Greetings! My folks recently received a MHP back after selling it on contract nearly five years ago. They are up there in years and are emotionally and physically drained after this ordeal- and the work hasn’t even started. I have agreed to help get them through this mess and figure out what to do with the park moving forward. We could really use some ideas right now!
Before I start I have to say how refreshing it was to come accross your site! Very thorough and well organized. Thanks for hosting an awesome resource for us (almost) rookies.
My folks sold their MHP five years ago after having it over 20 years. It has 50 lots total; 25 park-owned rental units and 25 home owners. When they sold it they were at 100% occupancy. It was a nice park that was very-well maintained and had a nice cash flow. Today, there are 11 empty rental units- 9 of which are totally shot and 9 vacant lots. This guy absolutely dessimated the place- he put absolutely no money back into it. To further add insult to injury, he was delinquent in R/E taxes to $42K and sewer utilities to $12K, which is how they learned of the problem via tax sale notification. Yes, I know, my parents should have kept a close eye on it. Definately an expensive learning lesson.
My parents (and myself) have very little cash to put into the place right now and I’m trying to figure out how to at least bring it to a cash flow break-even with the minimal amount of investment we haved available. Within the next week I’m going to assess the market (Syracuse, IN) and determine if we need to a) purchase rental units to fill the lots and build cash flow, b) try to rent lots to home owners or c) re-sell homes on a rent-to-own basis. One obsticle to bringing newer homes in is that the lots are 70-90’ deep, which doesn’t meet current setback requirements. I am hopeful the county would appreciate us cleaning the property up and let us file for a varience to get nicer homes in there?
Guess I’m looking for confirmation that, given the plight of the park and homes at current, that my doing a market assessment in the area is the first thing to do? What are nice rental-quality homes going for these days? I see the average home rental ($390/mo) in our area isn’t any different from what it was five tears ago, which is a little suprising. Are there any but obvious pros and cons of rent-to-own structures? They did a few RTO’s years ago and seamed to work well- but I know things are different today. Do MH dealers typically work with smaller and older parks like this for display units? What is a “good” mutual arrangement for a dealer and a MHP owner?
Lastly, I see a lot of value in your MHP boot camp offer and will likely register at a later date, but I think the first priority is to get the place on solid ground and get it to a break-even point.
Sorry for rambling here. Any words of wisdom or ideas would most certainly be appreciated at this time!!!