Quality parks for sale?

I have viewed the Park Store properties for sale for the past two years and it seems parks of good value and great returns are missing!!      It seems there is too much money looking for properties and even I have had buyers saying name your price!      Are we reaching a small bubble with more buyers than sellers especial of outstanding properties–I am always ready to buy outstanding properties but notice very few that catch my attention and the details tend to be no better.      This site is great as to new owners and experienced.   Thanks for the opportunity.

There is a “bubble” in the sense that there’s probably more buyers looking at MHPS than ever before, but that doesn’t necessarily speak to the quality of deals available in the industry as a whole. It’s comparable to Loopnet for other types of properties - the people that get outstanding apartment deals, for example, usually won’t be finding them on Loopnet itself. They find them by thinking outside the box and going the extra mile instead of taking the easiest path like most others.You should also keep in mind the owners of MHPS buy parks themselves. Great situation for them; for outsiders though it’s going to be pretty difficult for a highly desirable deal to slip through the cracks when it is listed.

Well, I know it’s not big enough for the “big boys”, but I have a park for sale which is doing very well. The only reason I’m selling it is because we’re retiring to the opposite side of the country. Park is in southeast Arizona.-City water/sewer-On-site manager-Park provides water, sewer, trash-14 spaces-13 occupied; the one unoccupied site has utilities and is ready for a new home. Space rent $250.-All tenant-owned, four have mortgages, 8.5% return to mortgage holder.- Duplex with two 2-BR apts. Storage room between them. Both apartments rented, $350/month.- Rent Income Value: (13250) + (2350) * 12 * .6 *10 = $284,400- Value of Mortgages discounted at 8.5%:                         $48,000- Total Value:                                                                   $ 332,400Includes two undeveloped acres fronting main street into town. Park may be able to be expanded onto this land. Other nearby acreage being offered at $16k/acre.Upsides: -New home on the empty site raises rent income value to $302,400.-Submetering water raises value by about $50k (at 10 cap).Sale price: $325,000.For full sales package, email  dkshinnick@gmail.com

Thank you Dshinnick,   As a small operator that is to small unless an owner lives in the area and manages it.       Where are the quality parks for sale–need some for a 1031 exchange–918-314-4574.        This past tax season was a whopper since we usually buy more properties to continue to have depreciation and keep Uncle Sam hungry but good old depreciation ran out!!!    It seems one of the first visitor  to a new park owner  is the tax assessor and they KNOW exactly what you paid and are smiling about your NEW higher taxes.    One property I checked on took nearly 3 months of rents to pay the taxes and my friend they are not in retreat!!

We’ve been buying for the past five years at the rate of 3,000 lots per year. We use a combination of MobileHomeParkStore.com, Loopnet, broker’s pocket listings, direct mail, cold calling, and dropping by. The deals we buy on-line we traditionally get huge discounts on price because the seller never really expected to get his listing price – one deal was 50% of asking and the seller was fine with that. As with all things in life, it’s a volume business, and the more deals that go through your sorter, the better the quality of what you uncover.

I’d echo what Frank has said.  We’ve had no difficulty buying 10%-cap parks to buy for our fund over the past year.  They’ve all had upside from there.  That has enabled us to pay out as much as 14% cash-on-cash to our investors (plus appreciation), and still make a decent return for ourselves.Keep more irons in the fire than fewer.  Make lots of offers (even on the shopworn deals on LoopNet and MobileHomeParkStore) - at prices that work for you.  All it takes is one seller to say 'yes.'My 2 cents worth,-jl- 

Jefferson when looking at a park that you think is worth $1.0mm but the seller is asking $1.5mm do you just make the offer at $1.5mm and then walk down the price during the DD period or do you make the offer closer to your estimated $1.0mm value? Thanks 

KWM, my Husband and I own two Mobile Home Parks.  In addition I am a South Carolina Real Estate Broker-In-Charge and Realtor.When a person makes an Offer, they should make it based on all the information that they have available.  If the MHP is worth only $1 Million, the Buyer should make an Offer of $1 Million.I would not recommend knowingly placing an Offer that as a Seller you are not prepared to complete.I understand that during Due Diligence items may come up that reduce (perhaps increase) the value of the MHP.In limited (very limited) circumstances would I advise a Client to change their Offer.  These limited circumstances would be if the Seller gave wrong or misleading information.When you write an Offer, you are giving your ‘Good Faith’ gesture that you are ready, willing and able to buy the MHP at that agreed upon contract price.If I was the Realtor for the Seller and the Buyer came back during Due Diligence with a lower Offer, I would recommend that the Seller say no and go forward with other Buyers.We wish you the very best!

Thanks Kristin

While you can traditionally make smaller re-negotiations on price during due diligence, Kristin is correct that you should not normally attempt to make major price concessions after tying it up, unless something significant pops up during due diligence. You can get a $1.5 million deal down to $1.4 million sometimes, but $1.5 million to $1 million is too severe unless you find out that it’s in a floodplain, has fewer usable lots than you were told, etc.

