Mobile Home Park Mastery

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”.

If you talk to mobile home park owners about the best parts of property ownership, most will tell you that it gives them a very high-quality lifestyle. But what does that mean? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the top benefits of owning mobile home parks from a quality of life perspective. You’ll see that it’s not all about the money, but something much more that comes with the job.

January single-wide sales of new mobile homes are down 7.5% from last year – and park owners could care less. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review why there is no correlation between mobile home manufacturing and mobile home park performance. While many Americans believe that mobile home retail is where the money is, that couldn’t be farther from the truth and the future of both segments could not be more divergent.

Warren Buffett has long championed the concept that all great business models share one big attribute: a “moat”. This “moat” protects that business from competition and from other damaging risks to profitability. Mobile home parks have long held the position of having one of the largest “moats” in the United States, and it just keeps getting wider and deeper, to the chagrin of many who find it “unfair”. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to analyze why the “moat” keeps growing and why it’s the result of megatrends that nobody has the power to divert.

America is in the grips of an affordable housing shortage so large it seems impossible. But the solution is not a structural one – that’s easy – but a political one that is insurmountable. In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to talk about why the government is unwilling to make the tough political choices that could solve affordable housing once and for all.

We all know the media’s idea of what the “hot” markets are in America – but what about for mobile home park owners? Our list is very different and for good reasons. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to discuss the very real issue of what makes a market “hot” for mobile home parks as opposed to everything from travel to business start-ups. Maybe the problem is that only 44,000 of the 300 million+ people in the U.S. care what “hot” mobile home park market construction truly looks like.

We’ve been filling lots with good paying customers for over two decades, and there are some tricks of the trade we’ve learned along the way. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to review some of the top tips we’ve found that make gaining occupancy possible at levels you may have not yet experienced. If you want to increase your park’s revenue, then this podcast may give you some new ideas.

There are around 44,000 mobile home parks in the U.S., but their placement is not uniform. Instead of a standard 880 parks in each of 50 states, the actual range varies from 5,176 in Texas to -0- in Hawaii. But what is there to be learned from this disbursement? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the lessons learned from studying the top and bottom ten states for park supply.

Our sales were up 50% this year, and a big part of that is a strict adherence to the “Salescope” report. In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to review what this report is, why it helps get homes occupied, and how it can spotlight management flaws in your operating system. If you want to break records in occupancy, you need this report in your toolbox.

Dale is an 87-year old contractor that made affordable housing possible for nearly 70 families for the past half-century. An innovator. A visionary. A pioneer. And a hero. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to celebrate the Greatest Generation figures like Dale that built our industry from scratch and created the only form of detached, non-subsidized housing in America.

America is changing but virtually nobody is following the big news story. The winners and losers in this transition are readily apparent, but only if you cut through the fake news and wrong conclusions that protect those that the media want to coddle. We simply have become a nation devoted to creating lower-paying jobs. And this groundswell in employment change is fueling one of the biggest booms in affordable housing history.

Megatrends are seismic shifts in society that fuel strong business gains if properly anticipated and harvested. Stanford University’s bulletin has recently released a list of their projected megatrends and it creates some interesting observations on how mobile home parks are aligned with these powerful forces. Swimming against the current is never a productive concept and it’s always smart to align your business model with megatrends for maximum stability and profitability.

What are big and green and equally loved and hated by mobile home park owners? The answer, of course, are trees. On the one hand they have beneficial effects both aesthetically and scientifically, and on the other they cause clutter, danger and utility line issues. In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to analyze the good and the bad and make some hard decisions about those big, green objects.

Mobile home parks may just sit on the most valuable piece of land in any city they serve. A bold statement? Not when you understand the rarely-discussed value of holding the key to infinite zoning. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the amazing land value and potential that virtually all mobile home parks possess and give real-life case studies to support this argument. Like a 3-D puzzle, you may be shocked to learn the reality behind this claim and the implications going forward.

Science involves distilling events down to a formula – so what is the simple formula for making money with a mobile home park? In this Mobile Home Park Master podcast we’re going to examine what the key profit drivers are and unveil some simple formulas to help you understand the potential that many properties have to deliver significant gains. Unlike calculus, this is math that you get paid for.

Economists are paid to make predictions – and they make a lot of them. Most of them are fairly off base, but when you aggregate them and take the average you start to get a better picture. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to take recent economist surveys regarding the U.S. economy and overlay those on the potential impact to mobile home park investing. Just as it’s “hard to row against the current” it’s important to try and align your mobile home park with the megatrends.

Cars have gone from steam to gas to electric. Planes have gone from propeller, to turboprop to jet. And mobile home parks have also evolved over time. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the basic evolution of the mobile home park and how it impacts investing in this sector. Beyond just history, there are significant areas of interest with the era of park construction and how your property will potentially perform as a result.

Economic upheaval. Shuttered businesses. Broken dreams. What’s the impact of what’s happening in America right now on mobile home park residents? In this episode of the Mobile home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to look into the typical mobile home park residents and how they’re faring in one of America’s most difficult times. As you’ll see, mobile home park residents may just be the best positioned economic group in the U.S. today.

Douglas MacArthur once said “old soldiers never die, they just fade away”. But what about old mobile homes? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to look into the definition of “old homes”, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how to determine their future. We’re also going to review some budgeting tips when buying parks with old homes, and why some old homes should just be scrapped. MacArthur was a great General – can you be as good at honestly assessing your old home housing stock?

One of the key ways to increase the value of any mobile home park is to maximize its occupancy. Filling a vacant lot propels you from zero value to $30,000 to $100,000 of equity based on lot rent. And the only way to fill a vacant lot for most properties is for the park owner to buy the home – new or used – and bring it in themselves to then sell or rent. Because homes are capital intensive, the key driver to this activity is selecting the correct financial options to pay for these homes. In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to review the financial options for paying for homes to fill vacant lots. As you’ll see, there are a litany of possibilities in today’s markets.

