I’m getting ready to send out 5 day notices to two tenants, possibly two more tenants after that. I have 8 tenants currently, all owner occupied. I’ve posted before–I was far too nice before and am fixing that. All mobile homes are owner occupied.I believe that 3 of the 4 will be able to magically find the money once they get a 5 day notice. However, let’s say one or more doesn’t find the money.Frankly, I’d like to own the mobile homes. These four tenants owe me anywhere from about half to all of the value of the mobile homes. I assume if/when they come talk to me, I could trade them past due rent for their mobile home (checking on their back taxes first) for the title of the EMPTY mobile home? If they give me the title and I inspect the home and get the keys, I could give them a receipt for rent paid and a bill of sale and it is a done deal? If it goes to court, is there a way to handle it at that point? Or wait for the eviction and the judgement then try?
You can proceed as you believe you can. You can always get title for a home in exchange for settling debts. Be honest with the tax man and write-in the value of the debts you are forgiving as the amount you are paying for the trailer. You are not getting it for $0.You should use the courts to ‘encourage’ your resident to pay what they owe, or sign over the title in lieu of payment. So yes, definitely continue through the courts. At any point before, during, or after court you can always reach a settlement with your resident. You would then ‘continue’ the case, not ‘dismiss’ the case. The court date will be bumped a few weeks to a month into the future. That’ll give you and the resident time to work out the transfer of title and to insure the home is left in broom-swept clean condition. If things don’t work out to your satisfaction, your court date will be coming up and you can quickly go to before a judge without having to re-file the case and pay another court fee, etc.Good luck, and let us know how it turns out,-jl-
Your WEAK and your residents have spread the word ??? to other residents. Frankly you should not own the homes since at this point half the tenants are late. I think you need a new business since if your property has only 8 sites and they all pay what is your time worth per hour, or what do you make per work with only half paying. Going to court will give you a judgment but not necessarily will they pay. You need to really think why you are in this business.
Yup, I have been far too nice. Do feel free to continue to fire me up, I need that fire to carry over to my collections activities and/or push my guilt away for actually making them pay the rent. I didn’t buy a mobile home park, I bought a property I really wanted that happened to have a ~2 acre mobile home park and the rent is just the gravy. I guess I am just tired of carrying my tenants and if I have to look at that park I might as well get the most gravy I can for it.
I would advise against owning the homes unless they end up abandoned. Owning mobiles is a money loser. It also in my opinion devalues your park to have park owned homes. If the rent is gravy and you end up owning some let the units sit empty until you have a cash buyer.
Adopt a strict no pay no stay policy and through proper screening replace all tenants that believe paying late is OK.
loricooper,Your tenants always want to heap guilt on you for asking for rent. That’s ridiculous. Look at everything else in their lifestyle. Car payment, utilities, cigarettes, cable TV. Will any of those provide service without payment? Will the car loan go unpaid without the repo man coming by? Will the power company let you get by with “here’s $20 today, and I’ll pay you more when I can?” For some crazy reason, tenants think that landlords are different. We’re not. We were never supposed to be charitable foundations. It’s a business, just like the water company, and there must be timely payment for services to be provided.
Two 5-day notices received yesterday. Rumor has it 1-2 are packing up, and will be selling their trailers for scrap and/or to be hauled out somewhere else. They do not have the cash to haul them out and retain ownership.I happen to have an old pickup (not currently plated but I could just to follow my own park rules?) with nothing to lose body-wise. I also might be able to get my hands on some concrete highway barricades. Can I place either in front of the trailers to prevent them being moved out while they owe me money? (Edit: Ah-ha, found the thread I was thinking about: Mobile Home Park Investing Forum) At the county tax sale most trailers go no sale on a $645 minimum bid. Most of my tenants getting eviction notices owe $400-900. Every one who is getting an eviction notices from me also owes the county ~$150 for taxes and late fees that were May 1. I am not real worried about them actually getting their stuff moved out, or them actually finding a buyer for their trailers anytime real soon. Another tenant upgraded and couldn’t get a local buyer with cash for $3000. He ended up selling it out of state. Does rent continue to accumulate after the eviction notices assuming the people or their trailers are still sitting in the spot? I guess that falls under damages, maybe?The days of me feeling nice about my tenants are a distant memory. It is much more interesting this way.
You now have a Pandora box situation. For first time owners be cautious what you buy and for what reason. Looking is the EASY part and the operation is the tough part. Buy good parks that cash flow and stay away from trash that will keep you and your mate awake at night. The above example is proof of how to do it incorrectly and 6 months later he still might be in COURT! I do not spent my time with evictions or late payments–that is a choice that is usually made at time of purchase–what did the last owner do and what kind of income level were the residents. I am the second owner of a 35 year old park and the prior owner retired and now I am really to retire after 17 years at a fantastic business that has no rentals and is not a trailer park trash.
One bad tenant out and 1 trailer title in my hot little hands. 2-3 to go. The residents I want to keep are good people (they asked me to raise rent to get the trailer trash out, there’s my sign) and I feel I can find more like them.
Loricooper,There is a huge demand in the U.S. for affordable housing. You should have no trouble replacing the dead beats. Your life will improve 900% when you get the bad tenants out of there. Then do your best to never let them in again, and you will never have this problem going forward.It’s a really good feeling with a loser tenant departs, is it not?
Lori, congratulations on your:"One bad tenant out and 1 trailer title in my hot little hands. 2-3 to go."On a personal level I understand that you desired to be nice and help out your Tenants.Unfortunately, my Husband and I have found out that when we are nice the following happens:"No good deed goes unpunished"The Tenants who can not pay you the Lot Rent are probably paying their electricity and cell phone bills with no problems. It all comes down to priorities. Sometimes Tenants have a hard time understanding that having land to put their home on should come high on their list of priorities.For the mobile homes that you can get the Titles to fix them up nicely and rent them.Make sure to find a good, honest repairman to fix any problems with the homes. There are good people out there that desire safe, affordable and attractive housing.We wish you the very best!