Am I right to assume that it’s a smart idea to avoid purchasing mobile home parks in hurricane or tornado zones? And if so, where would be the best place to find where exactly these zones are located besides doing a basic Google search or is a basic Google search on those topics accurate enough?
We generally avoid hurricane zones, but suggest you keep an open mind based on past hurricane performance. We own two mobile home parks in inland Charleston, South Carolina – about 40 miles from the shore. During diligence we talked to the city and residents regarding what had happened in past hurricanes. and found that the worst damage was a couple downed trees and a home that fell off its cinder blocks.
Tornadoes are a different story. As you can see from this map, the average American opinion on where tornadoes occur is wrong.
The states at the most risk are Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama. Kansas, as you can see, got a bad reputation from the Wizard of Oz, but not from scientific fact. We have had a park hit by a tornado, and the end result is that the Red Cross and FEMA gave each tenant $30,000 cash to buy a new mobile home (if they did not have sufficient insurance to get a new home already). The government does a great job of fixing tornado damage (look at Joplin, MIssouri – 80% rebuilt in only 18 months), while it is financially and structurally overwhelmed by hurrianes such as Katrina.
The bottom line is that we fear hurricanes but lose no sleep regarding tornadoes.
Very nice! Thank you for that info. When I Googled tornado alley, I noticed the exact same thing, people’s opinions were all over the place. I had no idea how well the govt comes to the rescue regarding tornadoes and thank you for that info. That definitely puts a new perspective on things 