April 2007

This issue of the MobileHomeParkStore.com and MHBay.com Newsletter includes: 

1. Important updates, news, and new features of MobileHomeParkStore.com and MHBay.com
2. Mobile Home Park College - We are in Session!
3. Questions and Answers with Dave
4. Advantages of Mobile Home Parks versus SFR's and Apartments by Dave Reynolds
5. Tell us what you think and send us your articles!

MobileHomeParkStore.com "Your source of reliable information since 1998"

Many have asked for it and now it is Reality.

Announcing... Mobile Home Park College (MHPCollege)

College is in session at MobileHomeParkStore.com

Throw away those other textbooks and manuals because your are about to embark on a learning experience like none other. 

Our program is unlike any of the other real estate investment or mobile home park "get rich schemes" or "make millions overnight" type of investment programs.  We have hands on and real life experience in the industry and with more than 70 mobile home parks under our belt, we have seen it all!.  We are real players in real life.

Are you looking to Buy a Mobile Home Park?

Are you looking to Sell a Mobile Home Park?

Are you needing help to Turnaround your existing Park?

If the answer to any of these questions is "YES" or "Maybe" then we are here to help!

Find out more about our new Mobile Home Park College

Selling your Mobile Home Park:

We are still offering the 15 day trial run to SELL your Mobile Home park.  No further obligation or strings attached!

Find out more here about this special offer!

Are you a manufactured home owner or community owner with homes or lots for sale or rent?

If so, then you can list your new and used mobile homes for sale or rent and lots for sale or rent for FREE at MHBay.com

Our traffic continues to increase so if you are looking to connect to potential residents and sell or rent more homes, then place your FREE listings on MHBay.com.  

Q&A with DaveQuestion: Dave,  I have seen all these different formulas out there to value a mobile home park.  Your 70 times formula and a 60/40 formula and variations of these.  Why should I use one over the other? Richard Answer: Richard, These formulas should only be used as basic starting points in evaluating a mobile home park.  Often times the formula will not take into effect very important issues that should be addressed. Every investor can and should come up with a different value for a certain park.  A park worth $500K to Joe may be worth only 450K to Bob.  Joe may live 2 miles from the park and be able to manage it himself and therefore cut out travel expenses, etc.  Bob may live 2,000 miles from the park and need to hire a full time manager and so on.  Joe may have $500,000 in a 1031 and needs to find a property in 2 days.  Bob may only have $90,000 down and cannot afford a price of more than $450K.  Bob may be happy with a 10% Cash on Cash Return and Bob may want a minimum of 15%. Another reason these formulas can be flawed is that they are based on average expense ratios in one manner or another.  However, if the expense ratio for a particular park is 10% higher or lower than average you will come up with a value that may be $100,000 or more skewed. So the bottom line is... formulas are just a starting point but you need to look further. Thanks, Dave

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Question: Thanks Dave and one more question: How do you address vacant land or vacant spaces in determining the value of a mobile home park? Richard Answer: Richard, Here are my thoughts on vacant land... I value it based on whether it can be split off and sold.  If it is a prime commercial piece on the front of the park then it does have value.  If it is a piece of land next to the park with good access and could be sold off for other purposes then it may also have good value.  If it is a 5 acre chunk in the middle of the park that needs to be mowed and regularly maintained then it does not have much value, if any.  The only exception to this would be if this park was in a strong market and this land could be used to expand the park and the spaces would fill up quickly. Here are my thoughts on vacant spaces... Suppose you are buying a park and there are 100 spaces and only 50 occupied.  If these 50 have been vacant for some time and the only way you are going to fill these is to buy homes and move them in or wait for Toyota to build a plant next door, then they are really more of a nuisance and maintenance nightmare.  You will have to mow, trim, maintain, pay taxes on, and keep kids from filling up the sewer cleanouts with rocks.  They actually cost you money so I do not give these spaces any value. If these vacant spaces are in a market that is absorbing these spaces without having to put the homes in yourself, then I may give them a value of 25% of what I am paying per space for the occupied lots. Thanks, Dave

Advantages of purchasing/owning a mobile home park as compared to apartments and other real estate

