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Visit us at www.mhps.com and see our books and resources at Mobile Home Park Books This issue of the MobileHomeParkStore.com and MHBay.com Newsletter includes:
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The
Guide to Financing and Refinancing your Mobile Home Park
INTRODUCTION The first is having the seller carry the note on the park. That is not covered here but in our other articles and materials, such as our CD's on “How To Buy A Mobile Home Park”. The other option is to borrow the money to buy the mobile home park through a bank or other lender. That is what this guide is a primer on. Probably 75% of all mobile home park
acquisitions require bank lending as opposed to seller carry, so you
will definitely be having to get a loan for a mobile home park at
some time in your career. Getting the right loan is essential to
making a success of your mobile home park purchase. To quote the civil war general Nathan Forrest “ your best chance of success is to put your bayonet on and run screaming at the target”. So it goes for getting that mobile home park
loan. DETERMINING HOW MUCH LOAN YOU CAN
AFFORD The financial statement of the mobile home park, and its value derived from its income, as it is applied to various ratios. How good a job you do convincing the lender that the park is worth more than the current income and appraisal will imply, based on drastic increases in revenue or cost cutting that you can carry out upon purchase of the property. How comfortable the lender is with making a
loan on a mobile home park in the first place, and how conservative
he or she wants to set the parameters for making the loan. Due to the meltdown of sub-prime lending,
banks are more cautious than ever before, although there have not
been many repossessions of mobile home park assets to spook them
yet. But remember, they are ill at ease making mobile home park
loans to begin with – so it doesn’t take much to spook them! Banks have other ratios that they use in deciding what size loan the mobile home park can support. One of the key ones is the “debt coverage ratio" abbreviated as DCR. This is a measurement of an income producing properties ability to cover the monthly mortgage payments. To figure the DCR you take the Net Operating Income and divide that by the annual debt service (principal + interest). Most banks will require a coverage ratio of 1.2 to 1.3, or 120% to 130% of the note payment. Obviously if the DCR is less than 1.0 then the property is not able to support the mortgage payment and not many banks will make this loan. There are other ratios that the bank may
want to see you qualify under. These are pretty much set in stone,
and are rarely negotiable. For example, a perfectly nice loan officer
made the appearance of being interested in a mobile home park loan
we had, and then when the appraisal showed the value being only that
of agricultural farm land plus depreciated improvements (clearly a
bad appraisal) he refused to intervene. In reality, we probably went
out and had a party to celebrate the death of the mobile home park
loan idea. Why did he not just turn the loan down to begin with?
Sometimes, its because the bank has other relationships with the
borrower and doe not want to offend them. But most the time, it’s
because the loan officer has no idea what the bank’s appetite is for
mobile home park loans and, after getting the ball rolling, finds it
to be negative.
Even though the appraiser is supposed to be
above any corruption on your part, he is a human and, therefore, can
be tainted in your favor if you work it hard enough. The most common complaints against the appraisal include:
If you make your case, not as someone who
needs a higher value, but as someone who just wants a fair value
that just happens to be higher, then the bank may take your side on
the matter. This will result in a call to the appraiser to see if
they would reconsider. It may also result in a new appraiser being
hired to render a second opinion. RECOURSE VS. NON-RECOURSE ESSENTIALS OF THE APPLICATION
It is essential that these numbers all “tie
together”. In an ideal world, the tax returns would exactly match
the financial statements, which would exactly tie back to the rent
roll. Unfortunately, this seldom occurs, and it is imperative in
your request that you explain such lack of conformity in advance –
before the lender figures it out for himself. If you try to hide it
and the banker figures it out later, you will lose some credibility
and the banker will have a bad first impression of you and the deal.
