|
Our Newest Service -
Mobile Homes for Park Owners.
We have spent the last year
working on this service. We have negotiated the absolute
lowest prices on homes from reputable manufacturers nationwide.
These are brand new homes for the same price or less than repo
homes. Stop wasting time and money rehabbing older homes.
Update the look of your park with homes residents can afford.
Click Here for Details
The Joys Of Mailing In Rent
Whether you use a standard on-site manager or a reduced duty
greeter at your mobile home park, you may want to investigate
the use of having the mail sent in off-site. The benefits to
such a system are many, and the problems few. Many main-stream
operators have embraced just this one piece of off-site
management, due to its enormous benefits.
It ends embezzlement at the park level
Stories of managers embezzling rent are among the most common in
the park business. I once bought a park from an owner that
thought his park had no income - at least that's what the
manager told him. He was shocked when we found an account with a
balance of $35,000 in it that represented just the most recent
rents that the manager had shifted into her name.
When the manager no longer collects rent, the ability to
embezzle is eliminated. That is not to say that a manager cannot
still impose and embezzle such things as pet deposits, etc., but
the magnitude of the crime is reduced 1,000%.
It ends the mystery concerning evictions and late rents
Have you had a manager who can never give you the straight scoop
on evictions? There are always a couple lots that never seem to
go to court for some reason. Normally, these are just friends or
family members of the manager - or people who have threatened
them. When you are the creator of the collections list, you gain
the upper hand in the truth on who is paying, and can make sure
that all the correct demands are delivered and evictions filed.
Nobody can hide then.
It perfects the assessment of late fees
By using the postmark on the envelope as evidence of the rent
being late, it allows you to end any mystery on who to assess
the late fees to. And you will be amazed at how many more late
fees you have - the manager normally hides many of these late
rents from you to shield her friends.
It makes you in control of the rent
This is the most important thing that collecting rent off-site
can do for you. It makes you in control of the park's revenue.
Many managers use the park rent as a weapon against you in their
pursuit of keeping their job. They will threaten to end the
regular collection of rent if you let them go and, in fear of
missing your note payment, you keep them on.
In addition, when you let a manager go, their first attack is to
disrupt the flow of rent, by misinforming tenants as to what to
do with their rent - or even collecting it themselves and
keeping it in revenge.
When you get the rent direct, the manager has no power over you.
And that's a great feeling
Conclusion
Having rent sent in to an off-site P.O. Box is not hard. It
costs about $100 per year for the box. What is your peace of
mind worth?
|
|
|
Am I The Only One Who Sees This Opportunity?
A huge percentage of Americans have virtually no retirement savings and will end
up living strictly off of their Social Security payment of around $1,000 per
month. And the ranks of these Americans are growing daily as the "Baby Boomer"
generation ages. This is the greatest "affordable housing" challenge in history
- are we up to the challenge?
How can someone live on $1,000 per month? Even a recent article on MSN.com had
the answer - in a manufactured home community. However, that article discussed
the concept of several families sharing a single, multi-section manufactured
home in a very expensive community. I don't think that most Americans are
willing the shack up in their retirement. But can someone live in a manufactured
home community on $1,000 per month? Let's see. If your income is $1,000 per
month after tax, and you pay $100 for Medicare insurance, $50 for auto
insurance, $300 for food, $100 for gas, $200 for electricity, that leaves $250
for lot rent which includes water, sewer and trash. Is this lot rent of $250 per
month including water, sewer and trash available on the open market. It sure is.
There are many, many manufactured home communities that offer this kind of rate.
So if someone could sell their house, or some other asset, to raise the cash to
buy an older manufactured home for, say, $10,000, then the numbers would work
for them to live indefinitely on $1,000 per month after tax (remember that
social security checks are tax free), assuming that their social security
payment is constantly adjusted for inflation (which it is).
And where do you find attractive, clean, safe manufactured home communities with
lot rent of $250 per month including all water, sewer and trash? In most cases,
out in smaller towns and rural America. Not in the big city, where communities
tend to be cramped, unattractive and dangerous - nobody sane is going to be
willing to retire there. But what about all those nice communities in smaller
towns? The ones with all the vacancies? The ones that have been laboring for
decades in areas with low employment and few folks moving in. The ones that you
can buy cheap, often with seller financing.
Am I the only one who has noticed this opportunity? Perhaps this is the only
chance ever to make a success of these rural and small town parks. The planets
appear, to me, to be aligned perfectly to push these little appreciated assets
into fully-occupied income properties. Am I the only one excited by these
trends?
So how would you harness these trends and make money with them? First you would
need to buy some very inexpensive manufactured home communities in areas that
are attractive to retirees. They should have city water and sewer, if possible,
and solid infrastructure. A beautiful, safe location. A proximity to a bigger
town with some big-city amenities that retirees would like, such as bookstores
and quaint restaurants. A lot rent of about $250 per month including water,
sewer and trash. And enough vacancy to make the seller offer attractive terms
and carry the paper. The existing occupancy should, if possible, cover all the
expenses and note payment. Now you simply have to wait for all those $1,000 per
month retirees to start beating down your door. Right?
Wrong. There is one big missing ingredient. And that is for the industry to
promote the fact that anyone can live comfortably on $1,000 per month. It's too
large and novel an issue to effectively promote as a small community owner.
It never ceases to amaze me that an industry as large as ours can never
effectively promote itself to seize the opportunities presented in the
marketplace. All we ever want to do is to look and talk more like stick-built
housing - when, in reality, it is the affordable housing side of the business
that holds the most promise. All those folks who are going to have to live on
$1,000 per month have no alternatives but manufactured housing. The ones who can
afford the upper end models can afford many, many other alternatives.
So how can we capture this market? We need to collectively begin advertisements
in magazines such as AARP. We need to get articles published in the major
newspapers and news web sites. We need to start speaking before large groups of
retirees on the concept. We need to meet with governmental agencies to let them
know this option exists. We need to get mentioned anywhere and everywhere.
Basically, just plain old marketing.
Who will do this? We all need to participate. I really believe that this is our
only salvation as an industry - to return to our roots as the affordable housing
option, while at the same time, piggyback on a growing trend. Clearly, our
attempts to market ourselves as a pricey alternative to stick-built housing have
failed. We have been in a recession for the past eight years as an industry.
So will you join me in spreading the gospel that Americans can live on $1,000
per month in a modest manufactured home in a rural market? I hope you will.
Because this might be our last shot of turning things around.
|
