MHU in NYT

Congratulations Frank, Dave, and Jefferson! I see you have participated in a lengthy story that came out today in the New York Times Magazine.

Others have said this, but thank you very much for hosting the Boot Camps, MH University, and especially for (in my opinion) working to de-stigmatize this industry on a national scale.

Thanks!

Brandon@Sandell

Brandon,

Thanks for the kind words. We appreciate everyones continued participation in this forum and helping make this all possible! For anyone who missed it, here is a link to the article:

The Cold, Hard Lessons of Mobile Home U

Let us know if we can do anything to help you!

Sincerely,

Brandon Reynolds

President

MobileHomeUniversity

(855) 879-2738

Congratulations to Frank and Dave for what I think was overall a very laudatory article about their success in the mobile home park industry. I think they have brought a new level of respectability to this particular niche of the US real estate market and are definitely being recognized for it.

I am just curious though - is anyone concerned (and I would be interested to hear the seasoned investors sound off on this) that publicity in such a widely read newspaper might bring a flood of new investors into the market and make finding deals that much harder? Or has the ‘secret’ about the profits that can be made in MHP’s been out long enough that it probably should not make much difference?

Congrats again to MHU for the praise in the NYT.

Considering the fact that there were articles in USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the BBC News last year about the industry, I don’t think that a single article in the New York Times will create a stampede. But the fact is that more and more people are learning about mobile home parks: that the returns are higher than any other form of real estate, and that the demand for affordable housing is gigantic. The fact that the Carlyle Group bought two parks last year was probably the biggest news story of 2013, as that’s the largest private equity group in the U.S., so their stamp of approval is probably bigger than Warren Buffet buying Clayton. Our opinion is that most new entrants to the industry are focusing on finished, stabilized parks, while we buy parks with some degree of upside left in them, and a turnaround plan is standard. But there’s no question that the “cat is out of the bag” on mobile home parks at this point, and there are more articles to follow in more publications (we know this because they have called us for facts on the industry). So while the industry is far from brimming with buyers (thanks to the stigma that trailer parks will always have), expect more articles in the future, and more people learning about what affordable housing is and how mobile home parks relate to that.

The big deal about this article is that it’s the first one written by a respectable, well-known reporter. The industry is chock full of B.S. articles written by people who don’t know anything but have titled themselves as “gurus”, or as P.R. releases for the three public REITs (ELS, SUN and UMH). It’s nice to have some authentic reporting for a change.

Brandon -

Whatever I’m paying you, I’m doubling it.

(:P)

-jl-