1. There has always been and will always be a need for affordable housing.  The typical mobile home park is just that… affordable housing. 2. It is typically accepted that the average operating expenses for a mobile home park are usually around 35-40% of the gross income as compared to apartments which have in the 50-60% expense ratio.  One of the biggest advantages of mobile home park ownership is not only this decreased operating expense margin but the reasoning behind it. Mobile Home Parks in which you rent the land to the home owners have a much lower turnover ratio as compared to apartments.  In most cases, once the home is moved into your park, that home will stay in there for 25+ years and when people are ready to move they will just resell the home in the park and you will have a new homeowner. The biggest reason for the low home turnover is that it costs so much to break down, move, and set up a home.  In most cases this is going to cost at a minimum of $2,000 for a singlewide and $4,000 for a doublewide.  In an apartment, your renters can pack up and leave in the middle of the night. In most cases a mobile home will not move out in the middle of the night (especially legally).  There are those cases where someone will hire someone to come in and move a home in the middle of the night but it is rare. I actually had someone who was a few months late on rent, decide to hook up to their 14 x 70 home with their ton pickup in an attempt to move it down the road a few miles to a different park.  They made it out of the park with the home but about a mile down the road the mobile home separated from the truck and they not only flipped the home but destroyed a truck.  All of this to avoid about $800 in lot rent. 3. When you raise the rent by $10, $15, $20 or more in a mobile home park, it is less justifiable for a renter to spend several thousand dollars to move their home to save $10 or $20 per month.  In addition there is no guarantee that the mobile home park that they move their home to will not follow suit with a rent increase of their own. 4. Another reason for the lower operating expense ratio for mobile home parks is that you are not responsible for painting, cleaning carpets, fixing windows, and all the fun jobs of the apartment maintenance personnel.  You are typically only responsible up to where the home connects to your utilities and the maintenance of the common areas. 5. As far as depreciation, apartments have a large value attributable to the building itself and the building portion is generally required to be depreciated over 27.5 years  However, for mobile home parks, the depreciable costs are typically the roads, water lines, sewer lines, electric poles and so on.  These are considered land improvements and are typically depreciated over a period of 15 years.  This increased depreciation over the first 15 years is a major tax benefit for many investors. 6. Another hidden benefit of mobile home parks are the barriers to entry for competition.  In most areas of the country, it is difficult to get the proper zoning, meet all the requirements to build a new community and actually make a profit.  Face it, once you get all the permits and licenses and have the curbs, roads, driveways, utilities, pads and everything else built out, you will have a carrying cost until you actually get enough homes into the project to break even, let alone start making a profit. Mobile Home Parks are in limited supply and the barriers to entry as far as costs, regulations and government restrictions make developing new parks unfeasible in most areas.  State and local governments restrict new mobile home park developments for many reasons, including: bad reputation, existing owners allowing parks to deteriorate, less property tax base to fund schools, police, fire, and other government services. 7. Another benefit of mobile home parks is that in most cases you have individuals that own their own homes and will tend to take care of the home as well as their lot.  Since you are renting basically the land and the utility connections, there is not near as many things that your renters can do to cost you major repairs.  Sure they may flush things down the sewer and let the water run, but they will not be putting holes in the walls and floors or spilling things on the carpet as they will in your apartment rentals.  You rent the land and do not have to fix leaky kitchen faucets or toilets. 8. Another benefit of owning mobile home parks is that you are often in a good position to buy and sell new and used mobile homes.  You can often buy homes that people sell in your park, in nearby parks, repos, or even new homes from the manufacturers and place them in your park and sell them at a profit. Depending on the situation, you may be able to sell them for cash, on terms, or with new financing.  As the park owner, every time you sell a home and fill a vacant lot in your park you have just increased the monthly lot rent income as well as the value of the park. If each occupied lot is worth an additional $10,000 then in addition to the profit from the home sale itself you have just made an extra 10k in equity. A mobile home dealer makes money on the spread between the purchase and sale price and thus needs to have good profit margin to stay in business.  As the park owner you can live on a much smaller or even a break even on the home sales and thus save your buyers thousands of dollars.   Excerpt from Mobile Home Park Investing E-book! By Dave Reynolds, December 2006

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