A drive through various mobile home parks may cause you to note that some parks are neat and tidy while others are not.
Some parks look like junk yards as they are littered by old, vacant mobile homes that have seen better days. It’s not a pretty picture to scan the place and see junk vehicles, broken furniture, and mildewy Little Tikes cars.
Unfortunately, there’s a reason behind the stigma of junky mobile home parks. But it doesn’t have to be that way. (A driving tour of mobile home parks will reveal variety in the trashiness department!)
The garbage wars
As a mobile home investor, how can you put up a good fight against the trashiness? Are there incentives you can use?
Follow along as we talk about tips for investors. We’ll also provide some ideas on how residents themselves can take initiative to clean up their space and maintain it beautifully.
Setting up standards
Having standards of cleanliness for your mobile home park will help raise the bar.
Some of these standards should increase curb appeal for your mobile home park. You may want to create policies that prohibit storing non-working vehicles and old appliances in mobile home yards. And you may also consider requiring a sightly exterior and yard. (That means no trash pile-ups, no debris collecting in the yard, no dilapidated porches, and no massively peeling paint on a home’s siding!)
Setting up expectations
But it doesn’t end with setting up standards. Your standards should be written down with procedures clearly laid out. These procedures will explain what will happen if your mobile home park residents choose to not comply. Your procedures will also identify appropriate deadlines from the date of notice.
Be reasonable. It probably wouldn’t help with relationship building to send a notice of policy changes and expect people to get their non-working vehicles towed off within 24 hours. Similarly, it would be unreasonable to expect tenants to have their replacement mobile home skirting purchased and installed by tomorrow afternoon.
Send out a reminder
We suggested above that you include a deadline as part of your written expectations. Prior to the deadline, you should send out a reminder which states the consequences if nothing happens on the tenant end.
The consequence could be that you’ll initiate the repairs, updates, or garbage pickup yourself, but that they’ll be billed for it. In some situations, tenant noncompliance could eventually lead to eviction. You’ll need to detail the consequences in your policy too.
If it falls on you to see to it that the mobile home and property is cleaned up and spruced up, please be sure that you take plenty of before and after pictures.
Talk to an attorney
Before you find yourself embroiled in a sticky situation, please talk to an attorney about your proposed changes for fighting the trash problem. Explain how you intend to go about implementing these changes. Show the attorney your updated policies and procedures for your mobile home park.
It would be unpleasant to discover too late that your methods are actually illegal where you live. Better to be safe than sorry!
Help your residents make the changes happen
If you have residents that are keen on cooperating but don’t have the immediate resources to facilitate these changes, come up with a plan to help. You can pay for the materials and work out a deal where your tenants pay you off over time.
Encourage residents to take pride in their park
In the end, it’s important that your residents share your vision for your mobile home park. If your new rules cause some residents to leave, you don’t necessarily have to see that as a bad thing. You want the right residents in your park.
So how do you encourage your residents to share your vision and take pride in their mobile home park?
Make it fun
Now, who doesn’t love a contest? Maybe you could advertise a “beautiful mobile home” contest with a cash prize — the winnings go to the home with the best curb appeal. This could coincide with any program you develop to help your residents pay for the upgrades and cleanup.
Talk about the benefits
Discuss the benefits of a clean yard with mobile home park residents. There’s pride and stewardship for the benefit of the environment. Additionally, keeping spaces clean is a good way to keep pests out of your park.
Plan a community clean-up day
Another way to encourage your residents to keep a lid on junk buildup is to foster community clean-up days. All of a sudden the shared park carries more meaning when you’re working alongside your neighbor to better it!
Remind tenants about the penalties
While penalties are a negative form of encouragement, they can sure drum up energy to get everyone to participate in keeping the junk away.
Watch your mobile home park transform
We hope these suggestions have armed you to tackle the garbage problem in your mobile home park. We wish you the best in fostering a clean, welcoming community.
And if your cleanup efforts involve removing mobile homes that are past their prime, check out Disposing Of Old Mobile Homes Safely, Legally, And As Easily As Possible.
About EZ Homes Design Team
