Posted by Dr. Craig Whisler CA on April 11, 2003 at 20:58:27:
…why try to swim upstream. You can’t win with parks owned by dealers. Can’t blame them either. Learn from their successes, then go and do likewise.
Yeah, I know. You’re going to say, but doc, I am just starting and I can’t afford to buy a park yet. Can you afford learn how to become a park manager? Could you offer a great deal of somekind to a park owner if you became his PM? If I were just starting out and found myself in this situation I would first get a job as an assistent PM, then learn the job well and work hard to become a PM. Then I would find a PM who would let me be the dealer (on the side) and would work my tail off for him at a low salary. There is much more money to by made by selling new mobiles in a park than there is to be made by just managing it. If you can make good money selling mobiles you might be able to use it to buy the park. Remember, lenders will look more favorably on your loan application if you can demonstrate that you have substantial, successful park management experience. I would prefer to work for a park owner who is older and doesn’t have a bunch of adult kids buzzing around all the time. What better person to sell out to and carry paper for than his own PM who has demonstrated so much enterprise and even saved up a nice downstroke with which to buy his park. All this while while upgrading his park by replacing older mobiles with brand new ones?
Where there are problems there are opportunities for creative solutions. Your post got me thinking on how I might try to deal with your problem if it confronted me.
Regards, doc