I found a park in Illinois and during my research of the area I discovered the city had three times the reported crime when compared to the rest of the state. I spoke to a neighborhood policing police officer and inquired about the park and the surrounding area. His comment was, “I wouldn’t buy there.” He then went on to tell me about the crime inside and outside the park.
I’ve read the other strings and understand that problems in a park present an opportunity for a better purchase price but what wasn’t discussed was the crime rate in the surrounding area. I’d like to know what you park owners feel is an acceptable level. Is this subjective for each of us? How do you discern when the crime rate is too high and it would affect your parks?
I would not put too much bearing on that comment. The policeman is probably not a mobile home park investor and is not very credible to make that judgement. That being said, you will have a tough exit strategy if you buy in a market that scares potential buyers and lenders.
See what Bestplaces.net says about the crime rate. Compare the stats on that zipcode vs. the metro area. Remember that there are pockets of Los Angeles that have million dollar homes and huge crime rates, because the homes are up the hill and the base of the hill is nothing but strip clubs and street people.
The test ad will also give you some degree of visibility on the desirability of the area.
I’m sure there’s a policeman in New York that told the Japanese investors that bought the Plaza recently for $1 million per hotel room"I wouldn’t buy there", because he had arrested someone for stealing a purse in front of the hotel a few days earlier. You’ve got to look at the qualifications of the input.
Thanks Frank. I’ll look at that data a little further and see what it says. Is there anything different to consider if the city is the metro and is setting the tone for the data?
Using a zip code on BP is good, and to get an even more precise idea you could check if the city has a crime map too. That way you’d see both the volume and types of crimes committed in the immediate blocks around the park.