How many mobile home parks are in each state in the U.S.? What common attributes do they share? What are the key differences in mobile home parks in northern states over southern? Eastern over western? These and many other issues are covered in this event.
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The Mobile Home Park Market Review: 49 States In 49 Minutes - Transcript
Welcome to our MA2.com lecture series entitled Mobile Home Park market review, 49 states in 49 minutes. This is Frank Ross and tonight where to go versus a topic that we really never talked about in that much depth, and that's review of the macro Mobile Home Park market in the states of which there are mobile home parks now, there's roughly 45,000 parts in the US. However, there's one state that has none, and that's Hawaii and that's why our topic and our title is 49, not 50 is there are no parks in Hawaii now. It's an odd bit of Trivia is there actually are two mobile homes in Hawaii.
They were sent probably around a decade or so ago and nobody knows why because the cost of transport, a manufactured home from the mainland to Hawaii would be far more cost than the cost they them on a regular foundation in Hawaii, so no one really ever knows why there were two ordered. They're the only two that ever were shipped to Hawaii, but two does not make a park, so Hawaii has none. If you figure there's 49 states and there's 45,000 parks, that's roughly about a thousand or so per state, but as you'll see in a moment, that's not actually the case. There's some states that have a lot of parks and there's some that have very, very few. That's what's going to make tonight's presentation kind of interesting is I've ranked the states based on the number of parts that each of them have. How do I get this data? It's data that only we have.
It took us two years and two people to build Americans only database of the parks that are in the United States in the next nurse list is only 10,000 links, so that we've got the full 45,000. In addition to, as we discussed, as we go the size of the number of parts in each state ... We're all going to go over a lot of additional items. We think are noteworthy. The median home price that needs states, the average apartment rent each state, discussion with the cap rates and need state, lender desirability in each state. Whether or not that state has tenant friendly laws to the best of our knowledge, and then any other important items we think is influenced in some way to decide whether or not you'd want to buy parks in that state or not.
Now, as implied by the title, we've only got one minute per state. It's going to be very fast paced at about a 5,000 foot elevation. Very macro in nature. So forgive me for doing a lot of rough generalization. Obviously in every state there's good areas, bad areas are very diverse, so it's really not fair to try and encapsulate an entire state down to a minute, but that's all we have. The time that we have immediately following the lecture, we're going to have endless Q & A.
Now, Brandon's has warned me that the actual recording shuts off after three hours, so we'll have to hold a data three hours in total links, so by 10:00 central time we'll have to end one way or the other, but as soon as we get the lecture over with more than happy to answer questions and to our time completely runs out. Let's go ahead and get started. The first state we're going to talk about is the state of Texas, the lone star state. Texas in fact has more mobile home parks than any state in America coming in at 5,176 mobile home parks. That is a lot of parks. Median home price in Texas is a hundred and $56,349 and the average department read is $1,189 a month. What do we know from that? We know that the state has relatively high home prices, although not as steep as you'll find out in some other state shortly, and the apartment rents were strong, but again, not tending the stick scale as you'll find in some other states, but overall, very, very healthy as far as the housing prices, which creates a real good strong demand for affordable housing.
The cap rates and taxes are kind of average. They're very market dependent. The lowest cap rates will find. You're probably going to be in the major markets of Dallas and Austin, San Antonio and Houston, but you can still find good deals in a lot of suburban markets even to those cities that are actually fairly good. Now, let's fairly good in Texas. Typically, cap rates of 7 and 8% are head of the norm, but we still find frequently they're up there, the 10 plus category. Lenders are, excuse me, lender desirability is extremely high in Texas. There has been a lot of, have a good loads made there and not many of the faults. As a part of that, lenders feel pretty good about making loans in Texas. I've never had a deal, nor have I ever seen a deal in Texas could not get a loan. I think it's a very attractive spot for lenders. As far as tenant friendly laws, there are a really not, any major tenant laws to be concerned on. As a park owner, the evictions process is pretty straightforward. There's no first option if you go to sell. In fact, in fact, Texas has some unusually attractive laws for park owners, such as the law they passed a couple years ago, which decreed that no city could stop a Parker from using any vacant lot they have because they superseded all grandfathering claims. We also have a very active mobile home association there. There's lots of good things in Texas.
Some other items of interest, is one of our favorite states. That's where I bought my first part day by them mightiest first few parks there. We've liked it because we've always done very well. There is a state that's always performed well for park owners. What are reason perhaps that you've also got a very large expanding demographic there, which is great for the industry. It's people who really, really liked the product, great pride of ownership is a really great job with it.
Also got lots of population increases in most of Texas people moving in constantly from other areas, of course we're moving there. One of the items in Texas is, it's got a very diverse economy, not like it used to be going back 20, 30 years ago. Of course Texas was mostly about oil and gas. Since that time has become much more diversified. There's many, many corporate headquarters there. There's a very large portion of the population engaged in healthcare, education, all those things that we like in a market. Although there are of course some sectors that still are very oil and gas specific like Midland Odessa. Nevertheless, even Midland Odessa has become diversified overtime. Texas is our number one state as far as mobile home parks and that will move to the number two state. Number two state as far as sheer number of mobile home parks in the United States, California. California has right around exactly 4,000 mobile home parks, so not. Not quite as big as Texas. It's a thousand shy of Texas is locked deep 5176. That's a lot of mobile home parks now. Of course it is like Texas, a very large state, so maybe that's why when you drive around you don't feel like you see nothing but mobile home parks despite the sheer number of them because it was a pretty large landmass.
