Frank tells the story of having $10K and buying his first park. If I have that much or possibly a bit more, is if feasible to by a decent park these days. I don’t have tons of cash laying around, but could come up with 15-20K.
When I bought Glenhaven, it was a total dump on the wrong side of town. I took a calculated gamble that I could turn it around, and I was lucky. To buy a park with a small amount down, you’re going to have to find a park that looks awful and has a sketchy location – but both have to be a perception issue and possible to fix. The park needs to be city water and city sewer and no master-metered gas or electric. It has to be purely cosmetic fixes that are cheap and/or possible to do yourself. The location has to be in a town with decent test ad results, yet looks hopeless (but is on the rise after years of neglect). There are at least 44,000 parks in the U.S. (we know this because we have the complete list of those 44,000) and only about 2,000 are professionally owned and managed – the rest basically mom & pop. Can you find another Glenhaven? Probably, but you’ll have to look really hard. You can’t rely on Mobilehomeparkstore.com and Loopnet listings, nor will any broker probably have a park that fits the bill. You’ll have to find it using direct mail and cold calling, and maybe even a few drop ins. So in answer to your question: 1) yes, it is feasible and 2) you have to look really, really hard.
Thanks for the reply Frank. I plan on attending the BC and becoming much more educated about this business. My grandparents owned 2 parks in CA when I was young. It took me years to figure out where they got all there money. Now I know though.
I will just stick with my plan a save more for the next year or two and then I should be in a better position to buy something worthwhile.