A Quick Start Guide To Buying Mobile Home Parks

Are you interested in buying mobile home parks?

Well, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll take you from A to Z in this quick start guide. The aim of this guide is to provide you with a bird’s eye view of what it takes to buy mobile home parks. It will help you get a glimpse of what the process will entail. We say a glimpse because, at the end of the day, nothing beats a mentor and hands-on experience.

Being an investor is an exciting world of opportunity — and buying mobile home parks is no exception. So we hope you’ll gain a taste of that in the subsequent paragraphs. Are you ready to learn more? Join us!

Brief guide to buying mobile home parks

So let’s walk together and learn about buying mobile home parks. What we love about buying mobile home parks is that it could be deemed a low-risk investment. The more tenants (or individual units) you have, the less of a risk your park becomes. More individual units (or tenants) means you don’t have all your eggs in one basket. 

Building a park vs. flipping a park

Now let’s talk about how you’d get started acquiring a mobile home park. There are two ways to go about this: building a new park and flipping an old park.

In the case of building a new park, you would have to contend with hurdles such as buying land in just the right location. (Remember, it’s all about location, location, location.) You would also need the capital required to handle the development of that land. Plus, unless you want to rent out lots only and have tenants provide their own homes, you’ll also need to think about the capital required to purchase mobile homes for your lots. There’s also the world of permits and other government requirements to contend with. 

Now how about your other option? You can flip an old mobile home park. There are still plenty of old mom-and-pop type parks out there. Oftentimes, the owner hasn’t kept up with raising the rent and is, for various reasons, eager to offload the park. This can be a prime opportunity for a new owner to come in and raise the rent to a point at which it’s still competitive for the area. 

Learn about your market

Once you’ve decided whether you want to build a new mobile home park or flip an old park, it’s time to learn about your market. Who is your target mobile home park tenant? The elderly? Young families?

After you’ve established your target audience, consider what amenities would be popular to have nearby for your mobile home park community. Learn about the area. Are schools nearby? Grocery stores? How about the hospital?

Seek out your mobile home park

If you’re looking to build a new mobile home park, begin scouting out potential properties. And even if you’re looking to flip an old mobile home park, the process will be similar.

There are many ways you can seek out your mobile home park or parcel. Check out online listings, make cold calls, reach out to realtors, and check local publications. You can even put out a road sign stating that you’re interested in buying a mobile home park. Be sure to leave a good phone number.

Ensure the property will work for your vision

After you’ve found the property that you’re interested in, make sure it will work for your vision. As an example, it would be tragic to buy property for the development of a park only to find that there’s a regulation prohibiting its use for residential purposes.

Prepare for closing

Here you at closing. And thanks to all the research you’ve done, you’re ready to seal the deal. Make sure that you get a good lender and that the appraisal is completed. Additionally, see to it that the seller provides you with a list of inventory such as tools and office equipment that would come with the park.

Reach for the stars, remember your goals

In this quick start guide to buying mobile home parks, we discussed the importance of setting goals and knowing what you want before any paperwork is sitting before you. 

It’s a wise way to shop and invest. So be informed and as a result, you can buy to win. 

Exercise patience toward the naysayers in your life who think mobile home investing is throwing your hard-earned money to the wind. As we discussed in the article, mobile homes have proven themselves to be viable housing options.

For some inspiration, check out our spotlight on 3 Scruffy Mobile Home Parks & Their Amazing Transformations.