It's your market, learn it

The basics are all laid out for us like a buffet of too-good-to-be-true. People, when they find out about my business, ask me all the time, “Is this like those guys I see on TV? Will Carlton Sheets really work?” My answer every time: yes, but not by itself.

Every area has its own market; its own rent prices, home prices, lot rents, proportion of housing types, and flavor of asset class that works better than others. Armed with the tools, investor networks like MHU, AND the willingness to GOTC and WORK it, you can find the best of all worlds right where you are.

Re: Lonnie Deals, new investors, and the curious are always asking, what is a good price to buy a MH, what is a good selling price, what is the best MH to buy? These topics have been covered ad nauseum, and will not be discussed in detail here. BUT, I will say that it is wrapped around what your market demands are, what the market will bear, and that includes what your competitor asset class rents for. And that information doesn’t just come to you; you have to go find out.

Will Lonnie Deals work just like Lonnie says? Yes, but not by itself. And it may not be as prolific as to be the best use of your assets, where you are! Just spent the weekend with a relative from a southern state, says there arent but a couple of parks, but everyone lives in a mobile home on a small lot. So, apply the same concepts there! Or, work it as a buy-n-hold land/home rental, upon which you can improve your equity position, and pull cash through refi or LOC!

In your location, a mobile home park may not be the highest and best use for property, so buying one on an income basis is not the norm. Income may, in fact, in NO WAY justify the sales price; the seller is hoping for a developer, or a big REIT with more money than brains. But something will work there, and it follows the same principles as what you can learn: from DOW, from the Investor’s Toolkit, from Carlton Sheets, or from Investing in Mobile Homes with Land.

Point is, there is gold in them thar hills. It ain’t the same gold everywhere, it ain’t easy, and it don’t come knocking on your door, but it’s there.

Like my dear old daddy says, there’s money laying on the ground everywhere you step; you just have to know how to pick it up.

what works in your area might not work here in Florida EXACTLY the same, but the basic principles are almost identical… there is gold in these hills and your hills.

Jim Brenn commented on this at one of the first MOM’s. Whether it is Lonnies, L/H’s, set-ups. transport,lretail, Parks, wholesale, hard money lending or rent collection they are all profitable niches.

Jim made some very respectable money on a single rehab on a CBS home in a residential area.

I,ve never spoken of this, but the very first words out of my mouth after buying and reading Lonnie’s book DOW in 2002 was " Karen, this is a great book, but this will never work in Florida". Tough words to eat!!!

Well, it does work EXACTLY like in the book…sure it is hard to find nice homes in Parks for 1K and sell on note for 4K, but it is very simple to find 2K homes that sell for 8K on Note… see my point? The times and prices may change, but wisdom is forever.

Know your market…and a further caveat is know which way it is heading!

greg