This issue of the MobileHomePark

As many of you know from my posts and book on Mobile Home Park Investing, I had one of those learning experiences most mobile home park operators only have nightmares about. In October of 2000, I had a park in Texas that was hit hard by a tornado and we lost about 40 of our 100 homes.

I still have the occasional nightmare and understand what the owner and people in a park go through every time I hear or read about the next park that was a victim.

At the time, I did not feel like I was lucky, but as time has gone by I now realize how lucky I was when you consider the timing of it. If it would have happened this year I would have been in much rougher shape.

Why is that?

The answer is simple. In October of 2000 and for the next couple of years it was easy and very affordable to buy good used repossessed homes to fill the park back up. I could pull up the Greentree/Conseco/Chase and other lists and just pick and choose the best homes I could find. A nice singlewide home for $8,000 or less and a good doublewide for under $14,000. If I wanted 5 homes, I could drive around San Antonio and have them picked out within a few hours.

Times have changed and now it can be frustrating to find good and affordable used homes to buy to fill your spaces. I have even purchased a few new homes lately.

I am constantly looking for some solutions to mitigate this problem. One thought I had was to create a section on MHPS.com where we put Brokers and Wholesalers together with those looking to buy homes.

We already have the Mobile Home Investor Section and will add a section to this page where you can list your company and services. Look for this to be up in the next day or so.

If you are a broker or wholesaler and want to make contact with those of us looking to buy homes to fill our parks then this will be a great avenue and will be FREE for both buyers and sellers.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions on how to make this better then let me know!

The other day I was talking with my one of the brokers that had been using our site for many years and he was asking me a few questions. One of the questions was if I knew of any good appraisers in a certain state and another was whether I had any recommendations for mobile home movers.

I walked him through MobileHomeParkStore.com and showed him our section for Appraisers and then the section for Mobile Home Transporters. His response was that he had no idea we had these sections on the site.

Needless to say, I started to wonder how many other people out there were in the same boat as he was.

So this month I thought I would just go through the site and give you a rundown of the site.

Here goes:

Mobile Home Parks and Land For Sale - Over 850 mobile home parks for sale. This will take you to a link for the newest listings and updates. From there the list is divided into 4 sections for mobile home parks for sale and then a section for Land For Sale and a section to see a list of the Sold Listings.

Mobile Homes For Sale (on our other site... www.mhbay.com)

Companies for Sale (any other Mobile Home/Manufactured Home Company for sale). This section will include Dealerships, Tranporters, Brokerage Companies, etc.

Real Estate Professionals - this is any broker that specializes and sell mobile home parks.

Mobile Home Park Financing - this is the place to find a new mobile home park loan or refinance of an existing mobile home park.

Mobile Home Loans - this is the place to find loans and refinances on Mobile Homes.

Mobile Home & Mobile Home Park Insurance - several companies that specialize in providing insurance on Mobile Homes and Parks and other Industry Companies.

Mobile Home Park Management Companies - the place to find a professional to manage your mobile home community.

Mobile Home Park Attorneys, Consultants, and Developers - we have several consultants in this section but are lacking on attorneys and developers.

Mobile Home Park Auction Companies - we have some great companies listed here that will auction your community if you decide to go that route.

Section 1031 Companies - need help with your upcoming Section 1031 then you should check out this section.

Mobile Home & Community Appraisers - a quick growing section to help you find a licensed and knowledgeable appraiser.

Employment and Help Wanted Ads - a FREE section of the site to list your positions available or else list your resume.

Mobile Home Park Due Diligence - don't make a huge mistake when buying your first mobile home park - consult the due diligence experts here.

Mobile Home Park Investors - this section lists many investors that are seeking their next mobile home park purchase. If you have a park for sale make sure you contact any of these investors to see if they have interest.

Seeking Partners or JV's - this is a FREE section where you can post what you need and hook up with like minded investors.

Mobile Home Park Note Investors - Did you sell a home and carry paper? If yes, you might find a company here to buy that note and free up your capital.

Mobile Home Investors - another FREE section where you can post your listing as an investor looking to buy homes to fill up your community.

Directory of Mobile Home Parks Nationwide - this is a directory of over 40,000 mobile home parks sorted by state and then city - this is a huge undertaking and we are always looking for updates to this list.

Directory of Mobile Home / Manufactured Home Retailers - this is our directory of about 5,000 dealers sorted by state and then city.

Directory of Mobile Home Transporters - this is our directory of about 3,000 mobile home movers and setup companies also sorted by state and then city.

Directory of Mobile Home Parts & Repair Companies - this is another directory that has many sections... Mobile Home Parts, Service Companies, Skirting, Awnings, Decks, and the list goes on.

Mobile Home Park Books and Resources - we feel like we have the most current and informative books, cd's, and other resources available anywhere.

Other Internet Resources - some companies that we recommend that have helped us over the years.

Aerial Photographers - a great place to get an aerial photo of your mobile home park.

Manufactured Housing Associations - a list of the associations and other resources by state.

Landlord Tenant Laws - a link to each state's landlord and tenant laws regarding manufactured housing.

Newsletters and Articles - a great resource from many knowledgeable professionals in the manufactured housing industry.

Forum - a forum where you can link up with us and others in the industry to talk about it and get answers to your questions.

Comments - see what people have said about us!

In the past 30 days, there have been:

Over 120 new mobile home parks listed for sale on MHPS.com and at least 27 confirmed sales.

In the past 30 days, there have been over 450 new mobile homes listed for sale on MHBay.com and our rankings with the major search engines are getting better all the time.