Now the first thing you notice when you look at California is different than Texas is the median home price is 501,982, which is three times higher than taxes. So that's really, really expensive. The average apartment rent is $1,917 a month, so right off the bat you know that the demand for affordable housing is vast, because that's really, really expensive housing. The cap rates in California are notoriously very, very low. That's something you hear from anyone who's looking for parks in California's are always disappointed in how low people are willing to push those cap rates down through sheer competition, and that's a problem.
California, when it comes to cap rates, is an area where you typically do not find things hardly ever in two digits and it's hard to find things even in the high single digits. How low is low? I see a lot of things in California changing hands is with cap rates as low as 3 and 4%, which is very, very low. Lender desirability is obviously very, very high because California has a very good track record of land appreciation and real estate does fairly well there. Are there any tenant friendly laws there? Of course the answer is yes. Underlying laws there are extremely tenant friendly in many of the carpenters there feel very embattled by two features. One, they can take up to a year or two to get an eviction done, which is kind of crazy. If someone's not paying you rent, you would imagine that whoever writes the laws would make it so that you could remove that resident in a short span of time, but unfortunately California very long span of time and so that's why in California, so many evictions are done with what's called cash for keys. Basically just pain the resident leave because it's cheaper to pay them than to wait two years to finally take possession of the home.
The other issue in California is a law that only exists in California, and that's a law that tripped off the folks over at ELS, and that they had 100,000,000 dollar judgment against them, and that is a law that allows tenants to sue you if you did not maintain the property, is called the failure to maintain law and it's the only state where that exists. That's again, very unpleasant for park owners to have to worry about that. Now I will tell you in the case of ELS, even though they got a hundred million judgment against ELS, where that park was knocked out at a higher level court, it ended up being settled for 10,000,000. Although they never gave that much publicity, so wasn't quite the ending that the tenants had hoped for. Nevertheless, the very fact that the state law like that on their books is a little terrifying. I believe the ELS case started off by there'll be an algae and the fountain out front, so that front sprung into 100,000,000 dollar judgment, which I think we would all agree is absolutely insane.
Are we … Do we have any parks in California? The answer's no, we do not. We have never owned a park in California. Why? Because number one, it's really not in our backyard. It's not really a state that we really focus on, and number two, we've never seen a deal that had a cap rate high enough to really intrigued us in California, so others observations on California. Number one, it's very hard to overcome the land value. Many people with mobile home parks in California at not as mobile home parks, but as future land development and they factor that into the price and that's a problem for us because we're not land speculators. Another thing we'll find in California, some very, very old parks. The industry basically began in some ways in California, the movie, the long trailer that was based in California in Nineteen 51 with Lucy and Ricky. California has a history with the industry that way, way back. As a result of that, you will find a lot of smaller loss in California and you'll also find a lot of utility issues. There's probably more parks that are master metered and electricity there than any other state I've seen parks in and again, it's just a virtue of the age. Now, of course counterbalancing that are the reds. California rents are often well over a thousand a month in lot rent. Some parts are over 2000 a month, a lot rent. Whereas, and we're going to be so over $3,000 a month in lot rent, so that's the offset. Have a lot of things that make life a little difficult to be in a mobile home park landlord in California, but they're offset by, by sheer money.
The number third position, you've probably already guessed this one, that would be Florida. Florida has 3,785 mobile home parks. She's a little under California. It's got a median home price of $211,300 in average apartment or rent of $1,379 a month. Housing market is very strong there. Excuse me. The cap rates are notoriously low in Florida. It's much like California. People are always sticking the value of the land seemingly in their equation, so they're looking not only at what's the mobile home park produced its ally, but then they also look at what does this land going to be someday and that makes it really hard to get a good buy because even if the parties aren't functioning well, people always say, well, we're not doing that great, but hey, it's all about the land. That makes it hard.
Florida has obviously very, very high lender desirability. Most every bank is immediately intrigued by any loan in Florida, so that's a given. Tenant friendly laws? Yeah, they offer a thing called the prospectus which is unique is the only state that has it. It basically is like a business reports to residents, telling them what you're doing now and into the future. It can hamstring you on raising rent and other items though. Also in Florida, I believe they had the first option to by law there were the residents have the first option to buy the park that people will go to sell it. They don't often do it, but it's a huge time constraint. It really slows down the process of selling your park. Are we there? Yes, we are there. We own one park in Florida in almost Sosa, so we do have one park there.
You'll find a Florida, some of the oldest parts of the US equally as old, if not even a little older than the stuff in California, and these parts of course have lots of small lots, lots of master metered power. You'll find a lot of RV hybrid parks is allowed, are small, so you'll see parks that are maybe 50% or 50% mobile home park. It makes it kind of hard to evaluate because even though these RVs are there for the long-term, it could of course always move at the drop of a hat of. There's no barrier. There's not the $5,000 financial barrier to moving, some things a little more difficult.
Another unique feature of Florida or weekly rentals for some reason those who rent homes in Florida frequently rent them by the week. I am not sure why that is. It's the only state in which I see weekly rentals, not a big fan of weekly rentals because we liked tenants who are there for the long haul when you have a mindset of living by the week, it's kind of hard to stick that into our business model.
The number four position as the state of Kentucky. Now, how's that for a shopper? No one's no one on this call. Probably ever thought that the fourth largest congregation of parks in America would be in all places Kentucky, but so you have it. Median home price in Kentucky, a hundred and $31,150 and the average apartment rent's $884 a month. The cap rates in Kentucky are predominantly higher because they're simply not that many people that want to invest in the state of Kentucky. Nothing wrong with it. I go there frequently. I live in Missouri and I could be in Kentucky and in two hours and I liked Kentucky. I like doing down there, but I think we would all agree that the Kentucky economy is not known for being one of the strongest state economies in the US.
