Your question is actually a good one. If you are doing any sort of a
turnaround park, you will probably have to live nearby so these
considerations upfront are a good exercise.
Let me describe my experience. My park is in a small town that is
about 1 hour from Pittsburgh. HD, Lowe’s decent hardware store,
lumber yard, etc are all nearby yet here are some recent situations I
have had:
1" plywood: Pittsburgh
tall poles for my blueberry patch surround: Pittsburgh
tool repair: Pittsburgh
consulting arborist: Pittsburgh
organic fertilizer: Pittsburgh
underground leak detection company: Pittsburgh
local ACRE chapter: Pittsburgh
unusual circuit breaker: Pittsburgh
Then there are the personal preferences:
movies with subtitles: Pittsburgh
oriental food stores: Pittsburgh
social life of any kind: Pittsburgh (I’m single)
restaurants with something other than fried grease on menu:
Pittsburgh
pace of life other than that of a snail: Pittsburgh
Something else that I found that surprised me is that it is difficult to
get good workers here. Life in this area is cheap and no-one has to
work hard. I work right through the winter and on many occasions I
have had people refuse to do work, even though they were
unemployed and I was willing to pay cash, because it was cold outside.
Life in a city is expensive and you either hustle or die. Luckily, I have
Mennonites and Amish in the area who work very hard. Some areas
have illegal Mexicans if that is acceptable to you. Something to keep
in mind.
I think you can see in what type of area I would buy another park.
Do business in larger/smaller cities? - Posted by Legendary
Posted by Legendary on February 26, 2009 at 14:12:49:
Dear Fellow Investors,
I am choosing a new city in which to do business, or at least, I am considering doing so. Anyway, it gave me a thought as to whether to look at larger cities or smaller ones. I had to wonder which was best at this point. Larger cities give the advantage of (probably) more parks/homes to choose from, plus (probably) a larger yearly income per capita, hence the ability to charge and obtain larger monthly payments.
Smaller cities however, might have a greater need for financing mobiles, plus (probably) plenty of undervalued homes from which to choose. Income here might suffer though, so monthly payments would tend to be less per buyer. Also, jobs might be more difficult for buyers to hang on to as well.
So, for those of you currently investing and not just reading forums, which would you prefer at this point, if you were choosing another city in which to do business instead of the one in which you now currently invest?
Larger populations or smaller populations… that is the question!
Now, before you start blazing away at your keyboard telling me about how deals happen everywhere, I fully realize that already. I am talking about your preferences and why, especially if you plan to be a cherry-picking-deals-investor. I love the business, but don’t necessarily want to spend my whole day devoted to it… hey, I am a newlywed!
Re: Do business in larger/smaller cities? - Posted by Shawn Sisco
Posted by Shawn Sisco on February 27, 2009 at 07:37:34:
I would say that the ideal size city for the MHP business is not too big-not too small. One benefit of the more rural communities is that manufactured housing is more widely accepted. Approximately 45,000 is the county population where my MHP is located and nearly everyone that I meet has either themselves lived in an MH before or has friends/family members that do.
Another benefit of operating in a smaller community is that the referal aspect is very apparent. All of that said; you must have a suficient base of people to draw from.
Re: Do business in larger/smaller cities? - Posted by Brenda (OH)
Posted by Brenda (OH) on February 27, 2009 at 07:13:11:
Hi Billy,
a region can vary dramatically as well. One county to the east of me, about 20 to 40 miles from Cincinnati, is mobile home heaven, many more mobile home parks, mobile homes on land, etc, than where I am, but since I am starting out, there is enough business in the fewer number of parks here. But I rarely see any mobile homes on land in my county that are not the same prices as single families, or higher price due to having land with them.
maybe a way to do it is to look up where mobile home related business are grouped, such as dealers, repair and parts stores etc and check out those areas?