Mobile Home Park Mastery

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 mob...

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 at...

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 possibil...

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 dea...

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 resid...

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...

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 l...

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 a...

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 softw...

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...

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 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...

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 assignmen...

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,...

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-A...

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 po...

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 p...

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 unusua...

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 lif...

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...

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...

One of the most lucrative ways to get into the mobile home park industry is to buy a property that is “broken” and “fix” it. This concept has long been called a “turnaround” because what you’re effectively doing is taking something that is not performing properly and bringing it back to life. So how does that concept work in real life? In this first part of a five-part series on “Tough Turnarounds...

In this final segment of our five-part series on the Legal Side of Park Ownership, we’re going to discuss some important tips on creating seller financed notes. Since one of the most attractive components to buying mobile home parks is the frequent availability of owner financing, this is a very important topic that we receive frequent questions on. Seller financing is what got us in the business...

The starting point for buying a mobile home park is the contract. But what are some of the essential items in this all-important document? In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast, we’re going to discuss some of the key components to writing a successful contract, and some strategic suggestions to make the contract more effective. Since the contract is your primary tool in acquiring mobile...

In this third installment of our five-part series on the “Legal Side of Park Ownership”, we’re going to examine the entire evictions process – from A to Z. And we’ll include some insider secrets we’ve learned along the way to save you money and make the process go smoother. We’re also going to give you our ideas on the moral aspects of evicting and why you should not be judgmental but simply accep...