That being said, let her desirability is also not super high because a lot of Kentucky is more rural and that concerns a lot of banks as to what they're getting into as far as the economic drivers on that. Tenant friendly laws? The answer is no. They're really not that tenant friendly. Pretty much you can evict people. You don't have to wait a year or two like you do in California. Are we in Kentucky? Yes, we are. We have a park in Kentucky, Louisville. Other observations on Kentucky, lots of rural parts, and that is why there's so many parsing Kentucky yet you don't hear about it much. There's a whole lot of parts that are in very, very small and remote areas and because of that, most people just don't think of Kentucky as a big mobile home park market because there really are no parks their own by rich or other large institutional owners, at least not much anyway.
The hottest market in Kentucky of course, is Louisville. If you've never been to Louisville, you'll be very impressed. It's very, very major city, very impressive downtown. All kinds of neat things going on, new development and stuff. After Louisville I think you dropped down to Lexington, but the problem in Kentucky is, and as you'll hear in other states tonight, there's a very large contrast in Kentucky between the city areas and the rural areas in other states such as Missouri, you'll find the rural areas still typically have a relatively diverse economy and high lot rent, but Kentucky as often feast or famine. You have areas that have a lot going on. Then you have areas that don't have much going on. Number fifth, the state of Washington, Washington as 274 for mobile home parks. It's a major player in the mobile home park business. Median home price is $344,438. The average department risk $1,705 a month.
What does that tell you right off the bat? Well, it tells me there's a lot of demand for affordable housing because that's a pretty high home prices. Cap rates like California, very low. Everyone loves the state of Washington. There's a lot going on there economically. A lot of high-tech things. Consequently, real estate investors that are willing to pay a lower cap rates because they really believe in the growth of the market letter. Lender desirability, of course, extremely high. Why would it not be high, everybody loves Washington. Loves investing there. Of course, it's easy to get a loan on a mobile home park in the state of Washington. 10 apparently out laws. Yes. Washington has a little bit of California's rubbed off on Washington, so the laws there are a little tougher from a landlord's perspective than some other states are. We there, no, we are not there in the state of Washington.
Other observations on Washington? One big one. A lot of the parks that we see in Washington are very, very much RV hybrid parts. In fact, you often see a triple hybrid in Washington. You'll see the park that's got not only mobile home lots, but RV lots and then often at the front, there's old motor courts or motels which will often been converted into apartments. Really only see those in Washington and California and that's simply because of sheer age. Those are parts that are so old that they began with a motor court. The Motor court later rented lots to RVs and over time some of his RV lots became mobile home. It's kind of a unique when you see, I can tell just literally from an overhead schematic or pictures of a park that is from Washington. How, because I'll see this RV hybrid typically a couple of really nice scenery.
Number six, position in the state of Ohio, Ohio has 1,940 for mobile home parks, median home price, $145,339. Average department read $942 a month. Cap Rates in Ohio where traditionally, you know, average to a little lower, people have found over time, Ohio has performed very well on the mobile home park front, so a lot of investors like Ohio for parks let her desirability is about average. No letters thrill when you say the word Ohio yet and then is turned off. I don't think you have trouble getting loans. Tenant friendly law as well. The biggest problem they have there is a state just has been psychotic on some issues such as the safe act. Ohio is a state to declare that installment agreement is a disguised mortgage where they got that from. Nobody really knows or all kinds of papers written by lawyers after they announced that saying they were completely wrong.
Also, they've done some usual things as far as their installation laws. As far as bringing in homes and putting them on lot, so it's not the easiest to get along with some regards, but as far as the actual tenant laws, as far as the evictions I think is okay. Are we in Ohio? Yes. We have many parts in Ohio. What are some other things we noted in Ohio? One is you can still get some great deals there because a lot of those parts are still on by the original moms and pops and a lot of them are really let things go for some reason. You'll find some turnarounds in Ohio that are a cut above a lot of them because for some reason mom and pops have held it for way too long and they really let it go into the dumpster and so there's a lot of opportunity to bring it back out again.
Also, Ohio has a lot higher rates than people anticipate. Parts of Ohio typically in the mid threes up into the fours and as a result, when you add that together with a lot of really a hardscrabble turnarounds, where there's huge opportunity in Ohio. There's a lot of people who buy the parts in Ohio and a penny on the dollar and turn them around into phenomenally well with historically a good state for the industry.
Moving on to number seven and number seven, position the state of Georgia. That probably shocks everyone. 1757 mobile home parks in the state of Georgia. Median home price of a hundred and $67,787, and the average apartment rent 1000 cap rates. There is, again, it's a state where there's a huge contrast. Atlanta major US city, very low cap rates, but if you go out in the rural areas, the cap rates can be extremely high as literally a state where the cap rates swing goes three times probably between Atlanta and a lot of the parts of the state, so it's all over the map.
Lender desirability is the same. If you're looking at the mobile home park in Atlanta area, he will have no difficulty getting a loan. If you're in a rural area will have huge difficulty all over the map. Tender friendly laws? No, not really. It's not really done for having tenant friendly laws, so as far as evicting and operating your business doesn't seem to be a problem. Are we in Georgia? No, we are not in Georgia. We've never under park in Georgia. Atlanta of course is key to the Georgia economy. That is the 800 pound gorilla of all of these cities in the state. If you can buy a park that's near Atlanta all the better. However, in a lot of the rest of the state you're going to find one thing and that's very little, lot rats. So it's amazing. The contrast between Atlanta and the rest of the state is very, very night and day.
When you're looking at parks in Georgia, you'll know kind of my lot rent where you're at. If you're looking into the park, Georgia and a lot rents are the 200 and 300 and you're in a major market rent in Georgia as low as $100 a month and it's really hard to make money at that price level.
