Mobile Home Park Mastery

Patton, Montgomery, Eisenhower – some of the greatest strategists in world history have been military leaders. In this second installment of our four-part series on “Literary Lessons Learned” we’re going to discuss some of the great military theories and how they relate to mobile home park acquisitions and management. You’ll see that there is a huge overlap between armed conflict and business, and the theories that advance troops on the ground can also propel your mobile home park investments farther.

Books have been the foremost way of transmitting knowledge since the beginning of time. In this first installment in a four part series on “Literary Lessons Learned” we’re going to review some profound thoughts from great business books and how they relate to the purchase and management of mobile home parks. This podcast condenses down thousands of pages of books into some important points on success.

The 1970s brought us Van Halen and Smokey and the Bandit. But it also ushered in a new era in the mobile home industry. In this final segment of a three-part series on mobile home trivia, we’re going to look at how the industry changed dramatically in the 1970s and changed it’s focus to affordable housing and lower-priced production via HUD’s new involvement in the industry – all through some little-known trivia. This episode ties the two earlier ones together and brings you up to date on the history of the industry through some fun facts and figures.

Elvis lived in a mobile home both in Hollywood and in Tennessee. The 1950s and 1960s were the “Golden Era” of the mobile home industry, yet too few people understand this fact. In this second of a three-part series on mobile home trivia, we’re going to delve into some little-known facts about the mobile home industry from this important period in its history. Hard to believe that even Elvis had his blue suede shoes in mobile homes during this period.

The mobile home park industry is actually quite a fascinating story that is immersed in American culture. Starting in the “Roaring 20s”, proliferating in World War II, and being an active participant in the growth of the American Dream, there are few products that are more colorful – or more misunderstood – than the mobile home. In this first of a three-part series, we’re going to dive into some really fascinating trivia about the industry from the 1920s to 1940s to get a better understanding of its early origins.

We’ve reviewed all the operational aspects of mobile home park operations – but what about the spiritual? How can mobile home park owners sleep soundly with the knowledge that they have done right by their customers and the community at large? In this final installment of our nine-part series on “Mobile Home Park Perfectionism” we’re going to review the key truths that all mobile home park owners must believe in order to be happy with what they do.

There’s no point to filling lots and homes if the customers move right back out. In this eighth installment of our nine-part series on “Mobile Home Park Perfectionism” we’re going to review the latest concepts in keeping your customers happy and wanting to stay in your property. With lot rents rising in mobile home parks from coast-to-coast it’s important to understand how to keep your customers appreciative the value of what your property has to offer.

You can’t run a mobile home park without a manager – and sometimes you can’t run it with one. So how can you make a manager perform on all 8-cylinders? In this seventh installment of our nine-part series on “Mobile Home Park Perfectionism” we’re going to review the best techniques and concepts to get your employees to give their job 100% effort.

It’s a scary world out there. There’s liability in almost everything you do. In this sixth installment of our nine-part series on “Mobile Home Park Perfectionism” we’re going to discuss how to best insulate your mobile home park from risk. We’re going to show you techniques to be proactively remove potential liability on a continual basis. If you are a “worrier” then you’ll definitely get value from this episode (and if you don’t worry about anything, you need to start).

A budget is a road map that takes you to your financial target. In this fifth installment of our nine-part series on “Mobile Home Park Perfectionism” we’re going to review the techniques and concepts required to be a master of your budget and, as a result, the master of your financial destiny.

There’s no greater source of resident attraction and retention than a great looking property. But how do you achieve property condition perfection? In this fourth installment of our nine-part series on “Mobile Home Park Perfectionism” we’re going to discuss the eleven steps to perfect property condition, as well as the techniques used to guarantee those results.

You can’t own a mobile home park without having to deal, at some point, with remodeling a mobile home. In this third installment of our nine-part series on “Mobile Home Park Perfectionism” we’re going to review the top techniques and strategies to attain the highest level of success in mobile home park renovations. You can’t successfully own a mobile home park without a full knowledge of how to do perfect home renovations.

In the midst of the biggest affordable housing crisis in American History, there’s no reason to have a single vacant home or lot in your mobile home park. In this second installment of a nine-part series on “Mobile Home Park Perfectionism” we’re going to discuss how to achieve perfect occupancy. Since each occupied lot in a mobile home park is worth anywhere from around $20,000 to $100,000+, there’s a huge incentive to focus on this topic.

In this first of a nine-part series on “Mobile Home Park Perfectionism” we’re going to review how collections would work in a perfect world. We’re going to discuss the theories and policies that provide perfect receipt of all rent by the due date – or at least before you have to file eviction. Since we all strive to be the best at what we do, “perfectionism” is not a bad goal, and thanks to past experience and experimentation, it’s also not impossible to attain.

