Mobile Home Park Mastery

In our nation’s moment of pandering to the far left, perhaps it’s time to pay homage to the simple fact that mobile home parks can be just as woke as the next business – only it’s a fact and not just a PR posturing. As the only sustainable form of housing that’s green due to size and environmentally friendly since it creates no pollution, we could out-woke even the wokest business without breaking a sweat.

The advent of Spring brings new challenges to park owners in the form of lawn maintenance, higher water bills, and annual pothole repair. But it also brings forth an opportunity to improve your sense of community, property appearance, and dedication to pride of ownership in the form one single event: the Spring Clean-Up. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review what these events are, why they work so well, and how it’s time to put one in your schedule.

After over a decade-long absence, I am starting to see two of the greatest park buyer scams return to the marketplace: the “gypsy traveler” and the “rent guarantee”. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to expose how these two classic cons work and how you, as a buyers, can protect yourself from being taken advantage of.

Choosing contractors for any task in your mobile home park requires a thorough comparison of certain traits that can typically lead to success or failure. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to break down the algorhythm between selecting the cheap contractor vs. the more expensive options and how to make smart decisions using these criteria.

After nearly two years it would appear that the Covid crisis is officially over – at least in the minds of most people. Numbers are plummeting in both cases and political popularity. Businesses have abandoned mask mandates regardless of governmental directive and politicians are ending masking requirements before they have to go job hunting. It’s kind of like when the Berlin wall came down. But we are all scarred from the pandemic as we have seen first-hand what happens when the modern America totally falls apart from a business perspective. So what were the lessons learned for mobile home park owners? It’s time to reflect on these observations.

The performance of your community manager will have a huge impact on your park’s profitability. So how can you maximize that performance? That’s the topic of this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast in which we’ll look at the key building blocks to motivation and how to elevate those to the next level. Since much of these steps have little or no cost, there’s no reason why every mobile home park owner is not focused on this concept.

In the old days, the typical mobile home park manager was tasked with a wide range of roles – and with these came considerable risk to the property owner. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the ever-changing role of the community manager and how it’s a win/win/win for the residents, the employee and the owner.

The Federal government does some things well – but one of the big exceptions is sponsoring initiatives to aid in the American need for affordable housing. Over and over they put up unnecessary hurdles to reduce the ability of the average consumer to buy a mobile home. But the latest push for energy efficiency in mobile homes may be the dumbest yet. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss this latest HUD initiative and why it will only serve to destroy the access to affordable housing for millions of Americans.

Mobile home park lot rents are ridiculously low nationwide. At an average lot rent of around $300 per month, many mobile home park owners will surely re-develop into a better use of the land in the years ahead. For those who elect to remain as a mobile home community, it’s essential that rents be placed at sustainable levels in keeping with market forces. But what do you do when your market mobile home park lot rents are unsustainably low -- do you stay low or become the market leader? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss how to set rents, why healthy rents are essential, and when it’s important to be a market leader rather than a follower.

USA Today released an article titled “Meet the New Mobile Home” which, although positive in nature, is certain to confuse most readers as to the true economics of the product. What’s missing from this article is the simple differentiation between mobile homes and land. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss why it’s really all about the land, and that’s what makes mobile home park owners and mobile home manufacturers so completely different in their goals, profits, and future outlook.

There’s a time to sell and a time to buy. And that time to buy is called “the window of opportunity”. So what’s keeping that window open in the mobile home park business, when the apartment and single-family home niches are exhausted? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss the window of opportunity in buying mobile home parks at attractive prices, and what continues to prop it open.

The mobile home park industry has adopted weak guidelines of ratings – none of which is embraced in a cohesive manner – and mobile home parks basically fall into two camps: 1) upscale retirement communities and 2) everything else. Long gone is the star system in any reasonable application. But is a two-party system enough? In this Mobile Home Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss the concept that maybe there should be a third standard category, similar to the rise of the Dollar General DGX model, and what the attributes might be to fall into this category.