On to Pennsylvania and a number eight position, Pennsylvania, $175,294 median home had 1,505 parks in Pennsylvania. Very major player in ballparks. Average apartment right there is $1,121 a month. The cap rates in Pennsylvania are pretty much average. They're not super high, nor are they super low. They're just pretty much steady. Lender desirability again, average. I don't know of any lender that ever has red lined Pennsylvania as a state not to make loans in, so I think it performs pretty well. Tenant friendly laws in Pennsylvania? Not really. I don't know of any laws in Pennsylvania that would preclude you from running your businesses okay. Are we there? Yes, we are. We have parks in places like Mount Pleasant and Greensburg, so we are in the state of Pennsylvania right ourselves.
Observations on the state, you have a lot of strong lot rents there, a lot of Pennsylvania because of that hundred and $75,000 median home price. There's a huge affordable housing shortage and that's pushed the rent up a little bit. Pittsburgh is probably the hottest market in Pennsylvania and it had a lot of redevelopment. I one time went to Pittsburgh looking for parks and I found no less than eight parts that have recently been torn down and made into such items as shopping centers. You'll find a lot of good deals in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is another state, where if you can find a deal that's underappreciated by mom and pops, there's lots of potential to turn that around.
Now we are on state Number nine, Oregon, 1,417 mobile home parks. Median home price, $318,675. Very high. Average department read 1354. Again, very high. Cap rates, relatively low. Why? People like Oregon has a very good future and obviously the stat I just said would point out that they're probably correct. Lender desirability, incredibly high. It'd be very, very hard on any decent deal on Oregon not to get an attractive loan on it. Tenant Laws not really. Not really. Not something that I hear people complaining about. We don't own any parks in Oregon, so that never owned a park there. That's why I don't know a lot about the attendance laws there, but I've never heard a partner complaint about it because they get lots of older parks in Oregon, a lot of density issues and that has resulted in getting a lot of RV hybrid. It's a big item in Oregon of course is just a huge demand for affordable housing.
Another item in Oregon you'll find is there's not a lot of stigma against the product in Oregon and in fact for all I know, Oregon and the western states or wherever that will finally bring out that resurgence of popularity and the product maybe by edgy millennials or people who like and to Harken back to the fifties and the sixties and that care for each trailer park living.
Number 10th position is the state of Indiana, 1,193. Mobile home parks, median home price, $139,352. Average apartment rent, $959 a month. Cap Rates in Indiana relatively are higher. You'll find a lot of deals in Indiana in the double digit cap range. A lender desirability is about average. I don't hear lenders complaining about Indiana nor do I hear anyone ever jump out with her seat? Oh my gosh. What? Parking? Indiana. So I think it's pretty much normal. Tenant friendly laws, no, not really. Are we there yet? Yes we are. We have very large letters in Indianapolis and some other markets in Indiana. That's the observations we have. There's a huge range of park sizes in Indiana for some reason. It's a market in which you are soon to find the 10 space park is 150 Space Park to mom and pops really built in a lot of different sizes back in the day. There are a lot of good turnarounds to be found in Indiana. There's been a lot of people who've done well in Indiana. We ourselves are doing well in Indiana, so it's a state where you can find just the right mix of the good location and a mom and pop who have not managed it well. There's a lot of cool things you can do with it. Be careful in Indiana as far as the market size or some great markets in Indiana, like Indianapolis, but you've also got some old rust-belty markets where the major employer was a factory that shut down a few years ago. Just be very careful on your market selection. And that attest ad is absolutely mandatory.
Next in number 11 position is the state of New York. New York has 1099 mobile home parks. Not one person on this call would have bet to New York would be nearly one of the top 10 largest states for the park industry. Median home price, $ 423,179. Every department at $1,794 a month. What does that tell you? Huge demand for affordable housing. It's is very expensive in New York. The cap rates are obviously lower. New York, obviously is a very major state in commerce and real estate. As a result, people bid those prices down to much lower cap rates. How low? We've seen those in New York frequently they're buying and selling for four and five and six caps. Lenders desirability is very, very high. Having the word New York attached to your load to pretty much assure you'll get the thing done.
Tenant friendly laws. Yes, of course. New York does have tenant friendly laws or even rent control in some areas. Evictions could be rough there. Are we there? No, we are not in New York in any form or fashion. Obviously New York is another state though where you've got a lot of diversity in the economies and one reason you don't hear a lot about parks in New York is most of them are rural. There's not really many parts in the Manhattan area or most of the larger city markets of New York, but in fact most of those 1099 parks or found out more rural areas.
Moving on to North Carolina in the 12th position, there's 1099 mobile home parks in the state of North Carolina. Median home price $163,134. Average apartment rent is $1035 a month. Cap rates, pretty much average in North Carolina. We don't see anything too low nor do we see things as usually high. Of course it's all depending on what city you're looking in. Lender desirability is pretty much average. I rarely hear of anyone having any property alone on a park in North Carolina. Tenant friendly laws, there not really. North Carolina is pretty, pretty good about the idea that landlord should have the right to get the resident out if they don't pay rest. Are we there? Yes, we are there. We're in a town called Hamlets, North Carolina. Other observations in North Carolina. There's a lots of economic growth going on in North Carolina. For some reason. It doesn't toot his horn much. There's a lot going on there, but the average American probably doesn't know a lot of the state because I don't think they really put much money into their public relations campaigns. Obviously you've got big cities like Fayetteville and other spots, but they also have a lot of rural areas.
Again, in North Carolina, before you get too excited about enlisting on the market, I want to really pinpoint where the heck is in a major metro or a hundred thousand plus or the more in a rural area.
