Is it a deal?

The first challenge is finding and evaluating a deal. Since a lot of people have questions about the factors that go into evaluating a park, I’ll start at the beginning, with some of the things we took into account in assessing this opportunity. Madison Woods MHC is turnaround situation. There are about 100 lots on 20+ acres. When we took over, it was operating at less than 50% capacity. Most of the habitable homes were owner occupied; an additional couple dozen vacant homes were in various states of disrepair. The park ground is on a private circular drive that is paved. The city provides water and sewer to the park but bill back of submeters is the responsibility of the park.

The city of Madison, GA is a quant historic small town. It is a weekend getaway place for Atlantians. Conveniently located off I-20, it is also a popular stop on the way to larger cities north and south. It has a plethora of stores, restaurants, and other establishments catering to tourism. During due diligence, we learned that a Lowe’s and Super Walmart recently opened; knowing that extensive research is usually behind such decisions, it was reassuring supportive evidence. We also looked at factors that affect the supply and demand for mobile home communities:
• The only other MHC in the county is in the process of being closed down for redevelopment
• Most of the housing stock consists of single family houses, the average price home is over $200k
• Rental housing is scarce, there are a couple of rental communities, 2 BR townhouses rent for about 650/mo

Much of the employment base consists of relatively low wage jobs in retail or the service sector. All of this led us to conclude there was significant demand for workforce housing. What we needed now was a business plan.

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