How to Handle the Tenants in a Mobile Home Park
Article
In Kung Fu, the concept is to combat aggression with the least amount of human effort and movement. Evidently the oriental masters' theories can be applied to mobile home parks. The best way to handle mobile home park tenants is to use very little effort to pretty much ignore 99% of what they say and do.
Complaints
There is no point to listening to tenant complaints that you have no intention of acting on. If you have recently converted your park's curbside service to dumpster and all the tenants hate it, and you have no interest in changing it back to curbside, then why would you waste your time listening to them complain? A better plan is to let them phone in their complaints to voice mail, and then erasing them all at the end of each day, without even listening to them other than to verify it is a complaint on trash. This is why it is a good idea to have a regular phone line with voice mail as the tenants key contact and then always let it go to voicemail. Never give out your cell number to a tenant.
Collections
Nothing your tenant can say can make up for not paying the rent. Either they have paid or not. If they have, then you have nothing to talk about. If they haven't then they need to pay their rent. You need cash not conversation. Don't waste your time discussing why the rent's not there. If they don't pay, evict them. If they do then don't. But there is absolutely no point in discussing the situation. Often, the tenant will want to talk to you to make a payment plan. You never want to accept payment plans. So there really is nothing the tenant can say to stave off eviction. So don't waste your time.
Rules
Adopt some basic, simple rules that are obvious and you feel enthusiastically must be kept. The best of these are no non-running vehicles, no big trash in yards, and no ridiculously tall grass. Once you have derived these basic essentials, then when you cite tenants for abusing the rules, or tow their non-running cars, you should feel free to ignore their calls. If they call to scream and vent their anger, there is little point to listening to it. So let it go to the voicemail, and then erase it without listening to it unless you want a good laugh.
Everything Else
When driving through your park, and a tenant approaches your car to tell you something, pretend you don't see them and drive off. There is nothing they can say that has any importance to you or your property. If you have lots of time on your hands, and don't mind chit-chatting with the tenant , then feel free to learn about the movies, and the weather, and how cool a hemi engine would be. As for me, I'd rather reserve my free time for my family.
Conclusion
It sounds cruel, but ignoring your tenants is often the best business move in a mobile home park. They can drive you nuts if you listen to them or, even worse, try to please them. There is no solution to their problems certainly none that you would want to participate in, like letting them live free for a few months. So, rather than put yourself in a lose/lose position, just avoid it altogether. I have never had a situation that could be improved through one-on-one conversation with a tenant, either by phone or in person.
So put a karate chop to your tenant's time wasting, and just avoid contact altogether.