All right, moving on to number 13. Our 13th largest mobile home park market is the state of Michigan with 1069 mobile home parks. Median home price of Michigan is a $150,042, average apartment rent, 1035 a month. Temporaries in Michigan, they tend to be higher, but again, they're all over the map based on where you're located at. Letter desirability. It's growing. But if I had given the same speech 10 years ago I was sitting had been done because Michigan is a state that endures this horribly embarrassing period in Detroit, have just a complete economic meltdown and terrifies lenders so much since the twenties is the largest city having to blow up effectively.
They had trouble making loans there because they were just very, very spoofs or what the performance would be. So for a while, lenders what's called redlining in the state, which means they will not make any loans there at all. Now, why is it unfair? It's unfair because the state has two completely different personalities of these, Eastern Michigan & Western Michigan. Western has never had any economic problem. The Riviera to the Midwest. A lot of people in Chicago, and even where Michigan to vacation or some cases live in Missouri always go to western even to retire, it's very unfair that people throw the whole state, under the bus simply because of Detroit. Very, very unfair for indeed. Are we located in Michigan? Yes. We are located there by one of our top partners in Traverse City, Michigan, so I'm in Michigan frequently.
Are the print or the laws, their tenant friendly? Now they're pretty much normal laws. What else can I tell you about Michigan? While there's some unbelievably great turnaround deals to be found in Michigan because during that period, a lot of parts from a hundred percent occidental, not uncommon to find 50% occupancy in Michigan. If you can find a park like that because in a great location and you can really couple that with cash program, you could do some real damage there. As far as filling vacant lots, you can also get really good price in there simply because people are so shell shocked from the Detroit collapsed. If I had to put Michigan in one word, I'd say under appreciated. It's really a great state and it's sad that people don't appreciate how great it is.
Moving on to the 14th position in South Carolina. South Carolina has 1067 mobile home parks median home price, a hundred and $51,500, and the average apartment rents for 1051 a month. The cap rates are all over the map in South Carolina. If you're in Charleston, they're low. If you're in more rural areas are extremely high lender desirability is higher because when you hear the word South Carolina, most people are really thinking Charleston at are very turned on by that. However, again, it's going to depend on where you are. Letters not like rural areas. If you're a rural area of South Carolina, the charm of the name South Carolina may wear off pretty rapidly. Gender friendly laws? No, not really. The laws are pretty much normal. Are we there? Yes, we are in South Carolina and one of our favorite parts is there in Charleston over called Somerville. One interesting feature of South Carolina has the highest percentage of its population living in mobile homes.
Roughly 16% of the population of the state of South Carolina live in a mobile home. It's kind of embarrassing because Miss South Carolina was, was last down and bullied on the Internet when a few years ago she claimed that South Carolina, Carolinians early in the mobile homes. The people in the state apparently didn't know the stat. She said in her speech that roughly it was 18 %, okay, she was a little off, but not much at 16% of just a lot of people in South Carolina live in mobile homes. Now again, Charleston is very, very hot market, but Charleston also has a problem as other parts of South Carolina and that's called hurricane risk. Looking at buying a park and South Carolina, make sure that you are not in a coastal area that floods. If you are not at a flooding situation or hurricane means high winds, maybe tree collapses, maybe a home gets knocked down off It's blocks is the flooding is very dangerous. Our Park called Somerville is many, many miles inland, so it doesn't only have a flooding risk that you're looking at South Carolina, be Very concerned and very proactive, but knowing where you stand in relation to hurricanes.
Next, our 15th state is Minnesota, was 1049 mobile home parks, median home price in Minnesota tutor and 24,822 people. Average apartment rent, $1,112 per month. Average of Minnesota average to lower because there's a lot of people who like to stay. Let her desirability. Again, average to hire because people just like it, you never hear about the faults and issues in the state of Minnesota. Tenant friendly laws? Yes, they have some unusual laws. Probably the strangest is there laws on storm shelters where we looked at buying one of our parks in Minnesota where the first part we looked at, we were informed by the city that we would have to build a brand new fancy storm shelter. When we call Minnesota, the stats were so severe. Storm shelter would cost more than the park.
However, we later found out, still during our due diligence period, that we didn't have to build a shelter. We only had provided a sheltering plan. The sheltering plan is you can find another building if you can gain access to, you can use that as your shelter, so it save the day, press on that deal. Are we in Minnesota? Yes, we are. We have many, many parts of Minnesota. What do we think about Minnesota? Well, one thing is you've got really great customers in Minnesota. I don't know what the deal is, but their pride of ownership is second to none as is a very, very high collections rate and their stability. You'll, you'll rarely find better people living in mobile home parks that you do in Minnesota. Also, there's a lot of physical beauty of this parcel.
Minnesota obviously in the winters could be severe, becomes spring, everything's blooming and growing and green and it just looks fantastic. It to show you some pictures that would blow your mind. There's obviously very high on demand because of that median home price at 224,822 bucks. So we really liked the state of Minnesota, the most part I do like the state of Minnesota.
In the 16th position is the state of Illinois with 1041 mobile home parks in it. The median home price in Illinois, a hundred and eighty $7,215. The average department read $1031 per month. The cap rates are all over the map, just as the state of Michigan is divided by the East and the West, Illinois divided by the north and the south, and they seemingly have nothing in common regarding real estate. Northern Illinois, cap rates are tend to be lower and in southern Illinois they tend to be higher. Lender desirability is also cut down that same path. Northern Illinois, lots of lender desirability in southern Illinois, lenders get little scared.
