So I figure you park masters out there have some sort of strategy for naming the LLCs and/or business trade names. Is there any reason I would not want to create MHP Estates 1, 2, and 3 for the LLCs and use individual trade names for each park? I’m interested in what you do and why you do it with clarity and efficiency being my main goal of understanding. Also is it beset practice to stick with the business name of the old park or are there reasons to rename? I suppose there is the local marketing advantage of keeping the old name as locals know about the park or the signage might be nice.Bear with me on the basic questions. This is my first delve into real estate.
Depending on your personality you can either make a game of your LLC naming structure (Doug Jemal, a major developer in DC is well known for this) or you can make it easy on yourself and your legal/accounting folks by giving everything a descriptive LLC name (address, park name, etc.)I used to run portfolios of distressed properties for lenders, so we often discussed name changes. At least on apartments, my feeling is this:changing the name before changing the environment taints the new name so you’re better off changing the environment before you change the name. If you’ve changed the environment, you generally don’t have to change the name.In the last 5 years with maybe 100 communities in my portfolio, I think I’ve changed less than 5 names. The most recent was a 700-unit property in St. Louis that had a terrible reputation (50% of the precinct crime took place there), a nondescript name (“Countryside”), and no curb appeal. We fixed the curb appeal got the residents and the staff refocused, and dramatically reduced the crime. After that work was complete, we changed the name to better reflect the neighborhood. The name change ran about $15-20,000 since we had a single entrance, a large staff, and a fair amount of advertising/rebranding to undertake. The name change was the final break between the old property and the new attitude and a new product needs a new name. If we hadn’t revamped so much about the property, I wouldn’t have bothered.Between websites, uniforms, signage, stationery, and inevitable LLC confusion (“Hamilton Park Estates” is owned by River Run LLC, e.g.), you’ve got some high $$ that are better spent on site. With MH it’s not quite as dramatic, and if you need a new sign (which you probably do), you might as well give it a shorter or better name. Will
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We just name the LLCs the same name as the parks. We do rename parks if/when needed.If your MHP is unbranded, or has a bad reputation, you should change the name (and, of course, make changes to the park to improve it). Figure out what the #1 best thing is about the park. If it’s the school district, (and, say, it’s the ‘Rolling Hills’ School District’) then rename your property ‘Rolling Hills Estates.’ If the school district is poor, but the park has a nice view of the river, then the new name of your park is ‘River View Estates.’ And your LLC is ‘River View, LLC’ for operating the land, and ‘River View Financial, LLC’ for operating your mobile homes.Good luck,-jl-
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We use [brand name] [park common name] [Park LLC/Homes LLC]So that’s Sandell River View Park LLC and Sandell River View Homes LLC if we’re buying River View MHP.Just a personal thing – I do not ever use punctuation in our legal names – it’s easy to remember what the punctuation is if there is none.Brandon@Sandell
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Thanks fellas.