parking areas in a nice straight rectangular area? Weed killer on the cheap end, and pouring new concrete spaces on the expensive end?
@asmith4981. Its hard tell from some of the pics. But Maybe some of them its just over growth and weed eating will resolve. Then some of them might need re pave / concrete. Really, doing that might be overkill if they are pretty good. I think this will vary on the plan of what your goals are with the park. If there is no drainage issues especially might be spending money for not the return. The one that are pretty good, wood be low on the totem pole here. And might be more of a cosmetic thing .
Heres a couple pics of a before and after, current park had a lottt of parking pads that were either holding water or in despair so we repoured . But end result , I think its worth it. But if it was just cosmetic ( assuming the breakage isn’t to the point where its a liability.
@Deleted_User_ME Thanks for that detailed response, and the photos helped too. I think right before I refinance I will define the parking spots nicely with the weed eater with getting my manager one of those of those backpacks and sprayer setups.
One thing I’ve been pondering is getting shutters on all of the windows. Is this something that I should mandate in the park rules "all homes will have exterior vinyl cosmetic window shutters? I think it does really help the look. And if they don’t install them then just do it maybe and bill them back for it. Btw, regarding this practice, how legal is it to alter someone else’s property like that? I’ve heard frank talk about it, but it seems like you would need their permission to do it.
Other thing I’m thinking of doing based on the feedback was not allowing the lattice type skirting. Anyone have thoughts on this?