Affiliate Program:

Are you interested in selling some of our books and other services on your website or to your customers? If so, we have a generous commission structure and all you need to do is put some simple code on your website or email campaigns and we will do the rest.

Best of all it is FREE to join it only takes a few minutes to sign up.

Find out more at our Mobile Home Park Affiliate Program

Don't forget our all new Q&A session every Wednesday at 5:00 Pacific, 6:00 Mtn, 7:00 Central, and 8:00 Eastern. Do you have any mobile home park related questions? If so, join us every Wednesday evening.

Find out more

Here is what Melanie had to say!

Terri,

Yes, we had a huge number of responses from the ad, including our buyer, and would recommend your site to anyone selling a mobile home park.

Thanks again,
Melanie (August 7, 2007)

Here is what Gene had to say!

The park is under contract. Thanks so much. I have had a great response. This definitely could not have been done without MHPS.

Stephanie Gaynor Rollins
Rollins' Rentals and Realty, Inc
North Carolina Mobile Home Park Broker
PH: 910-897-6518 (August 6, 2007- 6 days after posting on the site!)

MHPCollege.com

This is the most complete series ever done on investing and operating mobile home parks and is now available on 24 CD's! You don't have to spend $1,000.00 or more on airfare, meals, and hotel. We bring the experience into your living room, office, or boring commute.

Find out more about MHPCollege.com

Selling your Mobile Home Park:

We are still offering the 15 day trial run to SELL your Mobile Home park. No further obligation or strings attached!

Find out more about selling your mobile home park!

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

Our traffic continues to increase so if you are looking to connect to potential residents and sell or rent more homes, then place your FREE listings on MHBay.com.

Q&A with Dave

Questions:

Dave,

Where can I find a list of Repo'd mobile homes in the Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas area.

Thanks for your help

Don

Answers:

Don,

Here is a list of repo companies.

Vanderbilt 865-380-3523 www.vmfrepos.com
Greentree 800-643-0202 www.gtservicing.com
Origen Financial 800-492-1874 www.ofllc.com
21st Mortgage 800-955-0021 www.21stMortgage.com
Triad Financial 904-223-1111 www.triadfs.com
US Bank 858-720-7116
Popular Housing Services 724-873-3543
www.tammac.com High Priced
www.origenhomes.com
www.21strepos.com
www.vmfrepos.com
GREENTREE REPOS
Greentree 800-643-0202 www.gtservicing.com
ALABAMA 800-940-3581
ARIZONA 800-328-8214
ARKANSAS 800-576-1021
CALIFORNIA 800-365-0089
COLORADO 800-525-8799
FLORIDA 800-874-1159
GEORGIA 800-874-1159
IDAHO 800-392-4276
INDIANA 800-532-7768
MICHIGAN 800-444-1968
MINNESOTA 877-245-6267
MISSISSIPPI 800-874-0793
MISSOURI 800-392-4276
MONTANA 800-548-2632
NEVADA 800-365-0089
NEW HAMPSHIRE 800-992-1018
OHIO 800-686-6600
OKLAHOMA 800-333-4482
OREGON 800-562-2510
SOUTH CAROLINA 800-922-0010
TENNESSEE 800-234-7101
TEXAS 800-772-5361
TEXAS 800-292-7413
VIRGINIA 800-669-2178
VIRGINIA 800-234-7101
WASHINGTON 800-562-2510
WISCONSIN 877-245-6267
CHASE BANK REPOS
WESTERN U. S. 888-667-9133
EASTERN U. S. 800-225-6761

Thanks,

Dave

Question:

Dave,

As we are about to purchase our first mobile home here within the next 30 days we are needing help with a few questions.

What documents are needed to buy a mobile home?

What are the specific forms to make all transactions legal and professional?

Is there paperwork that we need for the mobile home park ownership?

Where do you get the paperwork required?

Where do we go to find the state laws, rules and regulations for mobile home transactions?

Will we be designated by states as "mobile home dealers" if we buy/sell a certain number of mobile homes/yr and if so what are the benefits/risks of becoming a mobile home dealer?

Thanks much for sharing your knowledge and help with us starting and quickly growing our business. sts

Answer:

Steve,

In most states the documents needed to buy a mobile home are the Bill of Sale and the actual transfer of the Mobile Home Title (usually like a car title).

Same answer for the specific forms needed to buy the home. A generic Bill of Sale and the transfer of the title.

As far as owning and operating a mobile home park, you need to make sure the park has a valid license to operate with your company listed as the operator. You usually get this from the city or state board of health.

Here is a link to the mobile home park laws by state: http://www.mobilehomeparkstore.com/mhp_landlord%20tenant%20laws.htm

As far as becoming a mobile home dealer most states have different but similar laws. You can usually get by with selling one home per year without becoming a dealer and stay legal.

The benefits are that you are operating legally and you usually have to go through some type of educational process so that you will learn the process and the specific laws to that state. You can probably see some of the penalties in each state from the prior link if you fail to operate as a dealer if it is required.

If you do buy and sell mobile homes whether you register as a dealer or not, you will be treated as a dealer for income tax purposes. If you decide to buy and sell mobile homes, I would suggest you get our new book on Buying and Selling Used Mobile Homes.

If you need a copy of a sample Bill of Sale and Mobile Home Park Purchase Agreement let me know and I will send you the one I use.

Thanks,

Dave

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
MobileHomeParkStore.com
18923 Highway 65
Cedaredge, CO 81413
PH: 800-950-1364
FX: 970-856-4883