Hello everyone!
I was wondering how many of you own park that you do not live close by (ie out of state or remote) and what has been your experience? Do you use a Property Management Company or just find reliable Park Manager? Any suggestion what to watch for.
I am considering to invest in another park thats 2000 miles away. Is this a bad idea?
thank you,
Nancy!
I would also love to hear others’ experience with owning from a distance.
Often, I hear either very simplistic or very time intensive responses. Simplistic responses sound like, “I just have my manager walk through the community with a camera,” but that does not solve a plethora of issues like empty lots, remodeling homes, etc. Time intensive responses sound like, “I fly to the park every other week.”
Neither of these sounds manageable. I must be missing something, or is it an economy of scale problem? Do you need to have a certain level of income before owning from a distance is doable?
Is anyone aware of a podcast or website that dives deeper into owning a community from a distance?
My personal advice would be that ideally you should have a reasonable level of MPH experience before investing long distance. There are communities all across the country so there is no reason to have to own beyond a relativly easy commuting distance.
I strongly believe in starting with self managining a community oneself before taking on a corporate approach to MPH investing. Just my opinion but I believe it is easier to manage a manager once you know the business first hand. I do not trust management companies or individuales until they can prove themselves to me. For that to happen I must know and understand the business intimatly myself to know when someone else is doing it right.
Take this with a grain of salt since I do not believe in long distance investing unless you are a well seasoned realestate investing corporation.
Hi Nancy, this is a simple question, but in many ways, a complicated answer. If you’re buying a park that is a turnkey and doesn’t require much work, its much easier to manage from a distance. If the park is more of a turnaround project, it makes sense to be at the park more often to oversee cap ex projects, rehabs and infill.
I own six parks and the closest one to me is about 500 miles away. Little did I know about the challenges that I would face when I bought an infill project three states away from me. I’ve been robbed by contractors/MH installers more times than I care to admit. I’ve had mobile home movers commit to a job, I pay them in advance (their policy), then wait 6-9 months to move the home.
After a few months of trying to wrangle the installer to do his job, you have to now do the rehab. Never in my wildest dreams would I think doing a rehab on a 750 square foot mobile home would be difficult. In todays skilled labor crunch, it is very hard to find contractors willing to work on anything, let alone mobile homes. Infill is a complete slugfest, especially in states that are highly regulated like Ohio. I’ve brought in 13 used homes in this park, and I feel like someone should give me an award for dealing with the daily nonsense that comes along with the job.
On the flip side, I’ve purchased a TOH community that was full without any infill headaches. We had to take on some deferred maintenance projects, but the pain is nothing like trying to infill from a distance. At this point, I would much rather pay a premium for a full park that doesn’t produce brain damage. Bump rents, rinse and repeat.
If the park you’re looking at is full or close to being full, you can own it from the other side of the country. Get a good on-site manager who you can trust. Then find a solid property management company who has integrity. They need to manage your asset as good as anything else they manage even though it’s a MHP. Finding good property management isn’t easy either but finding the right one will make a world of difference. I hope this helps.
Thank you dvbologna!! This is very helpful. Thanks for share all this info.
I’ve been owning one park for about 2 years and i am still laughing at your “brain damage” comment. So true. How something that should be so simple, becomes so complicated 
I had my fair share dealing with contractors, best one is to find crew that was doing rehab sleeping at 10am in from of MH.
Can i ask you two more question: any tips on finding good managers and why would you need a property management company if you have good manager?
Hi,
I own a park on the other side of the country from were I live. I did buy the park in an area I used to live, believe in and like to visit. I knew from the start, I’d have a professional manager. First one was a mistake! He came highly recommended but preferred to sell real estate than manage it. Then I found a company who only manages mobile home parks and that was a night and day difference. Less headaches, no balls dropped, and profits went up. I’m happy. I’d buy it again if I could!
I’d like to add that I bought this with no knowledge of mobile home parks. I was down to the wire in a 1031 exchange and had to buy something. I knew managing it myself was out of the question. I visit the park at least 4 times a year. I think having a manager who understands my philosophy is important. I want the park kept in good shape and the the tenants to feel they are getting a good value. Is it the least expensive place around? No. I try to keep it the best at the price point. Since I’ve owned it, I submeter the water and added some other income. I’m thinking about another 1031 and looking for another park. If you want to reach out to me privately, please do.
This is exactly right. Full with tenant owned homes and city utilities? Totally doable. Anything else will take more time and he has to do from a distance.
Even full with TOH you should plan on spending a lot of time the first year getting it setup. Get your rent collections automated with rent manager and zego. BUILD A TEAM. Find a good onsite manager. Make a list of contractors/vendors that you trust and can actually afford (maybe the hardest part). Talk to the state MHA for a recommendation on an attorney that can handle evictions and getting titles to abandoned homes.
Once you do all that then a full TOH park can be kinda sorta passive and run from a distance.
There is still work though. Hardly a week goes by when the mailman doesn’t deliver some form that needs to be filled out from the city, county, state, insurance, CPA etc.
Point is, you can do all this from our of state with just a few trips, but it’s still work.
Good luck!
Thank you everyone for your input. Greatly appreciated.
Park is small, 40 spots. 13 empty, 6 TOH and 21 Park owned Homes. It has city utilities, water, sewage and electricity. Otherwise it would be a hard no for me.
I am flying out on Wednesday to speak with few potential Mangers and a small contractor that seems very promising.
I spoke with a property management company that claimed that they only specialize in Mobile Homes. Name is CCI. They are based out of California, but claimed they have crews & managers all over area were this park is & that they manage several parks in the area. I will be honest, i did not get a good vibe from them. It made me feel like it will be something overpromised and under delivered. When I asked to speak with potential manager, they said that i should not worry about that and they prefer that owners do not speak with managers. I should only with a person from their office who is assigned to the park . When i asked to speak with other owners in the area, as a reference, they were not able to provide that. They said they are managing other 4 parks within 50-70 miles from my park. I even asked to speak & meet with repair/maintenance crew leader and they did not agree. All answers were span towards: its a turn key solution, we take care of everything and you do not have to worry about. I personally prefer more details and specifics instead of: you do not need to worry about it, we got everything covered.
I am not afraid of hard work & definitely want to make this place to be good place to live for my tenants.
Another question i have is: what do you use for tenant screening. When i searched the forums, i noticed lots of people are using Rent Manager. I think this park is too small to justify the cost of Rent Manager. Additionally, do you have recommendations for a software/platform for a small park management? I saw avail.co and TenantCloud as an affordable option.
Do your tenants call on-site manager for repairs or they log in to some kind of portal ?
Thanks again for your inputs, greatly appreciated.
Nancy