The media will tell you that mobile home park residents are “trapped” in their homes. The truth is the exact opposite. The bonds that produce an average tenancy of 14 years are forged by the love of the product, not boundaries. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the truth behind the myth that customers are “chained to the Waffle House booths”, and explore what makes them happy residents for decades.

The recent spaceflight of William Shatner – broadcast live – demonstrated how mobile home park turnarounds work. Just like a rocket it comes in a series of stages with tangible transitions. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast episode we’re going to discuss what these stages are, how they work, and what the positive gains are to residents from these boosts in their quality of life.

At the same time that mobile home prices from the manufacturers have risen to the highest levels in American history, RV ownership in the U.S. has also hit record levels and many of these owners are not using them for travel but for permanent residency. In this episode of Mobile Home Park Mastery, we’re going to discuss the potential to fill vacant mobile home park lots with RVs, and why that’s going to be one of the big factors in filling up the remaining vacant lots in communities from coast to coast.

Each season has its own challenges when you own a mobile home park, and winter is no different. With the arrival of the holiday season comes new responsibilities and strategies to make your community in good operational condition. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the items all park owners need to accomplish before the snow begins to fall.

The “hard infrastructure bill” has now been signed into law. This bill is very geographic-specific, and many people have not through who the winners and losers actually. Some may be surprised at the new hot markets created by this democratic initiative. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to take a look at who the big beneficiaries are of this bill and why this does a lot to bring new luster to the “rust belt” and “flyover” states.

Wayne Gretzky once said "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - and that's as true for mobile home parks as it is for ice hockey. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we're going to discuss why it's essential to make offers regardless of the odds of success, as well as some tips to make those offers better received. Since success in buying mobile home parks is all about volume, it's essential that you take those shots.

Bill Gates once said “unhappy customers are you’re greatest source of learning”. Not only can you improve your business with unhappy feedback but also forge stronger bonds with customers by solving their problems. It’s also important to remember that you can’t please all the people all the time and can’t let a few unhappy customers sway what’s best for your mobile home park both as a business and a community. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the world of unhappy customers: where they come from, how to deal with them, and how to harness their negative energy into a better business.

It’s hard to make important life decisions. But it’s even worse to avoid them. In buying a mobile home park, at some point in the diligence cycle you will have to make the choice to go forward or not. Many buyers can’t get these steps completed because they won’t stop second-guessing their decisions or agreeing that they have even completed their calculations. This is called “paralysis by analysis” – basically avoiding making decisions using the excuse that you are still working on the answer until the opportunity passes. In this episode of Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to drill down on the sources of this indecision and putting together a framework to help bring it to an end.

I am a total skeptic and pessimist. And that adherence to the law of fear has paid huge dividends, as I have developed the ability to see failure ahead of the pack. But it’s not really that hard to make accurate predictions. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss the clear signs of future success and failure and why it’s completely irrational to believe that you are smarter than the universe.

It’s been said that time is our greatest asset as it’s finite and irreplaceable. However, most people do not use their time to its full capacity. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review some practical methods to literally stretch your productive time which, in turn, gives you an important edge in building your mobile home park assets.

The art of Kung Fu is in maneuvering your opponent’s momentum to achieve the desired result. And this holds true for smart mobile home park buyers, who have learned over the years some Kung Fu tactics of their own. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review these strategies. All of these are win/win – as that’s the best way to buy mobile home parks – but are ingenious and highly effective.

America is in real trouble and the odds are extremely high that it will enter a new recession cycle in the near future. When all around you is in shambles, the only way to have confidence is to have a fail-safe back-up plan that works without depending on anyone or anything else. “Living off the land” is the expression for having the ability to fend for yourself without the help of any other group. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to see just how self-reliant mobile home park owners truly are.

It seems that America has gone insane. Nothing is on a solid footing, whether it’s the stock market, the single-family home market, the economy, the approach to public health – it’s all on the verge of collapse. In fact, most of the world economists predict a global recession within the next 18 months. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review how you can take proactive steps to garner control over your future.

