Mobile Home Park Mastery

As the mobile home park industry evolves, owners are constantly pondering not only what the new role of community manager is becoming but also the necessity of them living on-site. Larger parks have allowed for on-site or off-site manager possibilities for years, but smaller parks have been relegated to strictly on-site options. However, those lines may be blurring. In this Mobile Home Park Master...

Mobile home lenders set very low expectations on customer credit scores yet enjoy very low default rates. This seems to be contrary to all the physics of extending credit but it’s supported by fact. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to dig deeper into the topic of why a low FICO works just fine when it comes to customers buying mobile homes.

Even though all cities hate mobile home parks, they tolerate them because of property laws governing legal non-conforming use – also known as “grandfathering”. But not all mobile home parks share that protection. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to review the attributes that make a mobile home park at risk and without “grandfathering” rights.

Owning a mobile home park is a noble calling, but you must protect yourself from the residents you are trying to help. While 99% of park customers are wonderful people, there is that 1% that want to take advantage of your role as the owner to try to borrow money, harass you, get out of rules violations, get your manager fired – basically try to drive you nuts. The solution is to build a firewall b...

Mobile home parks have always been viewed as the lowest-cost form of housing while dollar stores serve that same niche in the retail sector. Yet there are many more similarities between “trailer parks” and “Dollar Tree” than meets the eye. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’ll review the similarities and why both businesses are underappreciated – a fact that’s about to change.

With interest rates up significantly, some sellers may propose a construction called a “wrap” in which you leave the existing mortgage intact as part of the deal. But does that work? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the good and bad aspects of this deal construction and discuss methods to mitigate the risk.

When a mobile home park sits lower than the city’s main sewer line, the only way to get the property’s sewage pushed upstream is with a “lift station”. Yet many mobile home park buyers don’t know what these are, how they work, and what the dangers are. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to drill down on this unique feature of many communities to understand the fine points to buyi...

Webster’s defines “fair” as “impartial and just, without favoritism or discrimination”.  And obviously, based on this definition, life in 2023 will not be “fair”. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the unfair opportunities that are out there, how to take advantage of them, and why there’s nothing morally wrong in doing so.

We all know the government enacted the HUD SEAL program back around 1976. But are you aware there's some other requirements that HUD placed on mobile homes that are important that you be aware of? This is Frank Rolfe with the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast. We're going to talk about snow loads, wind loads, and thermal zones.

It’s pretty clear that we’re heading for a U.S. recession in 2023. So what will that do to the mobile home park industry, and what are the statistics from the 2000 and 2007 recessions to support these observations? That’s the goal of this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast: to dissect what the 2023 recession may look like and what the impact might be.

When you have two mobile home parks in the same basic market, you always wonder if you would be better off hiring one manager to supervise both or having two separate managers to do the job. The concept of “sharing” management is not restricted to just mobile home parks, as many other industries have tested and employed it. However, mobile home park manager “sharing” has its own unique issues to c...

Mobile home park managers have an extremely difficult role. They are supposed to wear two hats: 1) the nice person and 2) the tough person. This is extremely confusing to residents and often fails to accomplish what you desire as the owner. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore why this is not a healthy situation for your property and offer tips on giving the manager a mo...

America is at a breaking point on crime. It’s rampant, the system is overwhelmed, and in many states the judicial system itself has become dysfunctional. In times like these it’s up to the community owner to help to make their property the safest it can be. Not through adding expensive security personnel, but instead by enacting common sense strategies and enhancements to the mobile home park that...

Interest rates have skyrocketed around 4 points in 2022 – the largest jump in 40 years. While interest rates typically run in cycles, what if they never return to earlier levels and these new rates are not a fad but the new norm? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going o discuss the ramifications of these higher rates and project the impact if they never go down again.

Mortgage rates are now at 7.25% which is about double from where things stood in January. What impact does this shocking news story have on the mobile home park industry? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast we’re going to discuss the many byproducts of higher home mortgage rates – most of which are positive by nature and reflective of U.S. megatrends.

For over a decade–from the moment that financial institutions popped up to finance new and usedmobile homes–older park-owned units were often relegated to the scrap heap. But the soaring price ofnew and slightly used homes has rekindled the notion ofbringing many of these formerly doomedhomes back to life. In this episode we’re going to discuss the building blocks to determining if an oldhome coul...

A new study shows that mobile home values are up 34.6% since 2016 – nearly matching the 35.4% increase of single-family homes. You would think that would be good news for the 8% of Americans that live in mobile homes. But NPR is determined to show that even when park residents are big winners it’s all part of an evil plot by corporate owners. So we’re going to dissect their latest ridiculous artic...

Stress can contribute to many health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Some of it is the normal condition that comes with taking risk and achieving success, but a huge portion is simply created by your own actions when better options are available. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to focus on what causes stress in the mobile home park b...

Jerome Powell at the Fed has ushered in an era of interest rate instability that has not been experienced in over 40 years. This has created an environment in which traditional banking is not always the attractive solution to getting deals done. But what are the alternatives to sidestep traditional lending? That’s the focus of this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast.

Being a successful park buyer requires discipline. You can’t let your desire to make a deal get in the way of the underlying premise of making money. So how can you guard against acquisitions that are the opposite of portfolio-builders? That’s the topic of this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast.

In the search for income, many investors overlook the simple fact that there is no income until your capital is safely returned. When you seek the measure of an investment’s performance the only one that matters is the total return at the end, not simply a couple good years along the way. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review why mobile home parks are superior in their ret...

While most mobile home park owners take comfort in letting someone else do the honors, there’s nothing wrong with being the market leader in lot rents. However, there is a process to taking that role and it comes with responsibilities and strategic thought. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the role of being market leader and how to do a good job of it.

With apartments having reached a cyclical high and mobile home parks still running with plenty of value-building opportunity, many apartment owners are looking at buying mobile home parks. If you fit that profile, then the key initial question is “what are the big differences between the two?” In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the differences between these two housing...

Stanley Marcus – the founder of Neiman Marcus – once said “take your markdowns on people and merchandise as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, many mobile home park owners refuse to follow this advice and end up holding on to unsuccessful managers for months or years longer than they should. So why do they do this and how do you correct this behavior? That’s the focus of this episode of the Mobil...

The U.S. demand for affordable housing is huge, but you can’t rent or sell a mobile home unless it’s been renovated. Home readiness is, in fact, the number one problem for most park owners that have vacant units. But it’s perpetually harder to find those who will work on mobile homes as they seek better paying alternatives. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review some fresh...