Tenant friendly laws, gas and only does have some tenant friendly laws, Illinois is mostly concerned for some reason with home sales and titling, that is their big pet peeve is you have to have a license and a little book in your office with all the titles attached. They're just very manic over a home titling for some reason. Are we there in Illinois? Yes. In fact, we're not there with the largest owners of parks in the state of Illinois. That occurred when we started buying up our parks there in Urbana, Illinois, University of Illinois, so we are, we are big and Illinois.
Things to think about in Illinois? Number one. Let's talk for a minute about this. Northern versus southern. What you have is all of your economic vitality and Illinois seems seemingly for the most part is in the north and the southern areas, mostly rural with also a lot coal mining in it.
It's very strangely the difference in the northern and southern parts of the state, so we're looking at the deal you want to do, delineate where the heck is it and jump on best places and check it out. Also, you have a really high property tax and much of the state and particularly the Chicago area there areas in Chicago with a property tax can be as much as 10% of the assessed value, which is 10 times more than it is where I am in Missouri that's a lot.
Also, Illinois mainly because of the population and the age of the stage. There's a lot of college towns. Again, they're almost all the north, so it's not uncommon and you can find different markets like Decatur and Urbana and all these towns that there's a whole big employer, our colleges, and of course we love educational employer, so maybe that's why we own more parks there than anybody else in America.
All right. Number 17 position is the state of Nevada. Nevada has a median home price of $247,504. Average apartment rent of $1,401 per month. Cap rates in Nevada tend to be lower. Why? A lot of Californians drive on over bid those cap rates down. Lender desirability, hire people in the here in Nevada. They get all kinds of excited about it. Again, maybe the proximity to California or just the fact that Las Vegas is exciting to everybody. Tenant friendly, laws? No, not really. You're pretty much fine. Are we there? No, we're not there. Although we have one in Nevada before. Obviously in Nevada, the first observation, the biggest city there is of course to Las Vegas, so if you're looking at parks, I would want to be in Las Vegas if I could. Also, you have to do a lot of test ads in Nevada was one of the worst performing test ads we ever did was in a mobile home park near the Las Vegas Strip. We thought if the phone would ring off the hook, it ring virtually none at all. You have to really know in Nevada where the heck you are was the school district and what's desirable and what's not a desirable.
Our 18th state stated Arizona with 1026 mobile home parks median home price $211,171. The average department rent, $1,292 cap there. Low Arizona, very, very much near as California. I think a lot of investors from California done one state to the east and so they've got the cap rates down, not quite the California levels, but definitely lower than we typically want to buy. Lender desirability is very high because Arizona's got a lot going on and again, it, it benefits from that California tie in. Tenant friendly laws? No, not really. I've never heard anyone complain about Arizona's laws. Are we there? No, not really. There's a lots of California investors who have migrated over to Arizona, again, it has really had some impact on mobile home parks in their cap rates there, so and also kind of like California because you have so many investors from California there. A Lot of people look at parts and Arizona is landholding tools that underlie land value, and of course we're not speculators, so that makes it really hard for us to get involved in that.
19th position, my home state of Missouri with 951 mobile home parks, median home price, a hundred and 51,000, $153 and the average department rate of $962 a month. The cap rates are pretty much average, lender desirability, pretty much average college is very steady, very stable tenant friendly laws? No, not really to speak of. They were pretty much just what you would expect. Someone doesn't pay. You want to sell your park has no first option to the tenants, so nothing really that it would bother you.
Are we there? Yes we are there. We have lots and lots of parts in Missouri. Other highlights in Missouri, much higher lot rents and most people would think it's not a typical in the lot rents in the mid threes, even higher in Missouri. Why is that? One big thing in Missouri, I was not really a big stigma against mobile homes or mobile home parks. Don't know why that is, but basically I think it's because so many people have relatives who live on a farm somewhere in a mobile home that, that to solve the product would be to insult one the on families, so there just isn't a whole lot of stigma there.
Also, you'll find is a lot of huge demand for mobile homes even in smaller markets in Missouri, mainly because there's no state stigma to steer away from that. There's a huge potential in turnarounds in Missouri, we've done some amazing, amazing turnaround success stories in Missouri. Again, you can buy the parts directly from mom and pops in because the rents are so high and the demand is so high. You can really do some serious damage. I'm feeling lousy and only they can park.
Also, Missouri, there's all a lot of college towns and in the same way there's just a lot of towns, period. Kansas City, St Louis, St Joseph Brands in Colombia, there's just all these different markets. They're Springfield. I mean it's just chock full of markets and they're all really good. St Louis, for example, is one of the premier destinations in America for health care, also has more colleges than any other city in America. It also has more government employees in many other markets, Kansas City in fact there's more government employees than any other city in America besides Washington DC.
Moving out from Missouri, and our number 20th position is Colorado. Median home prices 842 mobile home parks in Colorado, median home price, $342,954. Average apartment rent, $1,670 a month. Cap rates to be lower in Colorado because people just like Colorado. It's really pretty and so a lot of people move there and it makes lenders also very happy to be close there, so lenders are is very, very high. Is a tenant friendly? No, not really. There's not really any tender laws of Colorado. Are we there yet? Where they're a big way. We have a lot of parks there. In fact, Dave lives in Colorado and it's one of Dave's favorite states. Now, one unique attributes of Colorado is you could do phenomenally well in areas with really small populations, is one of the few states out there that you can buy a park in a town of 10,000, where the Metro is, 10,000 and still do incredibly well, and I think that's simply because there's such a shortage of affordable housing in the median home price is 342,954 and there's just not a lot of houses period in Colorado. There are a lot of flat land unless you're in Denver, and even in Denver a lot of it's already been built out, so there's just. There's just not a lot of housing period.
