Question on capital to fill up a turn around park

I read Fred Balke’s entire blog on his experience thus far with his turnaround park. One of the many things that is obvious is the large amount of captial (which he mentions can be in the $1-1.5M on a park his size) spent on buying and rehabbing homes to sell and fill up your park.

I have a 2-fold question:

1- Fred mentions his lease option deals when selling the homes to the new park tenants. Is this better for some reason than a straight contract where you are carrying the paper? If so why?

2 - If you did sell them on contracts (if you didnt have access to that amount of capital) would a note buyer consider buying those contracts so you can free up that capital and go right into another home to rehab and sell? Would the note buyer want a certain amount of seasoning on the loans?

I am sure someone has thought of this idea before which I would think would help fill up the park faster. You would lose income from the contract sales but I would think filling up the park faster would be more desirable.

Any comments? Thx

Sean

Some people use private investors to lend them money to buy/rehab the MHs or to buy already performing notes. The funds are a secured loan, as opposed to giving the investor ownership. Therefore, the rates tend to be pretty high, in the hard money range.

You are right, there is value in the lot rent, as well as the MH notes.

Anne

Sean,

One of the aspects I teach is the importance of having a plan for capital to fill a “turn-around” mobile home park before the purchase. Most of the sellers I acquired properties from ran out of money to infil the park and therefore let it deteriorate.

As Anne posted above, using private investors is a great source. I’ve used dozens of people in the past giving them a return of 10% or so. It may have been their personal money or their self-directed IRA funds.

I’m currently using financial institutions such as Clayton Bank and Trust. Jim’s bank has a program where you can access a large sum of money and it’s much easier than approaching individual investors every time you need to purchase a mobile home or two. You can contact Steve Waite about this program. His information is on the “resources” page of the website.

When it comes to selling notes, its important to get with people who buy these and make sure you structure the notes according to their requirements. There are several people who visit this forum that buy notes, so maybe they can pitch in and list what they need.

There’s money out there to help you infill a park, you just need to find it. Many people on this site have secured funds and are doing very well.

Steve

Steve and Anne,

Thank you both for your replies. Steve, you are right, there definitely needs to be an upfront strategy to access the necessary capital to fill up the park. I was just trying to think of other options.

Can either of you shed any light on a contract sale vs a lease option to someone? Are there any financial or tax advantages to either one?

Thx!

Sean Leone