The mobile home park industry has an unusual public relations strategy. We seemingly let the media abuse us on a regular basis and never offer any pushback. So for all those fake articles that have hit the media of late, this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast provides the actual stats that give conclusive evidence that mobile home parks are the sole solution to the affordable housing crisis.

America is in a unique position on investment returns, suddenly favoring speculation over income investing. And why not? Whether it’s Bitcoin or Tesla, values are simply based on “what people think things are worth” according to Mark Cuban. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned tie-back to earnings? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss how America has entered the danger zone on valuations and how income-investing is the only way to avoid the inevitable collapse.

FICO scores are great when you’re trying to analyze the credit potential of someone buying a yacht on monthly payments. But more millions of Americans the entire concept of “credit rating” is merely theoretical and has no basis on real life. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss what a “Fightco” score is and why that’s a far better measurement of performance.

America has a new position on the concept of landlords: take their property without compensation and, better yet, public shame them. That plan of attack is about to backfire in a big way. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review how the “war on landlords” is really going to end and it’s the alternative ending that won’t please the masses.

Not too long ago, mobile home park owners could order new homes to fill vacant lots. Now they find that delivery times are far into the future, prices are up $10,000, and some manufacturers even have caps on the number of homes you can order. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss the U.S. home manufacturing crisis and how to overcome this hurdle to fill your vacant lot.

When you buy a mobile home park, you are in a race against time to improve it’s appearance for a number of reasons. Higher existing customer retention, higher new resident attraction, better city government relationship and stronger banker satisfaction are all made possible through simple aesthetic improvements. So what are these key improvements that can be made rapidly? That’s the focus of this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast.

Mobile home parks are known for high density compared to single-family subdivisions (their closest cousin). While this is not a problem most of the time, you can reach a density that causes potential issues with the fire marshal as well as simply moving homes in and out. So what do you do to fix density that is too high in a property? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review this issue and offer some real-life fixes.

The Surfside condo tower collapse is more than just a tragic tale of the unthinkable occurring. It’s also a wake-up call that there is massive risk in owning large, aging man-made objects and now that this is on the radar, we will now begin a period of bureaucratic over-analysis, a fee-grab by opportunistic engineering and third-party report companies, a liability windfall for personal injury attorneys, the loss of insurance coverage, the collapse of mortgage availability, and the end of life for those sectors of real estate that didn’t see this coming. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review why renting land – and not structures – has once again proven to be the smartest real estate decision of all time.

Mobile home park owners rely on happy residents to make their business work. However, sometimes the community manager can be a blockade to the owner’s knowledge of his customer’s satisfaction. Without providing a good value, no mobile home park can succeed, as it will be unable to obtain or retain residents. So how can you keep a constant tab on this feedback? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss the action steps to allow you to make sure that your residents’ voices can be heard.

Bill Gates founded Microsoft in 1975, and went public in 1986, at a stock price around $1. By 1996, the stock had risen to around $4 per share – a 400% increase in only ten years. Many investors jumped at the chance to sell, thinking that Microsoft had reached its maximum value. Today, Microsoft stock trades at around $250 per share. In many ways, current mobile home park values are like Microsoft stock in 1996; only beginning their ultimate rise. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to review the current pricing and give the reasons why this industry is only at the beginning stages of its ultimate value run.

Finding the right mobile home park requires sifting through a huge number of deals, and separating them into two buckets: 1) has the right raw material and 2) does not have the right raw material. But what does that raw material look like. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review what makes a deal possible apart from a deal impossible. Mastering this one skill will allow you to speed.

Lay’s potato chips has long used the slogan “bet you can’t eat just one”. But is that also true for buying mobile home parks? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss what happens after you buy that first property and bring it back to life. Do you buy another? Do you buy a whole portfolio over time? Or do you hold steady with one proven success under your belt? There are a number of considerations and the correct answer is 100% based on your personal goals.

I am often asked what the “future” of the mobile home park industry is. And I think it’s most appropriately called “the Great Race”. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss what I mean by “the Great Race”, how to enter it, how it will end, and what you need to know about the contest. Since we all live under “time urgency” it’s only appropriate to have a talk about that ticking time clock in terms of the mobile home park sector.

