July 2009

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

The New Mobile Home Park Home Study Course
Article: Simple Ways to Make Your Park Bilingual, by Frank Rolfe
Article: How to Pick a Good, Used Home for Your Park, by Frank Rolfe
News stories affecting the Mobile Home Park Industry
Tell us what you think and send us your articles!

We recently updated our Mobile Home Park Investment Study Course. This is a must have for anyone who is thinking of investing in mobile home parks, or currently owns mobile home parks and wants them to operate more profitably.

When you order the Home Study Course you get the following:

24 CD's and a PDF Download of the Transcripts
The 540 Page Mobile Home Park Investment Manual
All of our Forms and Contracts to Buy and Operate Mobile Home Parks
24 More CD's with Frank and Dave Covering Mobile Home Park Investment Topics
The 200 Page Mobile Home Park Due Diligence Manual
One Free Quick Deal Evaluation
Free Access to our Weekly Mentoring Hour

To view more information about the home study course Click Here.

Simple Ways To Make Your Mobile Home Park Bilingual

A growing number of mobile home parks have an ever-increasing number of Hispanic residents. This has many park owners worried that they cannot adequately attend to their resident’s needs due to their inability to speak Spanish. However, modern technology has made making your park “bilingual” easier than ever. Translation Software A modern marvel, translation software allows you to type a letter in English and have the computer print it in Spanish. The computer automatically makes the translation. So you can write a notice to tenants to let their faucets drip in the winter in English, and you can automatically make the flip side of the notice in Spanish. Without learning any vocabulary, or how to conjugate a verb, you can effectively be fluent in Spanish – at least as far as writing is concerned. And these translation software packages only cost about $100. Cell-Phone Translations Do you know anyone who speaks Spanish, who also owns a cell phone? Then you are as good as fluent. When a resident wants to talk to you, but does not speak English, you simply call the person who is fluent on their cell phone, and hand the phone to the customer. They tell your “translator” what they want, and then they hand the phone back to you and he translates it for you. You’ll find that this one arrangement will permanently end your concerns about communication. And since you have such incredible efficiency of time, you can pay this “translator” a very small amount per month, and they still think it’s a win/win. Conclusion There is no reason to go back to junior college to brush up on foreign language, or listen to CDs in the car. Modern technology gives you the freedom to be fully bilingual without memorizing a word or learning a phrase. And it doesn’t cost much to have that capability.

How To Pick A Good Used Home For Your Mobile Home Park

Many mobile home park owners are faced with taking matters into their own hands to fill vacant lots. Sure, dealers will tell you that they can “fill you up”, but in reality, most dealers these days are lucky to put one or two homes into a park in any given year. If you wait on dealers to fill your lots, you’ll be like a fifty year-old starlet waiting by the phone for that big offer to come in – and it never does. So if you are faced with choosing older homes to bring in, rehabilitate and then sell in your park, it is critical to be able to spot a winner from a lemon. And often times, your initial walk-up impression can be very misleading. Here’s how to size up a winning used mobile home from a total loser: Metal Exterior The best construction of a home, as a park owner, is “metal on metal”, which means metal exterior with a metal roof. Many modern home buyers prefer imitation wood and vinyl, but that should be their preference, not yours. A metal home is a real workhorse that needs very little TLC on the exterior. As long as moisture does not get behind the metal wall to rot the wood it is attached to, these homes can last forever. And you often can simply wash them with bleach as opposed to painting them, to bring back that “new” look. Straight Body Under any mobile home is a frame. This metal chassis has a lot of force on it, both from the home but also any accidents in moving it or improper set-up in the field. Any home that has a “bow” in it should be avoided. Such homes are prone to break-apart when transported, which will not only destroy the home but create massive liability for you. And the home should be straight looking down the walls, as well. Just like a car, you do not want any home that has a damaged frame. No Signs of Water Intrusion in the Ceiling If you walk into a home and the ceiling is covered in evidence of water intrusion, in the form of stains, then you are in trouble. Moisture in a mobile home is like cancer in a person. It can sometimes be controlled, but it is very costly and there are no guarantees. Mobile home floors cannot tolerate much moisture, and there is also the danger of black mold and other items that can cause you liability. Solid Floors This goes with the water instruction theme. When you get moisture on a mobile home floor, especially particle board, it becomes so soft that a person will fall through it. If you go in a home and it has very “soft” floors, you know it has had water issues. Those are the homes you avoid. Be sure and check nearest the walls – that’s where most moisture damage will be found. Original Breaker Panel Mobile homes since about 1976 have been HUD code – which means that HUD inspects their manufacture. It is illegal to alter a HUD code home. Yet many mobile home owners will often do the repairs themselves, including completely re-wiring a home. This is definitely not a home you want to buy. Not only has it violated HUD, it has a great chance of catching on fire, and you might be held liable. If you see any signs of tampering with the wiring, avoid the home at all cost. No Gray or Black Plastic Pipe Plumbing This kind of pipe is called polybutylene, and was subject to a $1.1 billion class action settlement in 1995. Why? Because this stuff leaks like crazy. It was a terrible idea that created a host of plumbing issues in mobile homes that are plumbed with it. If you see a home that has it, it is guaranteed that you’ll have to replace it – and that can be very expensive. It also suggests there are moisture issues, and those are not acceptable. A Large Master Bedroom Of all the floor plan issues in a mobile home, the size of the master bedroom is the most important. Mobile home buyers want a bedroom that will hold a king size bed – and have room to spare around it. Modern homes have the whole end of the mobile home as the master bedroom, so it is always 14’, 16’ or 18’ wide. But many older homes have tiny master bedrooms that will hardly hold a queen size bed. Nothing kills a sale faster than a small master bedroom. Their kids’ bedrooms can be smaller than a closet, but they want theirs to be big. Conclusion Buying a used mobile home can be scary stuff. The last thing you want to do is buy an old used mobile home, and then pour so much into fixing it up that you could have bought a new one. And cosmetically, they may look awful to begin with, often with windows and doors missing, and junk everywhere. But you need to focus on the actual construction and design of that home to judge it fairly. A good used home can fill a lot and make many times its cost back just in lot value to the park. A bad home can cost a fortune, or go straight to the dump before it even hits your park. So put a little diligence in on the front end, and make sure all your homes are winners. Save your lemons for lemonade to celebrate buying a good mobile home.

News Stories

Two Parks Forced to Close

California Rent Control Issues

July 2009

Newsletter

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