The methods for managing residents are well established, but how do you deal with the four-legged variety that are also living on your property? The good news is that there’s a methodology for that, as well. Whether it’s dogs, cats or even livestock, the mobile home park industry has a virtual user’s manual for dealing with animals based on law, past experience, and customer needs.

Some people think that managing a mobile home park is harder than herding cats. Is it really like trying to nail jello to a wall, or is there a scientific method that always yields the desired results? In this fourth and final episode of our series on “Breaking the Barriers” we’re going to examine what really goes into mobile home park management and the action steps necessary to make a success of it.

Some people think that finding a mobile home park to buy is nearly impossible. But is it really? In this third of our four-part series on “Breaking the Barrier’s we’re going to examine the exact steps to finding a mobile home park to buy and determine just how difficult they are. With over 44,000 mobile home parks in the U.S., this is a big issue.

Are mobile home parks just about “ripping off the poor”, or is there more to the story than that? In this second of a four-part series on “Breaking the Barriers” we’re going to take an honest look at the mobile home park business model and examine what the real impact is to the resident and community. It may just be that there’s more to the mobile home park industry than most people think.

Are our customers really “trailer trash” or is that just an unfair stereotype? In this first of a four-part series on “Breaking the Barriers”, we’re going to analyze the stigma against mobile home park residents and try to separate the real from the false and uncover what created these stigmas in the first place. Since the mobile home park industry is predicated on our customers, it’s important to break through these myths to understand more fully the customers we serve.

Real estate is all about “location, location, location”. So a bad mobile home park location is a disaster for any buyer. In this fifth and final episode in our series on “Lessons Learned from Failed Parks” we’re going to discuss the worst markets for mobile home park success and how to identify and avoid them. We have many stories of bad markets – both observations on others as well as our own – and we think that any buyer who avoids the “location” issue is just asking for trouble.

Real estate leverage is an essential part of mobile home park investing. Without it you cannot hit the typical 20% cash-on-cash yield. However, what happens when the buyer uses the leverage improperly? In this fourth of our five-part series on “Lessons Learned from Failed Parks” we’re going to examine how some mobile home park buyers set themselves up for failure by agreeing to lending terms that are impossible to conquer. If you want to keep your credit and your investment dollars, you’ll want to learn what these failures are and guard against them.

Even the best mobile home park will not succeed with bad management in place. In our third of a five-part series on “Lessons Learned from Failed Parks” we’re going to be discussing how a bad manager can destroy your business and give some real-life examples to hammer home the points. We’re also going to review some ways to prevent these catastrophes. If you want to make money with a mobile home park, then choosing or retaining the wrong manager virtually assures you of failure.

When you’re unable to attain the necessary occupancy to succeed, the result is failure. In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast Series we’re on the second part of our five-part series on Lessons Learned from Failed Parks, and we’re focusing on occupancy disasters and what can be garnered from these setbacks. As any business is contingent upon hitting revenue targets, mobile home parks are no different, but there are also complications, such as lender requirements, that can turn even small occupancy fails into bigger problems. As history offers a glimpse into the future, it’s important to understand the risk of occupancy fails to stay clear of them going forward.

Webster’s Dictionary defines “failure” as the “lack of success”. So it’s the exact opposite of winning. But many mobile home parks fail for that very reason: the owner’s do the exact opposite of what common industry doctrine would suggest. In this five-part series on parks that have failed, we are going to dissect what went wrong and look for commonalities in poor park selection, management and financing stewardship. And in this first segment, we’re going to review how choosing the wrong type of park can consistently lead to doom – and there’s no reason to put yourself in that position if you just use some common sense and good due diligence efforts.

Tornadoes. Hurricanes. Fires. Mobile home parks are not immune to natural disasters. So how do you deal with them? In this final segment of our six-part series on “Dirty Jobs” we’re going to discuss the different types of disasters that can happen in a mobile home park and how to clean up the mess and restore order to your mobile home park investment. In a world in which things can go bad quickly and without warning, it’s important to know how to deal with worst-case scenarios.

How far are you willing to be pushed around? That’s a question many mobile home park buyers and owners have to ask themselves sometimes. In this fifth segment of our six-part series on “Dirty Jobs” we’re going to address the A to Z of dealing with governmental agencies that refuse to play by the rules. Learn the insider secrets that $500 per hour attorneys have taught us regarding fighting for our rights and doing so in an efficient and 100% legal manner.

