Where to find mobile home parks to buy
When starting your search to buy a mobile home park, there are several ways to go about it. I would suggest trying each of these as they will all give you a different and comparable perspective to evaluate. Then when you find the park that seems to fit, you’ll have the knowledge and be able to move quickly. If you wait too long, you will most likely find that you are under contact. So it is best to be prepared when the time comes.
When looking for a mobile home park to buy, it is often the least advertised park or offering that may represent the best deals.
Here are some possible ways to find properties:
1.MobileHomeParkStore:
On average we add over 80 new properties for sale to the website every month. Of these new listings, I would estimate that about 20% of them are reasonably priced and will sell quickly. About 30% of the listings are borderline and may stay on the site for a few months, but will sell out within 6 months to a year. The other 50% are projects that are overpriced and/or currently unviable due to a poor local market or other factors. It is the first 20% that most of you will be looking for. The best way to stay up to date on new properties for sale is to join our list of early investors. Receive all new listings by email 48 hours before they hit the site. As soon as I receive the listing, it is immediately sent to this list of investors.
The benefits of being on this list are twofold: One, you get an email with all the listings and start seeing what parks they’re listed for, and you can usually tell which parks are worth following quickly. The other benefit is that you will see the listings 48 hours before the general public and you will be able to strike up a conversation with the Seller before they are inundated with all those calls once they are posted on the site.
2. Other websites:
Loopnet.com, CIMLS.com, real estate company websites, commercial brokerage websites and many other similar sites – I bought a mobile home park in 2006 that was listed on a business for sale website that had been there for 6 months. I know if it had been on mobilehomeparkstore or loopnet it would have sold out much sooner. It’s worth checking out some of these other websites that don’t have a great mobile home park investor.
3. Google web searches:
We always do these searches looking for new parks for sale to promote mobilehomeparkstore. Occasionally there will be a potential good deal listed for sale on 20 or 30 pages of search results.
4. Contact real estate brokers who specialize in selling mobile home parks:
These are the professionals that are out there every day trying to get parks up for sale and often have pocket listings or listings they can’t otherwise advertise. I would contact any broker who does business in the areas you are looking for and be very specific about what you are looking for. It’s good to keep in touch with them regularly so that when they get a new listing, they’ll think of you if you meet their criteria.
5. Contact other Real Estate Brokers who are in the areas you are looking for properties:
It’s amazing how many mobile home parks are listed by brokers who have no idea how to value a park, how to market a park for sale, and where to find a buyer for the park. If you’re looking for a mobile home park for sale in a certain state or city, I’d find as many brokers as I can in these areas and send them an email asking if they have any mobile home parks for sale or if they know of any. The ones who respond with an offer to keep an eye on you will be the ones you follow up with on a regular basis.
6. Direct Mail:
I have been using this method in various ways over the years and have purchased many parks this way. When setting up your direct mail campaign, you’ll want to stand out from the other companies and individuals who send massive amounts of mail to park owners/managers. Here are some ideas I’ve used in the past:
has. Make your mail piece stand out from the rest of the competition.
b. Identify yourself as a real person, not an LLC with no identity.
against Incorporate useful information in the shipment so that it is retained by the owner. I keep getting calls from couriers I sent several years ago from owners who kept my postcard.
d. Possibly include magnets, notepads, or other useful gadgets with your phone number that will be right in front of the owner when they decide to sell.
Also, any direct mail campaign should include more than one contact for each recipient. 3-5 contacts per year should be made to keep you and your company in front of potential sellers. I like to change it up by varying the mailings to include different letters, postcards, etc. so it’s not the same piece every time.
Another important part of the direct mail process is that you have to get a good list of prospects to send mail to. The best way to do this is to purchase an existing list like the one we have on our site or with a list service like infousa.com and then work on creating it to fit your needs.
7. Cold calls:
Basically, you can go to our website, MHPS, and go to the park directory and start making phone calls to parks that are in the areas that you’re looking for. I have found it best to identify yourself as someone who is looking to buy a mobile home park in that area and was wondering if this park is for sale or if you know of one for sale. They will hang up on you and sometimes even yell at you, but most people will be sociable. Many times these owners/managers will know of other parks for sale in the area. It’s often good to follow up by email with anyone who seems like a potential prospect in the future.
8. Top Prefab Newspapers and Magazines:
Just like staying on top of the listings on the MobileHomeParkStore, you’ll need to stay on top of these classified ads to ensure you don’t miss out on potential deals that other investors will take advantage of. Many of the larger newspapers have an online service that will allow you to sign up to receive listings by email that match particular criteria.
9. An indirect way to find Mobile Home Park deals is to search for mobile homes for sale and then call these homes. By talking to owners of mobile homes for sale, you can often find out a lot about the community and who owns it, what the rents are, the size of the home, how many vacancies, and more. If it seems to fit what you’re looking for, then you have another prospect and you can start contacting the owner on a regular basis.
10. Driving through potential parks:
If you see a park that looks interesting, take a walk, write down some phone numbers of houses for sale, stop and talk to the owner/manager, leave your card, and if it seems like a good fit, follow up. a regular basis. However, please do not disturb the residents as you will often disturb the manager and owner and they will not be willing to talk to you.
11. Visit manufactured home trade shows, mobile home park investment seminars, and other industry events. You will make many excellent contacts with other investors and industry professionals, and begin to develop a network of people who will assist you in your search for and management of your mobile home park investment.
12. Subscribe to RSS feeds or Google alerts to get news about mobile home parks that are in the news. You will be looking for parks and park owners who are in trouble. Many times, the landlord is not complying, is behind on paying bills, or is doing something to stir up a ruckus with the residents. This is a great way to find motivated sellers, especially if you have a solution for your problem. Make sure you have a good solution to the problem so you don’t end up in the same boat as the seller.
13. County tax records:
most counties have a list of the mobile home parks in the county and some information about the owners, etc. By searching the country’s records, you may also be able to see what price the park was last sold for, what the county’s current value is (which is often quite low), and whether taxes are paid. If taxes are not paid, this may indicate a motivated seller.
14. Contact appraisers, banks, title companies, friends, relatives and let them know what you are looking for and to be on the lookout. Offer them a search fee if they find something that you end up buying.
I had a friend who knew I bought mobile home parks and he passed me on to an amazing deal in Texas. He had done a specific job for the owner and the owner told him that he was for sale. He told me about it and I bought it a month later. I sold it a few months later for a profit of over $100,000 and wrote my friend a check for $25,000. He has been keeping his eyes open ever since.
In another case, I was getting my oil changed at Wal Mart in Nebraska. The guy on duty asked me what I was doing there from Colorado. One thing led to another and he told me about a mobile home park he lived in that was for sale. I went straight to the park and talked to the owner and bought it a couple of months later. It was a park of about 45 units, but it was poorly managed and fairly priced. I sold the park about 6 months later for a profit of over $75,000. I call this the best oil change ever!
15. Heirs:
another great place to buy a park. They usually want cash, not a mobile home park to manage.
16. Making Unsolicited Offers:
In the past, I’ve collected information about certain mobile home parks, number of spaces, lot rents, occupancy, who pays for water, sewer, and trash, and then plugged this into a basic valuation formula and generated offers. He would prepare a purchase and sale contract with all the standard provisions with the price he was willing to pay and mail it to the owners. I got a much higher response rate doing this than any other type of direct mail. However, I did get a lot of angry owners calling me or responding to me asking if I was on drugs or crazy because their park was worth so much more than what I was offering. On the other hand, I had several owners sign the contract and return it. I bought about 5 parks using this strategy.
