Speaking for myself, I have been VERY hesitant to offer advice for the past two years because my business model is also broken.
Life was easy…buy cheap lots with existing old beater s/w on it. Remove the singlewide and replace with nice D/W. Hook up water, sewer, electric, skirt, deck. total cash outlay 40K or so. set up on L/O with payments at 750 to 800 or sell outright with 10K down at 12% and sell before the deck was done for 89K. Had 18 of em cranking out payments and insurance, maintenance were owner’s responsibility. Life was good…my 16 year old daughter did one and the now rental payments are putting her thru college, (kinda lol).
Today these are All rentals and I’ve picked up a few more since and these are labor intensive. i net just shy of 50% on em and it keeps us rolling along. I still eat at BK and Taco Bell and drive a 4 year old Tundra. I probably work 25 hours a week and still work part time finding people from out of state homes. florida is and will remain a destination state,
It will be good to get new blood in here and I hope to learn some new things…I met Frank at San Diego I think and I like some of his ideas. Buying in this economy is…well gutsy and I like that.
I will post as I can and look forward to the new forum.
Thank you and God Bless Steve,
Greg Meade
Greg,
It’s great to hear from you my friend. Believe me, you have as much if not more knowledge about this business than anyone I know and I’m sure you will utilize it to make things happen again.
I’m still chugging away with my parks and two of the three are steadily growing and creating more cash flow. Although I don’t see myself investing in any new mobile home communities in the future, once the properties I have are full I shouldn’t need any more investments. Let’s just hope that happens before I turn 60…LOL
As one gets older and hopefully wiser the path of least resistance becomes more attractive especially when it comes to cash flow. I’ve fallen in love with the self storage business because it is much easier for me to create steady cash flow AND most importantly I don’t have to deal directly with deadbeat tenants. If they don’t pay, I lock them out and eventually auction off their stuff to people who watch the crazy TV show, “Storage Wars”. It gets even better…the people showing up at the auctions are now paying 3 times more than they should be because they are certain there is a diamond ring or hidden gem inside the unit. Don’t people know those shows are staged and most people quit paying for the unit because it is full of junk?
It’s good to see a revival of the forum and I will definitely be visiting it more often.
Thanks for all you have contributed over the years and I look forward to reading more in the future. Take care my friend and keep in touch.
Steve