What would you do with the hitches removed from a Park Owned Home? Hide them under the trailer or just get rid of them? What are the benefits of keeping or getting rid of them?
You could maybe sell them off to some of those guys who scraps metals or random parts for a small amount of money. There’s no real benefit of keeping them to the park operator, so hiding them under the home is just fine. There’s a benefit to making sure they aren’t visible on the homes though: lenders don’t like them and having them on lowers your appraised value.
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This is an easy one … get rid of them.
Appearance - better.
Likelihood of tenants leaving - less/better.
Appraisal/lender/buyer - better.
Cut them off and store them under the home. We require this in all our communities and even do it for free.
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Put them under the house. You never know when you might need them. They are worth about $0.50 at the scrap yard. If you need one (say a house burns) it will cost you a lot of money to have one built.
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This is a no-brainer for me to answer. Years ago we made everyone cut off the tongues and we cut them off all the park owned homes. We put them underneath each home inside the skirting so no one ever sees them. It looks so much nicer.
But, we are always replacing older homes with newer homes. And every time we do it, we have to weld the tongue back on the old homes so it can be sold or given away. If we have the tongue, which we almost always do, it is a very small deal to get someone to come weld it on. But if we do not have the tongue, it is a really big deal to get someone to make one the right dimensions and fit and length and strength. I’m so glad we didn’t throw them away and we put them under the homes when we cut them off. So:
- Cut them off! Looks WAY better.
- Keep them. Store them under home.
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Out of curiosity @REA since you seem very knowledgeable on this specific point: What was the most (economically) efficient way of cutting them off? How much was it to weld it back on?
Cut off with Sawzall. Fast and easy. Remember metal cutting blade and safety glasses.
$300 to weld on in SoCal. Could probably find someone for $100-150.
I use to think that no hitch means it wont get moved out. But the older homes aren’t worth the expense [$6000] nor in well enough condition to move anyway nowadays. So it was one less thing to worry about. Most of my clunkers get torn down and scrapped onsite not pulled out. Very few movers around anymore.
What do people say when you tell them you are cutting them off? I can see people being suspicious or resistant to this, even if I do it for them.
Make them do it. Having the tongue makes your place look bad.
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I have it in my rules that it has to be removed and stored under the unit. Then once home is skirted at least it is out of sight.
I just bought my first park and sent out new lease and removing or concealing is part of the rules. I now regret putting in concealing as that might be too vague and it might not be done well.
Patrick, please tread lightly. If you just bought a new park, I would not make tongue removal be your first major initiative. You will aggravate your tenants. Start with low-hanging fruit or opportunities that are more beneficial, and you can reconsider this when the time is right, if ever. You may want to leave existing homes as-is but make new installs comply.
@mPark … I agree… As a new park owner I wouldn’t want to cost myself revenue over something that simple. …The ones I put under the homes were on homes I brought into the park as infill homes. Fortunately there weren’t any existing homes with hitches attached.
Thans @mPark this is what I was worried about. It feels a little aggressive. I will leave it alone for a bit. Any thoughts on allowing them to conceal the tongue? Worried I might get some crappy looking jobs.
I would not allow them to conceal it, then later you make them. My suggestion would be to operate the place for a while. Show that you are making improvements, then request they make improvements. Each situation is different, but if you go in making demands, but you don’t show that you are improving, then you are the bad guy.