Frank mentioned that newspapers and Craigslist are his tried and true methods. Are any of you seeing success with websites SEO? I’m thinking that with templates, pictures from the park in question, and good copy, that it might also be a good test bed for demand. I could spin up a website in a few hours when starting due diligence in addition to the Craigslist ads and newspapers. Am I way off base looking at using a website for a mix of RV and MH tenant? Or does Craigslist pretty much trump websites?The parks I’m looking at are downtrodden and mismanaged and don’t have websites or any advertising so I want to make sure I am being as thorough as possible in demand determination. A few calls per week might be enough for these 30-35 space parks. People pay 5-7 CAP for junky parks here so any deal I can make work can be a reasonably quick flip after filling MH lots with RVs. I know that is contrary to the MHU teachings on being realistic (nobody wants to live in an RV when they can a MH, right?) but since the WA supreme court ruled that counties and cities cannot remove RVs from MH pads in 2009, plenty of parks are filling up with junky RVs. It’s booming and the banks are lending on them.Any park-specific recommends on great marketing resources such as websites, books, or other materials would be greatly appreciated. I’m hooked on this park business like crack cocain. Gotta get my marketing chops in order to increase the fun.
I’d not mess with a website for testing the demand for a park. Craigslist is your best bet. Run the test ads, measure the results (you want 3+ responses per day) and turn over those leads to the park owner to follow up with the interested parties.A website is 100% needed - after you purchase the property. You can take a look at ours at www.nobleestatesok.com. It has photos of homes available, pricing, directions, etc. (Please give me your feedback on how it can be even better.)So for assessing demand, go with CraigsList. For building up your marketing activities, yes, have a website, get on Google Places, in the Yellow Pages, probably your local PennySaver Magazine, etc.Good luck,-jl-
We use very little SEO in our business, and none in our advertising for homes to sell or information concerning our mobile home parks. That said- The SEO stuff we do is contracted through a contractor we have through a outsourcing website- through odesk. There are many, many options for this on odesk and other such sites that match this type of service with businesses.