MHP 30 Minutes Outside of a City - Bad?

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I am looking at a park which is 30 minutes outside of a major U.S. city. There is a smaller city which is about 10 minutes away. However, the park is sort of isolated and the second smaller city is definitely not as desirable as the larger city. In addition not sure how easy it will be to replace a tenant who needs to be evicted.

Park is currently close to 100% occupied.

If anyone has experience with a park that is about 40 miles outside of a city please let me know what your thoughts are.

Thanks in advance! - Peter

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You can test the actual demand with a test ad. If the market is decent, you will get a strong response. If the market is weak, the response will be small and you’ll already know the answer.

Go to www.bestplaces.net, enter the park’s zip code, and see if it shows as being in the metro of that city. If not, it will be hard to get a loan or find a buyer,as the park will be deemed to be “rural”. It’s possible to be 30 minutes outside of a city and still be in the metro area – and vital for an exit strategy.

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Close to 100% occupied is a very strong indication assuming resident owned homes that are of some value and not 40 year old junk.

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Thanks. What are the best places to advertise? Craigslist seems like a miss.

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Yes, advertise on Craigslist. The headline is probably something like: “3BR/2BA Mobile Home. {Town Name} Good school district. (or whatever is the selling point of your property). $500/mo.”

Then go on to describe the home in the body of the ad, it’s amenities, price again (including down payment) and include 4 - 6 photos and your phone number. If you get 20+ responses/week, you are good. If not, the economy is too weak and you should drop the deal (or drop the purchase price very significantly).

Being 40 minutes outside a healthy large midwestern city like OKC, Omaha, or Dallas is fine. Those cities have ‘broad economic shoulders;’ towns 40 minutes away from the city center can be quite strong economically. However in the Southeast, towns just 20 minutes outside major cities can be a disaster. The only healthy places to buy in the Southeast are truly ‘in’ the major cities (Atlanta, Nashville, etc.). The economic ‘shoulders’ of cities in the Southeast are quite narrow.

Your test ad will tell all. If Craigslist is a miss, then you are almost certainly in a weak economic area and should drop the deal (or you wrote your Craigslist ad wrong - pricing too high, no phone number, they ghosted it, etc.).

My 2 cents worth,

-jl-

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