We have been using Clayton for the majority of our new home infill. However, we are looking at purchasing a park in a cheaper market and it got us thinking about what is the most budget friendly home builder out there?
If you have any insight on Legacy, Champion, Skyline, etc I would be very interested.
We will have approximately 75 vacancies across our communities if we follow through with this purchase so we would like to establish a strong relationship with a builder.
Depends on location. Northeast for us it is Titan (champion)
Skyline has some cheap homes but you. Get what you pay for
I used Legacy for most of the infill in my park and I would NEVER use them again. I have one TRU home and have had no issues with that home at all. I am looking for a few more homes also.
I see that most of your parks are in Iowa. I wouldn’t buy new. Rather, have someone print out a bunch of flyers and go around dropping them off at all the parks owned by the large players who have raised their rates above fair market. Get conversations going with homeowners to buy their homes for cash or on good seller financing terms and then pull them out of those parks. Some of these vultures need to learn a good lesson, otherwise they’re bound to kill the golden goose.
Personally, I would do the opposite of what you are stating. I would never try and poach homes from other parks unless those park owners actually want those homes out of the park. Some large players would rather have new homes and are happy to see the used homes go.
If the big players are charging what you claim to be “above market rates”, maybe the rates they’re charging ARE in fact the market rates for parks with their quality/appearance/inventory type and you are the one who is charging below market rates. Remember that the market ultimately determines the fair market rate for lot rent, not the park operator.