Distance thing - we have owned investment property for over 30 years. Most of it has been distant from where we live. The issue is ultimately not distance but the ability to manage people. You must have a local capable person on site. The property has to be large income wise to pay a competent person. You have to be prepared at any time to stepin and take over if your local people fall down on the job. You also have to accept that people will do things their way not necessarily the way you would.
Payment - what’s the going rate? Add something on top of that for a capable person.
Posted by OwnIt! on November 10, 2003 at 23:05:54:
I’m currently looking into buying a MHP in my area…I’ve seen a lot of different parks and think that I may be ready to make my first purchase…Before I take the next step, I was wondering if some park owners, or those knowledgeable on MHP’s, could comment to some questions…
How long does it normally take to fill a vacancy?
What’s the best way to handle abandon homes?
Do most owners have water master metered or individual?
Do any of you live more than 100 miles away from your parks
Where’s the’s best place to advertise your lots?
I read through a lot of lonnies stuff and he says that he gets his vacancy’s filled in days…Wondering how he does so well and if others have had simiar success. Also with a lot of the parks I’ve seen, they have been master metered and have huge expenses…What’s the norm for most parks (pay or have tenants pay) Anyway, I hope someone out there can help me out…I want to make sure I know what I’m jumping into before I go in head first…Thanks.
Posted by Steve-MO on November 11, 2003 at 12:54:55:
Filling vacancies will primarily depend on the location supply and demand, your park rules, your ability to do Lonnie deals in the park, and housing availability in your area. You need to do some market research by visiting other parks and park owners or managers in this area to determine supply and demand and how competitive the park you are considering can be. Most states have specific laws which will determine how you deal with abandoned homes. Wayne is correct in dealing with master metered or individual meters. If you can charge enough to cover water and sewer in your pad rent, master metering is fine. If not, individual metering will take some labor and capital to install. I would not recommend being that distance from your park if you have no experience. However, if you have experience and are considering a park large enough to sustain a manager, it can work fine. Advertising will depend on your location. Some smaller communities have excellent results from their local newspaper or from posting at local gathering points.
You could install water meters on all homes and have someone read the meters each month. But its time consuming to read and calculate readings unless you have the people to do it. Mass metering is ok if enough is figured in on lot rent, but someone has to do routine meter readings and walk throughs to catch leaks when they happen. You will need to do an Innkeepers lean on abandon homes. Good luck finding a good PM to operate the park.
Your answer is probably going to depend on your area. We bought a 117 space park last May. At that time had 49 occupied lots. Currently have 53 occupied spaces but are bringing in 10 repos. We get lots of inquiries for folks wanting to buy older homes or to rent. Have a waiting list of 25 people for buying or rental- have completed applications and deposits for some of these folks. Problem is dealers are going out of business left and right and little bank financing available for people to buy new homes. Best bet seems to be to buy late model repos and to do rent to own contracts. Been advertising in Nickle Ads and in yellow pages. We pay referral fees to dealers and to transporters for new tenants. Get more calls than we can handle off the ads but have had no mobiles for sale or rent. We do have one private investor who brings in homes and have averaged about 2 homes coming in per month but have lost tenants due to 1. death 2. repo or 3. sale of an existing home that was moved out. In our area, water is not master metered. Live 2900 miles from the park. Have an on-site manager and have access but do not use a professional property manager - a back up. Haven’t had an abandon home to deal with. The estate case - the heirs gave us the home which was rented 2 days later. Still working on the title.
Good luck with your venture. Don’t overpay for your park.
Posted by OwnIt! on November 11, 2003 at 15:46:27:
John,
You said that you live 2900 miles away from your park correct…How does that work out for you? I can’t seem to find and good deals local, but in a 100 mile radius I have found a couple. What types of problems do you find with living so far away? Also what is considered a fair price to pay a property manager? Thanks.