Nothing sounds messier than dealing with water and sewer in a “trailer park”. However, the reality is that it’s something that all park owners can easily deal with if they know what they’re doing. In this episode of our six-part series on “Dirty Jobs” we’re going to review the modern strategies on addressing water and sewer systems and repairs in mobile home parks. Although nothing sounds more unpleasant than digging up a pipe in a muddy field, the truth is that it’s not a frequent occurrence if you obey the strategies that other owners have figured out from experience over the past half-century.

“Metal Shoeboxes” is how some people describe mobile homes. And renovating and selling them is one of the “dirtiest jobs” that most mobile home park owners dread. But it’s really not that bad – if you know what to do. In this third segment in our six-part series on Dirty Jobs we’re going to examine the steps to successfully tackling this undesirable task. If you can handle the shoeboxes in your closet, you can handle this larger variety, as well.

How do you make mobile home park residents follow the rules? In this second of our six-part series on “Dirty Jobs” we’re going to discuss in detail how owners are able to maintain order in mobile home parks and provide a good quality of life for the residents. If you thought that mobile home parks are bastions of impossible behavior, you’ve watched too much television. Learn the facts in this podcast.

In most mobile home parks, collecting money is the number one priority. But some people consider that unpleasant – even though it really isn’t. In this episode of Mobile Home Park Mastery, we’re going to start a six-part series called “Dirty Jobs” in which we examine in detail the things that owners do that scare most people. If you want to know the insider secrets of how collections work in a mobile home park, this podcast is for you.

Nothing can make a mobile home park deal look more or less attractive than the numbers. Indeed, the economics have a Jekyll & Hyde ability to make any mobile home park investment change from a winner to a loser and back again at a lightning speed. In the third of a three-part series, we’re going to discuss how the slightest alteration of number assumptions can have a huge impact on a deal’s attractiveness. See how you have to be extremely focused on the numbers to know when a deal has passed from good to bad, or vice versa. These are economic patterns that need to be learned by any good park buyer.

Every mobile home park must have water, sewer, electricity – and sometimes – gas. But the way these utilities are provided can have a huge impact on whether you would want to buy that deal or not. In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast we’re going to examine the ability of utilities to give any deal a Jekyll & Hyde demeanor, with the ability to turn that attractive investment possibility into a potential nightmare. If you want to know what some of the key deal killers are for mobile home parks, then this podcast will clearly identify them.

We all know the story of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, where a drug could cause a gentleman to morph into a monster and back again. Mobile home park variables can cause a similar effect. In this first of a three-part series on the Impact of Slight Changes in Deal Variables, we’re going to discuss the impact of park-owned homes on mobile home park desirability, and identify which attributes make a deal attractive instead of a disaster. You’ll be amazed at how just the slightest tweak can turn a deal from attractive to devastating and back again.

Noblesse oblige is a French term that translates to “those who have substantial resources have a responsibility to help those that have less”. So how can mobile home park owners put this very moral theory into practice? In this third and final installment in our three-part series titled “Mobile Home Park Morality” we’re going to discuss taking the right path to helping to protect and support residents. The mobile home park industry is a win/win business, in which it is truly possible for everyone to succeed.

There’s a huge amount of waste that goes on in some mobile home parks. The moral thing for park owners to do is to end this destruction of precious resources. In this second of our three-part series titled “Mobile Home Park Morality” we’re going to review the various types of waste that go on in many mobile home parks and what the moral owner can do to end these practices. Remember that waste can be both in the physical form – such as water – as well as in missed opportunities. We’re going to cover them all.

Sometimes residents don’t appreciate what the landlord is doing for them. There’s a thing called “tough love” and it happens in mobile home parks every day. In this first part of a three-part series on Mobile Home Park Morality, we’re going to discuss the many things that park owners do that benefit the resident – and that nobody appreciates. Park owners are constantly helping their customers to live successful lives, yet those initiatives are frequently misunderstood.

We’ve saved the most important for the last. In our final episode of our five-part series on “The Top Five Tools of Mobile Home Park Owners” we’re going to discuss the power of the human mind to make you a successful investor and operator in this asset class. If you think that Sudoku is the only way to keep your brain active and sharp, then try mobile home parks – it can be much more challenging and a whole lot more rewarding.

Which software should you use to manage your mobile home park. Or do you need software at all? We’re going to discuss this topic in the fourth installment of our five-part series on “The Top Five Tools of Mobile Home Park Owners”. We’ll identify the different software options and review their costs, benefits and weaknesses. It’s probably time to trade in your abacus for the new power of good software.

The book “4-Hour Work Week” introduced America to the concept of “virtual assistants” – people who will do tasks for you from afar using the internet and at a cost far lower than full-time employees. In this third installment of our five-part series on “The Top Five Tools of Mobile Home Park Owners” we’re going to discuss the websites and resources that allow you to take full advantage of farming out many of your tasks for extremely low prices, and with protection from the complicated and litigious labor laws that plague employers today.

