I have 4 parks in GA. ALL POH. Any help/advice on the path to going TOH would be greatly appreciated!! THANKS
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Sean,
This form was created Pre-Safe Act. Check with your attorney as to the legality of it under current laws.
Re: Buying the home you are renting. We Finance for you!!
Dear ______________________,
The management of the community has concluded to sell all the rental homes in the community to the current occupants. This includes the home you are now living in. We will be financing this purchase for you on a contract sales agreement. Your monthly total payment will stay the same. We will require a small down payment for new purchasers but as you are a valued resident we will provide you with a credit voucher so that you will start with equity in the home but at no out-of-pocket cost to you.
Part of your payment each month will go to lower the balance that you owe on the home the other portion goes to your lot rent.
Just like a traditional home buyer, you will have the opportunity to build equity each month as you make payments. If you decide to move in the future whether it is in two months or two years you can try to sell your home and we will also help you locate a buyer. We will then upon our approval of your new buyer, finance your then-current balance for them. Any equity (the difference between what you owe and what you sell the home for) the buyer can pay directly pay to you.
We are doing this so all of our residents will have a new sense of pride of ownership in their homes and a greater community spirit. This of course is sometimes referred to as âRent To Ownâ.
So, again there is no disadvantage to you being a homeowner and potentially building equity.
Note:
- We will only sell you and finance the current home you are now living in.
- We will warranty for the first 3 months the electrical, heating, and or cooling system and hot water tank.
- If you move out and you cannot find a buyer your contract will terminate and you will have no further obligation except for up to your move-out date.
- You must agree to this opportunity now (within one week). Remember your payment stays the same and we will be giving you a voucher for your down payment. If you decide not to take advantage of this offer then we will be putting a for sale sign up and begin finding someone that wants the opportunity of home equity building. Your lease will terminate once we have found a buyer for the home.
Please sign the box below indicating that you want us to prepare your contract and bring that and your down payment credit voucher. We hope you are as excited to have this ownership opportunity as we are to offer it to you.
------------------------Please sign below and return this letter the Office -----------------------------------------
Please SIGN me up to purchase my home! _______
Name (s)_________________________________________________________________________________
Space Number _____________________________________
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Hi SDGuy, this is good stuff, thanks for sharing with the community! I always have concern about tenants degrading the home, moving out, and leaving the mess for me the park owner. How do you deal with that, or how can my mind be eased with that concern?
@AeroHead32
Great Question.
We did have a park in Ohio a few years back that had a lot of POHs. It was a total disaster. We would spend $5k fixing up old homes, then rent-to-own the homes. The tenant would go belly up or move out and destroy the place. We would then have to spend another $5k fixing the house and getting it ready to rent only to be destroyed again. It was a vicious cycle that cost us a lot of money. NO FUN.
My policy is to avoid POH parks. Currently (June 2023) we have 2 Rented POHs. We are in the process of filling up the park they are in, once the vacancy rate is Zeroed out. We will begin the process of either selling the POH to the existing tenant or having them move out so we can fix and flip them.
The best way to ease your mind is to avoid POHs. Itâs a trap. The extra income is not worth it.
The 2nd best way to ensure the Tenant/Buyer has skin in the game. If you are selling the home on an owner carry back then require a large downpayment. If you are renting the home out then require a large deposit.
If you are going to use the form I posted above. Giving a downpayment credit does not harm you, as the person is already in the home. If they were going to trash the place likely they already have.
Iâm so glad to see you are considering converting your POH to TOH 
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Just donating the homes to the residents, giving them $100 off monthly dues (aka- âgiftingâ them with home ownership) will probably save you so much money longterm. Thoughts?
I donât love giving homes to tenants for various reasons. They can sell em, they donât have blood in the game, and more. Iâve done it, donât like it.
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I would strongly advise against giving homes away. Owners that have no skin in the game rarley take pride in ownership. The risk is the quality of your community will deminsh as previous renters, now owners, do next to no upkeep maintaining their renter attitude.
By getting the home for free they have nothing to lose.