Another observation, Colorado is you'll see a lot of gravel roads, even in the really nice parts. You'll see gravel roads. Why is that? Because it snows a lot. It constantly snowplowing internships rips asphalt to smithereens.
Moving on to or 21st state Tennessee. 800 mobile home parks, median home price, 159,527 people. Average apartment rent $1,004 a month. Cap Rates in Tennessee are typically low are the only really big exception is Nashville. I'm sorry, not lower, higher. The only exception is Nashville. Nashville is definitely your top market in Tennessee. A lender desirability is about average tenant friendly laws. No, not really.
There's nothing. Tennessee must report on that front. Are we in Tennessee and the answer is no or not. Now Tennessee has two main markets, Nashville and Memphis, and then you got the whole rest of the state, so there's a huge contrast in economic vitality and home prices and basically just wealth, and those markets can vary based on the rest of the state. So it's area where you really want to rely on your test at. It's impossible to walk into a market in Tennessee and thinking to understand it because you don't let your test add definitely a guide on that.
22nd State, Oklahoma 700 for mobile home parks in Oklahoma. You may say, well gosh, that's fewer than I figured. I thought, well rather in the thousands, and the answer is no, they're not. There's about 704 mobile home parks there. Median home price $122,742.
Average apartment rate of $928 a month. The cap rates are all over the map in Oklahoma, my gosh, what a state regarding cap rates. You've got your big cities like Tulsa and Oklahoma City where the cap rates are average to lower that. Then you've got some rural markets where they can be extremely high. Now there'll be misled by that. Some of those words with extremely high, you still should not buy because they won't function very well. Lender desirability. It's about average, but it's definitely getting better. I know that I was trying to get a loan on a park there about 20 years ago and I was turned down because it was a red lined stays with a very large bank at that time. Why was that? Because it really had a lot of failed loans during the all the gas crisis back in the 80s, however, that the stench of that issue has long been out with a much more diverse economy, so lending today is pretty much not. Not Difficult at all there.
Tenant friendly laws, no, not really. Not nothing there, and in fact Oklahoma is well-known for having some relatively easy to work with. Highly laws and mobile homes are. Were there? Yes, we definitely are there. We are in Tulsa. We're in Oklahoma City. We are in Muskogee, so we're all over the place. They're Tosca is probably our favorite markets in the city and Oklahoma would come into the number two position. I think it's because Tulsa, there's just fewer parks there, so there's a lot more demand for them. The big thing, however, in Oklahoma, if you're looking to Tulsa or Oklahoma City, is those dog on tornadoes. In fact, that number one was active tornado corridor is a straight line from Tulsa, Oklahoma City. How's that for just sheer bad luck regarding height, width, so if you're worried about tornadoes, you don't want to go there because again, that's an area where it's pretty common to have a tornado.
The good news is we've never had any of our parts they're hit by a tornado with one exception, And more, Oklahoma. David apart wiped out by a tornado many, many years ago. Otherwise, whoever our Oliver current holdings that haven't had anything immediately threatened by tornadoes in recent history, but that is definitely a consideration of hearts to their next stop at a number 23rd position as the state of Louisiana, 690 for mobile home parks with the median home price of 152943. Every department rid of $1,020 a month. The cap rates there are relatively high is not a strength a lot of people are shopping in and as a result of the cap rates are pretty high. Lender desirability and allow and in some cases none state. That's red line by many of your lenders because Louisiana works under a different set of laws that we do in the other states and they have what's called Napoleonic laws.
Well, I don't really fully understand them. I know that a lot of banks find them annoying and won't make laws because of it. Are there any tenant friendly laws there? No. However, their eviction processes very odd there because a lot of your justice and the pieces hold their eviction court inside their own homes. First Time I went to one of those cases going to according in someone's living room, it really freaked me out. Was probably there. No, we're not, but we have been there in the past. I have several parts in Louisiana and many, many years ago. I had nothing but bad experiences there. To be quite honest, if you read any of my books or in anything I've ever said, I had no luck in Louisiana. I did okay on a few parts. I did terrible on others. I didn't ask you to lose any money on the parks, but I was very disappointed in the way a lot of them turned out.
So there's a state that I don't look at with a lot of, uh, uh, love because I did not give me any low back when him and my parks there. There's lots of private utilities in Louisiana. That's just a fact there. You'll see a lot of ribs, there's lots of septic, there's all kinds of stuff there and the whole lot of water, while a. One big issue in Louisiana is again, kind of like some of the other states, you've got the major cities where all the action is and all the money is and then you have a whole lot of area with nothing going on at all so you to make sure you really understand what you're doing. If you're buying a park in Louisiana in my opinion, you really need to be in Metros such as New Orleans, Baton Rouge. I'm not even sure I'm Shreveport.
It wasn't working very well when I was with my parts in Shreveport, but perhaps it's improved. I have not looked at a parking report or even in the state of Louisiana and out well over a decade.
Moving on to our 24th state that would be the state of Virginia. Six hundred and 67 mobile home parks in the state of Virginia. Median home price of $268,037. Average apartment rent, $1,507 a month or get a very expensive housing market. Cap rates of Virginia tend to be lower because Virginia kind of has the spillover from New York and a lot of areas where people like real estate, so cap rates tend to be lower. Lender desirability to get higher because again, your Virginia, Virginia sounds very exciting and most lenders. Tenant friendly laws, possibly in some cities, but in general over all that too damaging. Are we there yet? Are there were such areas, Danville and Winchester, other thoughts on Virginia, you've got Sydney areas and you have rural areas and they have nothing in common so it just because the word Virginia is attached to the park, make sure you understand before you rush to judgment and jump on a plane and go out and look at us that you understand exactly where it's located. As also in Virginia, you have a much lower stigma against mobile homes and mobile home parks, much like Missouri. I don't know why it is that way, but most people in Virginia call mobile hub, simply homes and in my opinion, that's great.