Webster’s defines “tough love” as an expression used when someone treats another person harshly or sternly with the intent to help them in the long run. Right now our nation has never been more off track and that’s filtering down to your residents. In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to talk about current trends in personal accountability, political missteps, and how to fight back against a rising tide of bad resident decisions on a number of fronts.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over four years since we started the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast. If you linked all those episodes end to end it would last almost 35 hours. So to celebrate our Bicentennial we’ve selected the five top most-viewed episodes and we’re going to discuss how those topics have changed over the course of these broadcasts. And we want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has enjoyed our thoughts and commentary on the mobile home park industry. We look forward to sharing the next 200 episodes with you!

Joe Girard was the highest-selling car salesman in U.S. history, personally selling over 1,400 cars in 1973 alone. He had a simple rule to hit those kind of numbers: focus on volume of leads. And smart mobile home park buyers and owners share this same sentiment. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss how Girard developed this attitude, and how we should all adopt it immediately to hit superior performance on buying parks and filling vacant lots.

Nobody likes last-minute changes: particularly not mobile home park buyers. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to discuss how to work around sudden changes in deal terms that can happen during diligence, financing – or even closing. You have to be flexible in forging some deals, and this topic should be of interest to anyone who has faced making a sudden decision on a property.

Painting and sculpting requires creative thinking. But it doesn’t make any money. Indeed, creative deal making has limitations. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review what you can and can’t accomplish with creative thinking when it comes to successful deals. While coming up with unique ideas can often salvage a property’s shortcomings, it’s not always the solution.

Mobile home retail dealers are typically all about selling new homes – mostly to people putting them out on their farm or ranch. But there’s another side to the retail story. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss strategies to have dealers bring in and sell homes inside your mobile home park. It can be a win/win business model if handled properly. And with the average occupied lot being worth around $50,000 more than a vacant one, it’s a concept that is worthy of consideration.

There’s a huge demand for affordable housing in the U.S. and one of the best ways to drive a mobile home park’s net income and value is through filling vacant lots. However, not all parks are created equal in this regard. In this episode we review the factors that can make a mobile home park incapable of filling lots in the correct manner, and this may well lead you to pass on that deal.

Just as cicadas come out of the earth around every five years, so does the concept that there is a solution to affordable housing in placing mobile homes on vacant single-family residential lots. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to expose why this has always been a doomed idea and the reasons that it keeps coming up in conversations on a cyclical basis.

Mark Cuban recently said that “the intrinsic value of anything – Bitcoin, an ounce of gold, or a share of GameStop – is simply what people believe it is. Nothing else matters.” That has to be the worst investing theory of all time, and is the root of all speculative bubbles. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss the concept of actually “investing” as opposed to “speculating” and why mobile home parks are not rooted in the whim of the public but in cold, hard cash. Charlie Munger would like this discussion (Warren Buffett’s business partner) as he has long been a skeptic of the new concept of herd investing.

The slang term for signing the documents and closing on a mobile home park is often called “pulling the trigger”. It’s a major commitment and one that can create angst with many buyers who are concerned if they are making the right decision. So what are the key factors that must be aligned to feel good about making this big step? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the various factors that must be in thumbs up position before you should sign those closing documents. Having a system to the way you close on a property will give you a greater chance of success and reduce your stress level.

The definition of a mobile home park is “two or more mobile homes on one platted piece of property”. Of course, with just two people on one tract, that would not be too complicated, but the reality is typically 50 to 100 households or more, and that can create issues. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review what the key problems can be and how to mitigate these issues. As you’ll see, there’s no shortage of needed discussions when you have many people happily co-existing in the absence of lot lines.

Every mobile home park must have a manager, and not all of those work out. So what are the key reasons why mobile home park managers fail and what can be done to mitigate these issues? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review our lessons learned from hundreds of managers and how to improve your odds of success. Since firing a manager is never fun and can be costly in time and money, it’s important to do your best in hiring and managing your “eyes and ears in the field”.