How do you make sure that your manager is doing a good job when you’re not around? With today’s high-tech world, there are some great options. In this second part of our five-part series on the “Top Five Tools of Mobile Home Park Owners”, we’re going to discuss the key tools to keeping your park and manager under constant surveillance to make sure that the business is running properly in the field. You’ll be amazed at how well you can stay on top of a property from hundreds and thousands of miles away – and at very low cost.

You can’t really get the tough jobs done without the right tools. In this first part of a five-part series, we’re going to investigate what the top five tools of mobile home park owners are. What they do and where they get them. And we’re starting out the series with the GQ edition – all about what you wear, what you drive, your company name and website. In a nutshell, your image. We all form that important first impression everywhere we go, and smart park owners know exactly how they want to appear to the outside world; from park residents to bankers.

What’s the easiest mobile home park turn-around strategy? Not turning one around at all. In this final installment in our five-part series on “Easy Turn-Arounds” we’re going to examine we’re going to talk about the simple model of “flipping” mobile home parks – essentially buying them at a low price and re-selling them immediately thereafter or tying them up under contract and selling an assignment of the contract. Learn the theory and reality of profiting from mobile home parks without even picking up a piece of litter.

Can you buy a dollar for 50 cents? In some mobile home parks the answer is “yes”. Poor pricing practices by mom & pop owners are legendary. In this fourth episode in our five-part series on Easy Turn-Arounds, we’re going to give real-life examples of parks that were priced way too low, as well as how to find them and negotiate them. We’re also going to review another component to these deals, and that’s often insanely great seller financing terms. So if you want to hear how to avoid heavy lifting altogether, then tune into this week’s installment.

Water is a precious commodity in America today – it’s literally liquid gold. And water and sewer expense is the #1 largest line item in most mobile home park profit & loss statements. The great part is that it’s a turn-around plan that is 100% within your control and has no reliance on residents or market forces. But how do you do it? In this installment of our five-part series on “Easy Turn-Arounds” we’re going to analyze the methodology from A to Z on saving huge amounts on water & sewer costs and fostering conservation along the way.

Firing people is never fun – but it can certainly be profitable! In this second of a five-“part series on Easy Mobile Home Park Turnarounds”, we’re going to examine the role of cost-cutting in turning around mobile home parks, with a specific focus on personnel and utility issues. You’re also going to hear the story of a park we own in Illinois that went from losing around $40,000 per year to a positive $270,000 in one year, mostly as a result of cost cutting. Benjamin Franklin once said “a penny saved is a penny earned” and must have been talking about trailer parks.

We’ve talked about tough turn-arounds, so now it’s time to turn our attention to a different type of mobile home park experience: the simple ones. Just as there are factors that make a mobile home park tough to convert into an economic engine that produces predictable, sustainable cash flows, there are basically five different turn-around methods that require minimum effort to create significant profit. In this first of a five-part series, we’re going to discuss a simple method to enhance the cash-flow and value of a mobile home park. Why it works and how to do it effectively. With just this one podcast, you’ll see why we got hooked on mobile home park investing, and it will forever change your thoughts on “trailer parks” as an economic engine.

In this final installment of our series on Tough Turnarounds we’re going to examine the story of a mobile home park that required not only a complete renovation of all common areas, but also the renovation and sale of over 200 park-owned homes. It’s tough enough bringing a mobile home park back to life, let alone all of the homes inside of it. But we learned some important lessons from this unusually difficult project and successfully finished within 36 months. Hear how we did it in this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast.

In this fourth installment of our five-part series on Tough Turnarounds, we’re going to examine a property in Illinois that looked like Berlin after the war – just a giant pile of rubble with a mobile home park underneath. But beneath that rough Hollywood set of destruction was a fairly nice asset that had, at one time, been a luxury community. Learn how we bought this mobile home park back to life despite drug dealers, trash, dead trees, burned homes, and a general lack of pride that was determined to drag it down.

In this third installment in our five-part series on “Tough Turnarounds”, we’re going to discuss Hidden Hollow – a mobile home park that didn’t even have a rent roll or a financial statement. This turnaround came with the added twist of Frank being chased down the street by a 300 pound man in a diaper. Learn the techniques that can allow you to take a piece of land with some old, rusted flat-roof trailers and no law and order (or dress code apparently) and make it into a tame, income-producing asset.

People living in school busses is charming on the Partridge Family, but not so much in real life, In this second in our five-part series on Tough Turnarounds, we’re going to review a park that had a half-century of decline and the battle to bring it back to life. You’ll learn what makes a mobile home park worthy of such an effort, and the exact steps that were taken to make this park a nice place to live again.