For those of you with at least one MHP, what were your most effective detailed steps to find, finance, and buy your first park?
Assumption is you’ve chosen your MSA and park criteria as a prerequisite. Note: I’ve attended the boot camp and have rewatched the videos several times.
First park was listed with a local realtor. Wasn’t a great purchase but got our feet wet. Every one after that has been direct mail or word of mouth.
First park was a snowbird neighbor farmer and said he stayed in a nice south Texas park. Took a 1500 mile trip south and was met by a owner with a shotgun wanting to know what we were doing there in the off season Mission, Tx. The next day we had a nice long conversation leading to $5,000 down payment on a 235 space MH-RV park. First year gave seller a life-lease on their home in the park plus assisted us in the park’s operation. Having grown-up on a dairy farm we knew how to fix and take care of real estate plus taking care people was a breeze since you always are careful with the people supporting your enterprise.
I heard about MHPs back in 2014…I looked at a couple that were listed on mobilehome park store.com and loop net that were in Maine and PA. A broker in Maine told me about the park I own today. Ended up looking at it and got it under contract. Closed in 2015 and owned it since. I got the commercial mortgage through a local Maine bank that was recommended by the broker. Nothing fancy and maybe not the most efficient way to do it but back then I think you could still find a decent deal that was listed on the internet.
I studied the park business for about year and a half and attended a boot camp before buying my first park. Also assessed probably hundreds of deals that were listed, just to better understand what to look for, run financials, etc. I purchased my first park just outside St Louis through a broker. Was listed online and I worked to get it under contract quickly. Seller financing. Worked out really well and very thankful.
Robbie
A ton of cold calls after studying the space for 2 years. Drove 5 hours to meet the seller, he changed his mind, wouldn’t sign the contract he verbally agreed to. Told me he had a friend who wanted to sell, and gave me the #.
His friend’s park was listed nowhere, not from my VA that built my call list, or on Google. Called him, said he would sell what he bought it for 17 years ago, 180K, 20K down, seller finance, for a 21 space park, 14 TOH, 7 vacant pads. It’s been a year, haven’t made any money, because a number of one-off repairs, but it’s been great to get started. Closed 3 other parks in the last year since then