The above subject is one of the headlines on the card I received recently from the owner of Mobile Home Park Store seeking to buy my park.
Is he crazy or smart being that we are in a terrible economic malaise
with many smart people predicting for it to get worse?
Mike
The word contrarian comes to mind. It is difficult to go the opposite direction of the herd, but historically a lot of success has come from it.
I think Dave is very smart.
Rick Ewens
Mike,
It wouldn’t surprise me if Dave bought that many parks last year. He and Frank have developed a solid clientele to flip the deals to, plus he has “first dibs” on anything listed on his site. Last I heard most of these were seller-financed deals which can be easy to flip if the seller is happy with the “new” owner.
Steve
Dave’s response:
Dave Reynolds has posted a response to your message titled
We Have Purchased Over 20 M.H. Parks in 2010 in CREOnline Mobile Home Q&A.
The posted reply can be found at the following URL:
http://www.creonline.com/mobilehomes/wwwboard4/messages/87851.html
If the reply pertains to an ongoing discussion, it is
requested you go to the above URL to post any response.
The posted reply reads as follows:
Dated : December 02, 2010 at 20:26:28
Subject: Re: We Have Purchased Over 20 M.H. Parks in 2010
What we have found this year is a lot of good deals out there from a culmination of over 10 years of sending out these postcards and letters and making cold calls and working with brokers. On top of that, the competition has lessened with many of the larger players sitting on the sidelines doing nothing. Is it crazy that we have have purchased over 20 parks this year? I don’t think so as all of them have met our investment criteria of both cap rate and cash on cash returns. As long as we are buying on current numbers and not proforma and at the right cap rates, we feel MHP’s are about the best place to invest for cash flow and appreciation.
Getting ready to send another postcard out to buy more homes. While we have filled about 200 lots this year from buying homes and moving them into parks we own we are looking to increase that next year as well. Of the homes we purchased, about 50 were brand new homes (from Clayton & Legacy) and 150 were repos.
I have been watching the mhp market for years and have never seen such a buying opportunity out there as I do now. It is not going to last forever so we are looking to capitalize on it now.
With the recession and future predictions not so good, there will continue to be strong demand for affordable housing. Our phones ring off the hook for homes at $495 per month (including lot rent).
Our goal for 2011 is to buy 30 parks and are well on our way with about 10 parks under contract set to close this by the end of January. It has been an amazing ride (literally over 40,000 miles in the car or pickup) this year buying and managing parks and look forward to what is in store for December and 2011.
Dave Reynolds
These forum post are getting very funny in regards to Dave Reynolds
Dave is for real. I actually met him at an event put on by Steve and Corey. I have shaken his hand. I have talked to him on the phone. Maybe I should have gotten his autograph. In fact I bet anyone that wants to talk to him just needs to call his office and ask. I have. With that said I would love to have been smart enough to develope a business model like Dave has done. In regards to MHPS having first look and access to all the best listed mobile home communities I can say he is doing nothing different than M&M, CBRE and pretty much any other big real estate sales company. I know several commercial real estate agents that became very wealthy, because they acquired properties before listing them to the public. Also most of these companies keep listings in house for a week or 2 before putting them on the open market just so they can shop them internally.
Rick Ewens
I agree, I have met with Dave and I’m familiar with a couple of his acquisitions. I certainly would not describe them as mistakes. They are deals that most all of us would be happy to participate in. In my opinion Dave is executing a very well thought out and extremely intelligent strategy.
I believe it’s very important to be aware of the circumstances and conditions that exist within the marketplace without being paralyzed by fear or uncertainty, or whatever else prevents one from taking action when real opportunities are found. (or more commonly created) Dave, Rick, Steve, Spencer, Shawn and many others are improving their positions while others are trying to figure out what’s going on. These are the folks I would watch and listen to, maybe turn down some of the supposed news and work at making news.
This is not directed at anyone in particular. Just my observations as a lurker of most of these sites. I believe now is the time, huge opportunities exist. Hope everyone on these forums gets their share. Best of luck to you all in 2011.
Make it Happen!
I’ve known Dave for a long time and his desire for growth in this business is admirable. He is very good at finding deals and developing MHPstore.com was a brilliant part of his strategy. If my business strategy was similar to his I would have forged this website in the same direction as Dave’s.
However, I am content with the properties I own now and am on the “slow pace” to fill them up. As you get older in life, the “when is enough, enough?” question pops in your mind more often. In terms of MHPs, what I have is enough for me right now.
A few years ago there was some words being thrown back and forth between me and Dave and Frank. I spoke personally with Dave and Frank and we settled all of the nonsense long ago. As a matter of fact, I completely forgot about it.
Bottom line, if Dave says he purchased 20 parks last year I believe him. He is very aggessive and has a desire to be a real big player in this industry. It’s a welcome sight to see one of us “non-institutional players” make an impact on the MH industry. I’m tired of seeing mainly the ARCs of the world at industry events.
Above all, Dave understands that there is a unique opportunity out there for people who are willing to look past the doom and gloom to build a very respectable MH portfolio. It just takes a serious gut check, money and desire.
Keep it up Dave!
Anyone know the markets/ demographics they are purchasing in?
They clearly have an advantage over any investor due to having first dibs to properties on their website…
I have a few clients who have worked with Dave and they have been happy with the results. I see the books, I know that the deals are “for real” and not just so much talk.