I unearthed a copy of the 2015 Journal of Manufactured Housing recently and found the lead article was a debate over what the correct name is for our industry. Yes, that’s how little was going on in mobile home parks back then. In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to revisit the issue of what the correct name for the industry is, with some shocking conclusions. They say that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” but is that true for a trailer? Or is it manufactured home?

There’s nothing quite like direct mail. A successful direct mail piece has a 99% failure rate – and that’s considered a success. Do you know any other thing in life that counts 1% as a win? In this week’s Mobile Home Park Master podcast we’re going to discuss one of the greatest ways to find parks to buy: the good old-fashioned direct mail. And we’re going to review what makes them more and less effective in getting the mom and pop park owners to give you a call. If you are not using direct mail to find a park to buy, then you may be missing on a great opportunity – if you do it correctly.

Mobile home parks are one of the big beneficiaries of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac lending. Coming out of nowhere not too long ago, “agency” debt now represents more than 50% of all new mobile home park loans in terms of total dollars. How will this lending powerhouse help reshape the industry in the years ahead, and how can you take advantage of this opportunity?

Wikipedia defines “excellence” as “the quality of being outstanding or extremely good”. All park owners aspire to excellence, but how do you really achieve it? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to explore how you can trade-in average performance for something much more profitable. You may be setting your own limitations, and if you put more thought and effort in you can possibly hit stats that you never dreamed possible.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed many things about the U.S. – but does that include the best places to buy mobile home parks? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to examine how changes to America post-virus are impacting different parts of the nation in relation to affordable housing and other challenges. The U.S. is in a state of turmoil on many fronts, but is mobile home park geography one of them?

When a mobile home park has bad financial records or poor occupancy, it’s a pretty good guess that there are other problems lurking. In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to examine some of the typical “skeletons in the closet” regarding poorly managed properties – including items above ground, underground, and regarding the residents. As you’ll see, there is often a chain reaction of problems in a mobile home park when bad management is evident. And you need to budget and plan for these probabilities so you don’t get taken advantage of.

We all know the trends in fashion, from the 1920’s spats to the 1960’s Nehru jacket to the 1970’s bell-bottoms. But do you know the trends in mobile home park design and what they can mean as an owner? In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss some of the most basic mobile home park design trends and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As you’ll see, mobile home park builders changed the product up considerably over the decades – and not always to the good.

In the 1982 John Naisbitt coined the term “Megatrends” to describe the major upheavals in American society that would influence the future for decades. But that was nearly 40 years ago. Since that time, many have already come and gone. So I’m going to make a new list of the megatrends that are ramping up in America and how they may impact the mobile home park as an investment vehicle. Grab your model of the Starship Enterprise because we’re going to look way into the future for direction on what

There are around 44,000 mobile home parks in the U.S., and not all of them are following the same business model. While the vast majority of park buyers and lenders are focused on the “renting land” model, there are some who engage in the “detached apartment” concept. But does that concept work? In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to examine this business model and give its strengths and weaknesses, as well as moments in which it might work and settings in which it would fail. Warning: this knowledge may change your perception.

The slang term “skin in the game” is defined by Wikipedia as “one having an incurred risk (monetary or otherwise) by being involved in achieving a goal”. It was made popular by Warren Buffett, who prefers that high level officers in a company have direct money in the venture to ensure their alignment of priorities with investors. So who really has “skin in the game” regarding mobile home park investing, and who is lacking that alignment of interests with you when you write that earnest money check? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore this topic in detail, and define who is really on your team vs. those who could care less after the closing has occurred.

“Cash out” refinancing is extremely attractive to all investors, as it allows you to “recycle” your capital over and over to build a portfolio of properties. Or it also allows you to remove all risk from any certain deal and gives you cash to build a financial safety net. Whatever the goals may be, obtaining “cash out” is somewhat of an art form, and there are certain strategies required to achieve it. In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss this game plan regarding “cash out” and what the deals look like that carry that potential.

You may call your mother weekly, but that’s not the appropriate way to check in with the residents of your mobile home park. Instead, there are systems that have been developed to keep in touch but in a structured way that it best for the owner and residents alike. So what are the correct and incorrect way to stay in touch? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review how smart owners stay on top of resident contact.

To get a mobile home from Point A to Point B you have to haul it – and you need a hitch to make that possible. But what about after it arrives? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery pocast, we’re going to dig deep into the facts about these “hitches” and the best policies regarding them going forward. Until mobile homes come with engines and drivetrain, then hitches will be a fact of life for all mobile home park owners, so it’s time to discuss the topic.

When buying a mobile home park, the most important moment is the transition of the property from the old owner to you, which typically happens at the title company upon signing of a pile of documents. So what can you do to make this transition more smooth and successful. In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the key items to do before and after closing to make for a happier and less stressful community ownership change.

We all associate age with wisdom, and rightfully so. Nobody knows more about any subject than those that have experienced it – particularly through many cycles. And I am forever indebted to those older mobile home park community owners who gave me words of wisdom in my early career, and still do so for new investors on a regular basis. So what is some of this old-timer wisdom? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review some of the best thoughts of experienced owners and how they relate to today’s mobile home park industry.

Back when I was an economics student at Stanford in the 1980s, the most important theory that would help on any essay was the law of supply and demand. It’s a simple concept: if you have greater supply than demand then prices go down, and greater demand than supply makes prices go up. Never in American history has this economic treatise had more meaning or more unhappy endings. In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss how supply and demand are shaping all sectors of U.S. real estate and mobile home parks in particular.