If you are looking to get a quote from one
of the lenders we have used or recommend, then fill out the short
form below to be contacted by potential lenders and brokers. FREQUENTLY ASKED FINANCING QUESTIONS In addition, a strategy you can use is to
have the seller finance the park owned homes for this separate
entity and then get your loan for the park only through the bank. How much down payment will I need? |
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In this environment of tight lending practices and a limited variety of funding sources for mobile home parks, we are beginning to see some lenders fill in where traditional financing has fallen off. These lenders are both banks seeing an opportunity and investment funds recognizing the strong cash flows in mobile home parks. With higher CAP rates and an unending need for affordable housing, mobile home parks are the property of choice for some of these lenders. One of the products we now offer is for shorter term financing on parks where the park-owned homes can be used in the valuation and underwriting. The minimum loan amount for this program is $1,500,000 and a maximum of $15,000,000. The maximum loan-to-value is 70% and the typical terms are one to three years. Interest-only is available for parks with 20% or less in park-owned homes and amortized over 20 years for parks with a higher density. This type of loan would be used where a borrower would not need more than a three year term and has an exit strategy that makes sense for a shorter term. There are no pre-payment penalties, so the ability to sell or refinance the park in a fairly short period makes this attractive. The rate would float for the term at 1 to 2% over WSJ Prime. Another program where park-owned homes are taken into consideration has even more flexibility. The minimum loan amount would be $1,000,000 and there is no set limit on the maximum. For purchase transactions, the loan-to-value may go as high as 80% and 75% for refinances. The combined loan-to-value may go as high as 90% where a seller is willing to hold some financing and the numbers will support the additional debt. The loan term will vary from 3, 5, 7, or 10 years and may be amortized up to 30 years. The rates are very competitive, sub 7% at this time, but the lender is making up for the rate in fees. A minimum of 3-4% is charged at closing, which in many cases works well for the deal, but can be an additional cost to consider when choosing the best financing option. Both stabilized properties and those in need of additional funds to complete additional improvements or expansion to a park are considered. A lower occupancy level is acceptable on a case-by-case scenario. A third option is one where the park-owned homes are not included in the park value, but this lender will finance the homes in a separate loan. The terms for the loan on the park would be a 5 year balloon with the initial two years as interest only and the remaining term amortized over 20 years with a 5,4,3,2,1 declining pre-payment penalty. The maximum loan-to-value is 75% and interest rate around 7%. In addition to financing the park, the park-owned homes may be financed on a 10 year amortization, 5 year balloon, at 75% of the cost of the units. This financing can also be arranged for additional units to be brought into the park. The interest rate would float at Prime + 2%. For value added opportunities with loan amounts in excess of $1,000,000, there are options that traditional lenders are steering clear of and alternative lenders are aggressively pursuing. With sellers seeing the credit crunch continue, now may be a great time to take a closer look at some of the parks with strong potential. As would be expected, these lenders are looking for borrowers with healthy balance sheets and some experience in commercial properties.
Steve Murden, President www.starcapitalcorporation.com
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WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM HISTORICAL NUMBERS ON MOBILE HOME SHIPMENTS Recently I did what I had always wanted to do. I took the published statistics on mobile home shipments from the period 1959 to 2005 and charted them out on a graph. I then tried to figure out what it meant as far as predicting when the mobile home retail industry might turn around. Although history does no always repeat itself, there were some interesting trends that developed. The Big Year was 1973 A lot of mobile home park owners think that 1998 was the best year ever for sales, at 372,843 units sold. That does seem like a great year, since sales are now around 100,000 units, but it can’t touch 1973. That year, there were 579,960 units sold! That’s nearly twice what 1998 sales were. And even more impressive, 1972 was 575,940 units sold. In fact, there were over 400,000 units sold from 1969 to 1973. That mountain of sales has never been equaled again. At current manufacturing numbers, it would take you 20 years to sell that many units based on current sales. 2002 Was Truly Awful There has not been a sales year that bad since 1960! That’s almost 50 year ago. And its been going downhill from there. Ever heard of the Great Depression? For mobile homes, we’re living in it now. There Has Been Only One Big Cycle There has been only one boom to bust to boom cycle for mobile home sales in U.S.history. It began in 1972 (first peak) and ended in 1997 (second peak). The first trough was 1974, and last was 1989 – a period of 15 years total. If you were to extrapolate this time period onto the latest mobile home recession, it would suggest that the uptick would occur in about 2014. Why such a long cycle? I think it’s because the losses with mobile home loans were so high that it takes a whole new generation of bank officers to be dumb enough and make the loans again. 1973 to 1974 was the Big Crash We all whine and cry about the current sales collapse, but to feel better about things, let’s look at the biggest decline in history. 1973: 579,960 units sold. 1974:338,343 units sold. That’s a 240,000 unit drop in one year. Sure, we have problems, but our peak was 372,834 in 1998 and only 348,671 the next year. In fact, at no time during this latest recession did sales drop by more than 100,000 units in a single year. That’s only a drop in the bucket compared to 1974. Retail Mobile Homes Sales Are Not Stable When you look at the graph, mobile home sales look like a good sketch of some mountain range in Colorado. Rather than a flat bar across the page, you have a a never ending panorama of boom and bust. That’s a big problem with the industry. We cannot somehow find a way to police ourselves from making bad loans. As a result, it’s feast or famine as far as sales are concerned. These Numbers Are Even Worse Than They Look for Park Owners Back when most of these numbers were measured, virtually all production was single-wide. And that’s pretty much what goes into mobile home parks. However, recent numbers show about 70% of the production to be doublewides, which I know will rarely end up in a mobile home park. As a result, and I hope you’re setting down – the real sales for the whole U.S. that might go into your park is more like 30,000 units per year. That is an impossibly small number to work from. And where do the double-wides go? Mostly onto the land they own. Conclusion I always find it interesting to look at raw data that has been graphed to look for signals for the future. The good news is, historically we’re doing great compared to past recessions. The bad news is, the sales curve is very large, and may not go up again for several more years out.
