So are most parks going towards park owned homes these days or is it an even split? It’s definitely cheaper to have someone else own their home and it provides ownership which usually means better care and less management, but if you own it you can capture more rent. Ive been told that a mobile home usually has a rental shelf life of aprox 10 years…thought?
All the parks I have ever owned never had rental homes since I was not wanting to repair or maintain the fast deprecating homes used as rentals. There is a vast difference in parks with rentals since people with owned homes generally are well maintained and the level of timely payment better and the park owner can easily tell the home owner to keep it nice or move out. The prospective park buyer needs to decide which direction they are happy to own. I will not buy a park I would not live in or in a community that is going down–that is one reason to look at demographics and in my particular situation my new home owners come from out of sate since we are a retirement and 2nd home park on a large lake Our small town has numerous homes over 1 million dollars and we are drawing people to our area all over the USA.
I own one home in my community and it is a pain in the a**. It is the oldest and worst condition home in the community and simply not worth even maintaining. It will soon be removed and the replacement new home sold. Good riddance to home ownership responsibilities.
Why don’t you give it away and have tenant fix it up and bring new home to a different lot.
I have done this, sold for minimal value and tenants are very happy.
There’s no question that the business model works better when the tenants owns their own home outright. But the reality is that you cannot fill a vacant lot without bringing in a home yourself. So every home in the park is worth $20,000 to $30,000 to keep there – because that’s what it will cost to replace it with a repo or new home. We would also just give away an old, derelict home as a “handyman special”, on the condition that the exterior be upgraded within 60 days and a multi-year lease signed so the home cannot be pulled out. The most important starting spot regarding homes is geography. Different parts of America behave differently regarding homes. That’s why all the responses to this thread are probably 100% accurate, and they all represent different U.S. markets. I can take a 1980’s home and park it in Wisconsin and the tenant will paint and decorate it and make it look fantastic. Or I can park it in Mississippi and it will be completely destroyed by the tenant in a month and removed to the landfill. Or I can park it in North Dakota and find an oil company that will pay me all cash in 20 minutes. So everyone is correct and yet everyone is different due to geography.
Hey Frank, I have heard you say that it cost 20k-30k to fill lots a few times. Do y’all every purchase well kept 90s models for 10k and move those into your parks? I understand that y’all may have parks in more metro areas where things cost more. However I have been filling lots for 10k-15k for the last decade no problem, and I have nice parks. I usually purchase 90s homes that have been really well kept for 5-12k or so, then pay another 4k to move and setup with a nice deck. I have yet to pull the trigger on a new home. I would love to hear you speak on this subject. I would think that your methods for filling lots has evolved over the years. Thanks
Why don’t you give it away and have tenant fix it up and bring new home to a different lot.I have done this, sold for minimal value and tenants are very happy.
Because it is the worst looking home in the community and not in keeping with the quality of the park. If I give it to a tenant or even sell it I assume it would remain an eyesore. When I bring in a new home I make a $20,000 profit on the sale and upgrade the community at the same time.
I have only two vacant lots (due to fires) and will bring in new homes there first for resale.
Bringing in new homes is only a temporary expense as my tenants buy the homes through either cash purchase or bank financing.
Where is your park located? How do you do it? That is great to make 20k on the sale of a mobile home.