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Thanks so much for that awesome reply. Iâm new to the forum and really need to spend more time here. The two points on the contract that Iâm not crazy about: The 3 month appliance warranty (I feel like the sale should (preferably) be âas-isâ? And how can you legally enforce a sale in one week if they have a valid lease?? Thanks again for the great reply. Do you happen have a Pad rental agreement you like? Iâve got a fair few empty pads, and Iâm ready to start trying to fill them. Iâm just not sure of the best route to make this happen. Facebook Marketplace? Craigslist??? THANK YOU!
Sean
I appreciate all the replies. Going from POH to TOH seems a lot tougher after reading all about the SAFE Act. The Georgia version of it is a mess. Anybody dealing with this or have any workarounds?
THANKS
Feel free to change it to suit your needs.
The Warranty period can easily be erased.
RE Item #4. This paragraph is to build pressure on the tenant. Itâs the takeaway effect. If you donât accept this offer, we will put your home up for sale and no longer offer you credit for the downpayment.
Most States have a 30 or 60-day notice clause upon sale. If you sell the home, you can give the occupant 30-60 daysâ notice to vacate.
Consult with your attorney before implementing this program.
good info as always, what terms if the poh is a 70s,80,90 or 2000 home?
Would used trailers be considered an appreciating asset or depreciating asset? If depreciating, than you cannot build equity as stated in the letter.
The terms are the same for all years.
There are two ways to build equity. One is Price appreciation, and the other is principal paydown.
I disagree with Scotland777. You can build equity in a depreciating asset. If I told you that I will give you a 10,000 mobile home if you pay me rent for 5 years, and in 5 years the home was trashed to the point of being worth 1,000 and I give it to you, then you have 1,000 in equity.
Oh yea, POHs are my jam! This is our playbook. Disclaimer: Iâm not your attorney, cpa, or investment advisor but our team backs this formula.
When we take over a park with POHs we donât do anything for 2-3 months unless there are vacant POHs (more on that below). During this time weâre figuring out who we would like to own a home in our community and who needs booted based on collections, cleanliness, rule following, pride of ownership etc.
Next we start booting. At the same time, the ones we want to stay are offered an accelerated lease option if they canât outright purchase the home as long as they can pass a background check. The ones that stay via purchase or L/O are required to bring their homes up to our appearance criteria - skirting and porches in good shape, paint the homes and seal the roof if needed - no rust buckets. Sometimes we chip in as well for those that need the help via our maintenance team (they do the work for the homeowner and send us the bill). We bring the empties I mentioned earlier up to these standards as well. We donât touch the inside. Thatâs where you lose money. Youâre better off to sell them as fixers.
Everything that isnât occupied gets listed on facebook, zillow, realtor.com, etc. Facebook is typically all we need. In our MSAs used homes are typically 10-20k+ AND have to be moved AND fixed up. We offer the same price point without the 15-20k moving expenses. Last park we bought we sold 9 homes for +/- 200k in about 6 weeks. After porches, skirting, paint, cool seal, etc were factored in, we recovered about 40% of our down payment with no tax consequences
IT IS CRITICAL that you establish a value for the POHs at the time of purchase. If you establish a value of 20k for a home and sell it for 20k its not a taxable event. We generally sell all the POHs in the year we buy the park so the value established at tax time is exactly what the home was sold for so its a net zero transaction. Hard for anybody to dispute the value we assigned to the home when it was sold on the open market at what is theoretically market value⊠If you sell the homes after year 1, your CPA will have to factor in depreciation but, on a 29.5 yr schedule, its generally minimal.
Weâre currently under contract on a 67 unit package with all POHs. We expect to recoup the majority of our down payment (+/- 600k) via the sale of the homes with minimal tax consequences. Weâll also have two parks of nice homes (on the outside).
Additionally, if the park has any homes that are newer (less than 5ish years old) it would behoove you to get your dealers license and get set up with 21st, triad, Park lane finance, etc for retail financing. Thatâs where you can really start to make a big pop. Park Lane Finance even has a rental conversion program for your current tenants and, if they can show two years of payment history, they get credited the down payment. PLF is regional (east coast) BUT Iâm pretty sure they cover GA (theyâre out of VA).
Its counterintuitive, but we actively look for POHs! If youâre feeling froggy, thereâs a park for sale in Columbia SC for sale right now - 76 lots, 34 POHs, all 2021 or newer, with 2m down, 2m seller carry. Somebody who is set up right with dealer license and retail lenders can go in and recoup their down payment and be in it for a 2m note!
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