I’m Back and We Are Not Happy

mobile home university
#1

Our daughter has decided to move on so now after six years I am being pushed back to something I thought I was out of.

I turned the management of our mobile home park in Colorado over to our daughter in 2007 and thought she would manage it forever. But our daughter has decided to move on so now after only paying the bills and little involvement day to day I find myself needing a manager or something and just not sure where to start.

I used to post and read here a lot and thank you very much for the help in the past to Frank, Jim, Brad, Dave and even Rick who I met in a investment meeting in Orange County CA.

We are in California and the park is in Colorado. We have 50 spaces with 22 owners and 28 park owned.

I’m starting over it seems and I’m not too happy.

This is our sole source of income so we have little options. We tried to sell it before and found that because we have our own water, wells, sewer treatment plant and park owned homes we could only got little cash down and carry back offers and our income would drop so much that I’d have to get a job.

We have to drive out there in September and see our daughter off and make the transition.

According to our manager daughter it is the hardest job in the world. Because the infrastructure is 37 years old something is always breaking and causing grief back to the manager. Water pipes are breaking, old sewer lines are always backing up, sewer treatment plant gets filled up with sludge, and on and on. Then with all the park owned homes there always rehab going on always the need to clean, rehab and paint and fill those.

I looked back at the income expense cash flow in 1999 when we only had 3 park owned homes and we made as much or more money than we make now with 28 POH and now with our collected income is much higher. AND WITH A WHOLE LOT LESS STRESS AND INTENSE MANAGEMENT in 1999. But it seems if we let all the poh’s go out there is no demand for owners to move homes in.

HELP haha.

I think we would consider paying someone temporarily to come set up the whole management system and consult until it was running smooth. Cause we are not sure what to pay manager and maintenance and if we are supposed to withhold and how to do collections etc

#2

Nothing you are telling me sounds that bad. I think your daughter was overwhelmed and needed better management systems. We operate parks of that size with a manager earning maybe $500 per month plus free housing – I’m betting you were paying your daughter much more, so there’s probably plenty of money to change up the systems you operate under. If you are not making 50 x lot rent x 12 x .6 = ? per year in net income, then there’s something seriously wrong – but it can surely be fixed. If you send me your financials, I would be happy to tell you what’s wrong and suggest what you need to do to solve it. Better yet, come to the Boot Camp in Columbus on September 27 to 29, and you’ll get all the forms and systems you need for free – and learn 1001 ways to make your park more profitable. Bottom line: you’re going to be fine.

#3

Mike-

I am certain we have met, and I have also met your daughter and walked your park. We met at a bootcamp in California back when I was still involved in the bootcamps.

contact me via PM or my email and we can set up a time to talk. I am close and can probably help you in this process. I also have a park out of state with private water and sewer, and I have placed new management in there- it is not as bad as you might be thinking.

#4

Mike -

I’m a park owner and a consultant. I’ve helped other owners hire new management teams and set up tenant screening, bookkeeping, collections, bidding procedures to control costs and effectively manage remotely.

I’d be happy to chat on the phone and tell you a bit more about what I do.

Best,

-jl-