I’ve got a handful of 1/1 SFR’s with really great terms and cashflow. My strategy has been renting to seniors on section 8. Works well, I don’t have any problems and great cash flow. This is in The Bay Area of California.
I’m thinking of trading these great little deals for broken trailer park(s).
I really like the four minute investing in MHP’s video, it’s very true. I’ve been pondering currency, debt ( personal and national ), Quanatative Easing etc…what is going to be a stable investment when a recession really hits us and inflation skyrockets? How is someone going to make money? I’m sure most of us know that we’re not doing well as a nation and we may fold at anytime. BUT NOT MCDONALDS!
I hope to meet some folks in Nov. and share some stories as my first transaction was a Lonnie Deal that was introduced me to a pedophile, drug dealers, wife and husband cheaters. And some really nice people who liked me for adding value to their community.
I also made a pile of dough. Turned a turd into a gem and learned a lot.
Personally I am of the belief that anyone owning rental properties, homes, apartment buildings, mobile homes or parks basically any type of rental property, are recession and inflation proof.
When times get tough, inflation skyrockets and people lose their jobs landlords get a better class of tenant as recession pushes classes down the food chain. Win/win
However to benefit from the compression of class status, as a landlord, one cannot rent to anyone on any form of government assistance. That tenant demographic is already at the bottom of the food chain and will simply become delinquent tenants when inflation eats into their beer, cigarettes and lottery ticket money.
I have seen this first hand over the past many years and do see the quality of my tenants increasing as I do not rent to welfare recipients. As employment incomes decline and the value of homes (mobile or otherwise) increase the class of tenant also increases in rental properties.
I have to agree with Greg that I have never seen a successful mobile home park that caters to Section 8 or other forms of government assistance. I think one of the big problems is that mobile home park tenants all have yards, and you can’t hide lack of pride of ownership behind stark walls like apartments can – every unit has a yard and car that knocks the image of the park down a level if not well maintained. We need “pride of ownership” with our tenants – we need every tenant to be a “stakeholder” in our business, and focused on being a good resident and neighbor. I know someone who told me how great his Section 8 park was, until he went to sell it and nobody wanted it or would finance it because it showed so poorly. He ended up selling it for a 14% cap rate or so – and had to carry the paper. Remember that Section 8 tenants cannot own the unit they live in, so any appeal to improve values falls on deaf ears – they’re just lifelong renters. We want, at the end of the day, for our tenants to own their own homes, or at least have that as their goal. This “stakeholder” concept is one of the big differences between apartments and mobile home parks.