We would make a $1.0mm offer on a park we felt was worth $1.0mm.  We’d not make a $1.5mm offer with the plan up front to negotiate price down.  We don’t do a lot of horse-trading.  We just offer what we think the MHP is worth, take it or leave it.  Our diligence then tells us if the property has been accurately represented.All of our acquisitions have gone one of two ways once we’ve gotten the deal under contract:1. The park has been accurately represented by the seller and/or broker.  In which case we have never asked for a price concession, or2. The park has been misrepresented by the seller and/or broker.  In which case we have always asked for a price concession, and have always waked away if we’ve not gotten it (or some combination of concession and seller carry).  By ‘misrepresented’ I don’t mean that 1 of the mobile homes happens to go vacant in the 6 weeks leading up to closing.  I mean that the occupancy is >5% lower than represented, or the infrastructure was misrepresented (orangeburg vs. PVC), or we discover that a Lonnie Dealer owns >10% of the homes (when this was not disclosed up front), etc.To your continued success,-jl-

Okay thanks everyone for the information. I am just attempting to figure out how the deals seem to be tied up so quickly when they hit the market when often times there is a lack of financial disclosure. 

Kwm, every business type has people in the knew that pass information back and forth since they have prior business connections and dealings and thus have the front row seat to parks available that most people will never see.       In one situation a buyer seeking a loan they did not qualify for the lender give ALL the numbers to another park owner about a great park that did not close since the buyer was weak but needed to check out the park since the numbers looked great (great for business).   If you are beginning in this business there are some obstacles that only time can solve and yes those that have numerous parks are aware of many situations since banks call them since they knew the syndicators like to buy parks pennies  on the dollar and will close vr. putting out for the general public to buy.    Personally I have contacted 3 bank presidents to let me know of ANY great properties that need a new owner.    It is all about connections and your goals–for new entries to the business mojo finding the cream of the crop is difficult.     As I have said SHO-ME the bargains, call me, when  was  the last one on the Park Store  that was specular???     Knocking on doors, cold calling is fine but for some buyers that is to time consuming and ???           Hope that helps you kwm!!   One of the privileges of co-owning many parks. 

hello there. I have a MHP direct with seller in S.C. Double digit cap- lots of acreage- 50 lots…875k all in… Meaning buyer pays all closing costs plus my fee…Homes are in very decent shape. age is 1988 to 2002…Half are POH’S half are tenant owned. Lot rent is 250.00 a month…Call me if interested … Much more detail to follow.Principals only please…Call Richard - 912-224-1480

The park I just put under contract wasn’t listed on MHPS.com. It came from an email from a local broker that I had been in contact with years ago.Keep the relationships active and someday something will turn up.

It’s hard to find an ideal park in my home state of Florida; city water & sewer individually metered and of course, no park owned homes. In view of that, I have seen many parks for sale on Mobile Home Park Store that have city or county water but are on septic tanks. My question is: are septic tanks really that bad? Thanks for your comments.

Presently in Florida  the market is very over sold–people with money are looking for places to park their assets especially the +55 parks and of course brokers that own parks knew now is the time to sell with low interest rates and they have them for sale.      In Florida be very careful with septic tanks they can drain a bank account very fast including wells. 

Timothy, as per your question concerning Septic Tanks they can be perfectly fine.My Husband and I own a MHP with Septic Tanks:-  City Water (directly billed to Tenant) -  24 Lots-  11 Acres-  1 Septic Tank Per Home-  Large Lots For Drain Fields - Over 0.40 Acres Per Lot-  Septic Systems Designed For The Size Of The Home (3 Bedrooms) There are lots and lots and lots of questions to ask concerning Septic Systems.-  How many homes are sharing Septic Systems?  There should be one Septic System per home.-  How big are the Lots for the Drain Fields?-  Are there wells for water?  I would pass on a MHP with both Septic Systems and Wells.-  Were they designed for the Mobile Home currently using the Septic Tank?  3 Bedroom Septic System for a 3 Bedroom Mobile Home-  Have the Septic Systems been taken care of?  Just like every MHP is a bit different from each other, so is every Septic System.  We wish you the very best!

Hi everyone. This is my first post. I am a park owner and broker that only sells MHPs and Campgrounds in Indiana. I use direct mail to all the park owners in the state and get buyers from Mobile Home Park Store. I wanted to join the community here. I have great deals happen all the time, but you have to be ready to act. I listed a park yesterday with 61 lots, 45 homes there with only 5 park owned homes. City water and sewer. It’s listed at an 11 CAP. My buyers list is going crazy. :slight_smile: I’m not trying to sell it here. It’s just an example of what I think is a good deal. There are good deals out there if you find a good broker in the states you are looking to buy in. I’m looking forward to giving my two cents as a MHP owner and Campground owner here on the forum. Have a great day.

Welcome to the forum from a displaced (by choice) Hoosier now a Cracker.

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