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Announcing the First Ever
Mobile Home Park Summit Anaheim Convention Center February 20-22, 2008 Brought to you by Mobilehomeparkstore.com Mobile Home Park Strategies For the U.S. Recession Your Hosts: Frank Rolfe and Dave Reynolds This is the first of a series of annual meetings for our clients, subscribers, and those interested in the mobile home park business in which we analyze the greatest single issue in the industry, and how to adjust your business to harness the power, and avoid the problems, of these “megatrends”. Our theme this year is “Mobile Home Park Strategies For The U.S. Recession”. Clearly, this is the biggest single problem facing the entire industry. Speeches will include the impact of the recession, and strategies to beat it, in the following categories:
In addition, each participant will receive additional written documentation, and some special new releases to supplement the speeches including “How To Launch Rental Battleships” and “How To Get A Mobile Home Park Loan”. With the recession upon us, can you afford to miss this program? The hosts will be Frank Rolfe and Dave Reynolds, who together have owned and operated over $100,000,000 in mobile home parks. No punches will be pulled, and no sacred cow ungored. This is not a time for positive chatter, but a time for a solid defense and a solid offense. If you want to prosper in the mobile home park business in 2009, you must make this event! Find out more about the Inaugural Mobile Home Park Investors Summit
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10-1-08
Dave,
I like to thank you and Frank for such a
wonderful job you guys did. The Bootcamp was really great.
We learnt a lot. It was worth the time and money. I had some
knwoledge of MHP investments, but after taking the bootcamp,
I am more confident and I know what I did wrong with our
MHPs. I will recommend your class to anyone without any
reservation.
In the near future I want to focus on
improving the existing parks that we own (from the knowledge
gained from the bootcamp). Once I am happy with them, I want
look into buying more.
Thanks for offering your help. I will be
in touch with you.
Thank Perry for the great pictures.
-Pratap
10-1-08 Dear Dave & Frank, Thank you so much
for sharing your knowledge so freely with me. I read what
was going to be taught and had very high expectations of
what I was going to receive. You guys exceeded all of my
expectations!!!!! I was never bored or uninterested in any
way. The two of you compliment each other……in every way.
Frank you are a funny man. I enjoyed my time with you guys.
Congratulations on all of your success you guys have
certainly earned it. I am very excited to get started and I
feel that with all the information that I received I will be
able to save myself a lot of time and money. You have taught
us and have given us a lot of tools that are going to save
us hundreds of thousands of dollars. This class was
priceless. You guys took years off the learning curve. I
really appreciate all that you guys showed me. I am looking
forward to staying in touch. Be well, David P.S. Please tell Brett thanks for all that he did. You guys put on quite a show!!!! THANKS!!!! 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 Tell us what you think!
We'd love to hear what you think of this issue!
We need your articles and press releases - send your articles to dave@mhps.com to be included in upcoming newsletters. Where else can you put your press releases and articles in front of thousands of people for FREE!
Please send your comments, questions, articles, and
ideas for upcoming issues to us at:
dave@mhps.com
Your feedback matters to us!
Visit us at www.mhps.com or www.mhbay.com Until Next Time! Dave Reynolds |
