My company owns a 72 lot MHP in Kansas - my former business partner took out far too many unauthorized distributions leaving the company cash poor. I agreed not to sue and he agreed to a buyout - now I need to execute on that and take on a better partner - or just sell the company. The park is currently financed with a 6% term note that is now 6 years old. We owe about $310k still. The park was sold for $600k in 2006 - it should be at least $550k value now with a little more work. I fixed water wells, streets and cleaned the place up a lot. I got rid of several bad tenants and am working on 2 more - it will finally be stabilized this summer and we should be in a great position to begin buying units and filling it back up. Lot rents are $275, with $15 early pay credit. Currently 33 lots rented - getting new leases signed soon and will be able to start going after titles of a few abandoned units (due to unpaid rents) to resell and lease up. Biggest challenge is capital to buy units - we have plenty of inquiries for tenants if we had units to sell on contract or got those 3 abandoned units in our name and resold or leased… Great upside potential.
I’m willing to sell the whole thing for $550k or take on an equity partner for $25k with another $25k paid in for operating capital as a note from the company. 50% of the LLC or buy outright for the $550k with at least $100k down and you can assume the existing favorable financing and pay off over time.
Ideas welcomed. I simply am looking for an honest investor partner to help cover cash needs while we are improving things - the company is not upside down - its making a little cash now as-is but could be much better with a few more tenants - which is why I’m offering half the company for someone to join me if they can help purchase units to place in the park so we can get them leased out.
Call me for details or message me with your info if you are able to help out or got any ideas on anyone wanting to invest in the midwest. This is a 1.5 star park - no park-owned clubhouses, no pool… people here just want to live in the county (very close to big cities, casino, major manufacturing employers, good schools) but not deal with the city life directly. Most want to be left alone and are good tenants overall. Common daily management tasks helps keep things tidy and moving forward. We are a small community and are improving things daily.
Well, I have a couple of offers for the property - but no equity partner offer. Trying to decide if selling now would be a good thing. I can continue to buy cheap units, and resell to increase occupancy - this will take several more years with my limited cash - or I can sell and hope for the best price and reasonable terms if needed.
What would you do in my situation?
I am definitely interested in selling - just not very interested in holding a note for someone I don’t know, can’t verify or otherwise very long term. My 1st lien will pay off in 12 years - with 54 units (build up goal out of 72 lots) my net after taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance labor and repair supplies/consumables should be around $70k per year.
It has 35 units now - I just leased out 2 more this week I think and it seems to finally be going in the right direction having booted a few of the troublemakers and kicking some out who were severely delinquent on rents.
Land goes for $1/ft around here - I have almost 20 acres - plenty of options for selling the highway frontage for commercial or otherwise, improving a small section to be better suited for RV parking off the highway or canning the whole park and dropping an oil well on the back section with platting for a modern hud financed tax credit financed multifamily project…
The park breaks even now - a little positive cash. Every unit we add will give us good positive cash.
As it stands - I am thinking about selling out of my other residential investments to get the cash I need to begin buying wholesale homes and moving them in to resell to the many who call each week looking for a place that’s livable and affordable. I simply am out of supply of livable units right now.
Eric, you may also try finding a private lender for your homes. Searching through the Register of Deeds for people who make multiple loans on real estate is a pretty good place to start with that. I’ve run across more than one park owner who’s financed their homes through a private loan.
Go zippy try to figure what you are worth per hour and what is your present return in your difficult situation and if it is less than Wal-Mart labors move on and learn from the experience. For those looking at parks especially first time owners please buy +85% occupied parks with less than 10 % park owned homes. From over 30 years experience we have NEVER changed a broken down park into a Cinderella the pumpkin would always resurface. Buying nice parks in good areas have always paid off for us. We just walked away (sold) from a 8 cap park on septic and wells and the buyers just said name your price. Our rule has been if we as owners would not be comfortable in the park with our family we keep looking.
Thanks the advice. I’m not new to the landlord game but certainly learned a bit about the legal system I never knew before. Owning this park has been a good thing overall. I’ve made valuable contacts and learned new skills as the licensed public water system operator. It has a lot of potential, a new state casino just went in a couple years ago in the town we border, not much competition for the affordable housing market here and we have about 20 acres with highway frontage on both sides. We also own the only known utility easement under the railroad east of town. Lots of redevelopment potential if the park business ever dies out… Raw undeveloped land goes for $1/foot around here and with utilities and highway access the frontage can be worth more. It’s not a bad location, taxes are cheap just outside the city, plenty of major employers, military and shopping within few miles. I obviously want to keep the park but with kids and other businesses to attend to I’m supply not giving it all the attention needed to really increase occupancy to more favorable numbers. Having the previous partnership dispute, though friendly, just put a bit of a damper on motivation. If the sale falls through, it’s not a death sentence. It’ll just take more time and grow a little slower.
I think this forum has some of the most knowledgeable industry active people and I love reading about all your experiences.
Anyone have any pointers on making these numbers make more sense to “investors”?
I’d like to keep the park, find a way to obtain a reasonable rate on a credit line to use for home infilling - but that’s not happening any time soon. My option is to sell or take on equity partnership.
The numbers work… The park is located just outside a major metro area with many large emplyers, military, shopping etc. and is right on the highway with dedicated frontage and access. The land alone has excellent prospects for future appreciation for basic speculation investors. Let me know your thoughts.