My husband and I are interested in mobile home investments. We live in the New York City arear where there are no mobile home parks. We will be venturing upstate to look for lots.
I purchased Lonnie’s book, however I was wondering if anyone could give some advice on your first buy. What is the best way to get started? What type of mobile home and park shoud we be looking for, our first time around?
I would like for us to have an easy start. We have some concerns about the high housing prices in NY which are perhaps the highest in the country. We are hoping this is even feasible in this area.
Congratulations for looking to get out of the box. Not to burst your bubble but it is pretty difficult to do Lonnie Deals while living in NYC. You have to go out a ways. I have done a number of deals 45 minutes away from home (Cincinnati) and would not want to go any farther. In fact, I am pulling in closer. If you want to buy a park, that is different.
All that being said, it IS preferable to own or work in a park near a big city where there are jobs for tenants. Do you have any friends or relatives who live on the outskirts of the city where there are MHPs? If so, maybe you could partner with them to do some deals. That way you have someone nearby to keep an eye on things and keep the communication up with the PM and residents.
While as Dr B(OH) wisely observes you’ve obviously got to go a way since there’re no cows left in The Boroughs ;), it’s really a matter of getting out and driving through a MHP* or two or three and talking to some FSBO owners and MHP Mgrs to find deals.
In looking back over my sorry history of Lonnie dealing I’d just tell you the big No 1 is location,location, location as a good loc will pull interested buyers out of the wood-work and a bad one will kill you.
I was demon-possessed once to buy 2 or 3 poorly loc ones in a near-by MHP and those pitiful things just sat there laughing at me until I had a spell of reason and logic and got smart and walked away.
Good MHs but remotely out-of-sight locs in their MHP that nobody driving would ever see much-less buy.
And flipping the coin to the other side my quick sellers had great locs in accessible MHPs that anybody driving through would quickly spot…and these sold almost overnight.
So don’t, DO NOT be lured in by seller’s slick talk unless their locations make lotsa sense.