First year as park owner is over and here is what ive learned and accomplished:
I looked at many parks and talked to many owners. It took months to find a good priced deal. Most are grossly overpriced and will be on the market for many years.
Rent raises are alot easier to implement than I thought. people will whine for a while and just accept it
Late fees are vital, they really make most people pay on time. they also add a small revenue stream to pay for grass mowing and small jobs.
Park owned homes take a few months to convert over but once they do, so do virtually all repairs. People who only want to rent a mobile home are the ones I want to avoid.
Residents appreciate when you supply them with paint or find some old metal panels for skirting. It shows that you care and then you can raise the rent the next year.
When a person tells me they have no money to put down, its usually because cigarettes, keystone beer and 10mpg cars are their priorities. I have learned to leave that unit vacant until a somewhat stable employed person comes around. For me, this has helped to avoid potentiallly costly mistakes.
Placing new homes in a park dramatically upgrades the park’s appearance. I even got a guy to give a $1000 deposit for a rent to own.
Ads in the paper under mobile homes for rent and mobile homes for sale will produce 50-75 calls per week. Many are just looking for a place to rent but I get a couple good ones each time.
When I was looking for a park, I found that most realtors don’t understand the mhp business. It seems that the only thing they are great at is calculating their commission.
I’m slowly increasing the revenue from the park. I added 2 units last year and am planning on adding 6+ this year. I have 2 new homes from fleetwood in production now. 2 new units for under 29k delivered, a 2x1 and a 3x2. These are from Frank and Dave’s new service to get new econo homes from the factories.
I took a D- park and have made it a C- park. I also survived a fire 3 weeks after I became a new mhp owner. All in all, I’m glad I got in the business and am looking forward to a even better 2010. Thanks for everyone’s advice on this site.