We are implementing an “Adopt A Trailer” (Handyman Special) program. We are in a lovely area (with demand) near a good school. I am confused as to how to handle this. Am hoping some of you nice people who have been through this can offer some guidance.
We have no problem taking small losses on a particular home but are torn between offering generous prices to get the homes occupied but them attracting people who don’t have a pot to pee in. Should I instead just bite the bullet and invest the time and money to fix up the houses and then only sell to people with enough money to afford it?
I tried giving away a home for free two different times that needed a lot of work. Both times the people did a little (very bad) work and quit. Home came out in worse shape then what it was before. I now spend the money to fix them up myself and then sell them. Guaranteed outcome and better quality of people.
I didn’t advertise a free home either, only once the people contacted me looking for a cheap home did I present the free one.
Pretty much nailed it here. People with skills to rehab don’t waste time flipping MH.
Whether did this idea of “handyman special” originate anyway? “Handyman” doesn’t usually fix up own home from POS crap just to live there. It’s for the profit upon moving out.
I had a sneaking suspicion this was the case. I pulled my ad off of Facebook Marketplace (it was there less than 12 hours) and am going to rethink this. Thanks for your input.
Just talked this over with my business partner and we now agree with you. We pulled the ad and are going to bite that bullet. So the park will take longer to fill but at least we’ll get the people we want. We also have had a bad experience with the one Handyman Special we did and it was painful and wasteful. Thank you.
It’s hard to get quality tenants. You get the type of people who don’t finish the work and quit. Surprisingly it works better when you sell the unit for a decent price (1000 or so) to screen better tenants and then give them hard deadlines to fix it by (few months or a month) and they cannot live in it until inspected and approved.
IMO it’s much better to fix it properly and sell it to a nice family who qualifies with flying colors. Quality of tenant matters so much. Saying this as I’m doing my 4th eviction on this park where a previous owner let anyone in!
Handyman special = disaster.
Fix it yourself. Spend the bucks, get it right, find a good family to buy it.
We think we can fix things a lot better than most “handypersons” – and we are always driven to consider the consequences of not doing it right.
As a result, we can command a decent price for the homes.
We will usually lose some money on them, however, but having a good home with a good tenant is worth a little investment up front.
Find a good rehab guy/crew and start on the easiest ,quickest fix first. Alot depends on the year of the homes. I sold my 70s homes for $500 per bedroom.
Others i sold for cash or i carried a short note. PUSH THE LOT RENT UNDER THE HOMES THE MAXIMUM U CAN FOR PARK VALUE.