Kansas is our 25th state and now we're right at the middle. It's a 642 mobile home parks in the state of Kansas. There's a median home price of $141,147. Average rent of 1967 a month. The cap rates are definitely probably on the average side. Even in some parts of has a little on the higher average. Lender desirability, is at average. I've never heard of anyone not getting a loan. Tenant friendly laws? No, not really. Are we there? Yes, we are a Kansas City is our biggest market in Kansas and in fact is the biggest city I believe is in the state of Kansas, but think about fans is again, kind of like Missouri.
You have much lower stigma problems in Kansas City until we get a better, better quality customer who hasn't turned off by the concept of living in a mobile home park.
Moving on to the Maine, believe it or not, and people will never believe this is the 20, the number. 26th positions. As far as number of mobile home parks is 604. I think most people probably. We're guessing it would come in 40, 48, but no, it's 26th. Median home price of main $190,043. The average apartment rent's 1000 a month. Cap rates are pretty much average. Even though it's main, it's a new England. The I it kind of be. There is not super-duper robots so it's only really average and cap rates. Similar desirability I've never heard with not getting the load there, but at the same time if you were in a real rural area, I can see you're not getting a loan.
Tenant friendly laws. I've heard that the laws there are a little to the tenant friendly persuasion, but nothing too damaging. Are were there? No, we're not there. I'm not sure we've ever looked at the park and main observations I would have on me as I'm talking to other park owners and things across my desk. Number one, lots of private utilities have made because so much of Maine is a little bit on the rural side that I don't see a lot of infrastructure on water and sewer there and again, there's a lot of very, very rural areas, so that's probably why even those, the state as far as sheer number of parts, never heard, discussed very much. Next is Alabama is our 27th state. As far as number of parks, there 597 parks in the state of Alabama. Median home price of 1:29, 1975. The average apartment rent is 9:43 a month. Alabama tend to be higher, but it depends on where you are. Lower lenders are. Belly is a little lower just because Alabama for a longest time. You've got fairly bad raps as far as its economic vitality. Twitter probably laws. No, not really in our way there. No, we're not there.
However, I will tell you there's probably a lot of opportunity in Alabama. Alabama has done better than most any other state in turning the economy around in a lot of automobile manufacturing and other items, so basically they kind of stuck in there that kind of asleep or state. I mean look at the median home price at 129, 1975. A lot of Americans think Alabama meeting humble be like 60 grand or something at one time. It was very weak, but they did a great job of attracting employment. So again, Michigan, I would say one word, Alabama is probably underappreciated, would be probably the key words for that state.
In the 28th position, the state of Wisconsin, 551 parks mobile home parks, median home price, $180783. Average department at 954 a month. Kept racing was constantly printed with average, although tending to be lower, if you have the better parts of Wisconsin, linens are. Bella is pretty much parks performing incredibly well in was which we'll go over why here in a second? I tend to probably. No, not really. And in fact there's a very, very good mobile home association. They're called the Wisconsin housing alliance and does a great job of keeping the laws a very part owner friendly. Are we there? Yes. We had many, many parts in Wisconsin is one of our favorite states. Why do we like it so much? Well, there's only three reasons and they kind of tie together.
Number one, there's not really any kind of stigma at all against the mobile homes when you get to Wisconsin, so it was constantly not called mobile homes are just called homes traditionally, and the parts are signaling subdivisions and they are mobile home parks. Because there's no stigma, you have really great tenants, so I gave a speech at the Wisconsin Housing Alliance here awhile back. I asked if there were any questions. A park owner said he had a terrible problem, that he had one resident who refused to go over to the automatic withdrawal to pay the rent.
If that's your biggest problem, you're doing fantastically well. Finally was comprehensive, really, really beautiful parks and beautiful landscaping. Part of that of course is just mother nature. It rains a lot. There is snows a lot there, so when it comes spring things bloom and go crazy, but also you have huge pride of ownership on the part of the residents. I think that ties back to the factory, not any negative stigma there.
In the 29th position state of Nebraska 512 mobile home parks, median home price, 152,583. Average department written 951 a month. Cap rates in Nebraska are pretty average with a trainee lower does a lot of people really getting turned on to Nebraska is a good mobile home state. Lender desirability is average to better than average because again, parts performed there really well.
Tenant friendly laws. No, not really. Are we there? Yes we are. There were places such as Omaha read Warren Buffet's whether their LinkedIn and other spots. What can I tell you about Nebraska that I know firsthand while this, that super stable employment during the great recession and it did extremely well and keeping us unemployment rate very low, so it's very, very stable on the employment side. Also, as we've discussed, there's not really any stigma going on in Nebraska. A lot of people feel that, you know, mobile home is a perfectly respectable way to live and be different than a subdivision and of course they arrived in. That makes the tenants a little better, a little more higher quality, more disposable income. They're in Nebraska. And to be honest with you, I think part of what fuels Nebraska a little bit is the Warren Buffett. The fact just the fact that he lives in Omaha, it gives a lot of people phase and the state as being smart place to be.
In our 28th position is the state of Arkansas, 478 mobile home parks. Median home price is 117,998. Average department rent, 857 month. The cap rates in Arkansas tend to be higher, but it depends on where you are. But if I had to take the whole state, average it together and a little on the higher side. Lender desirability is a little on the lower side. Why is that? Because even though there's some great markets like Fayetteville and little rock is also a whole lot of rural areas and a lot of tans were really hit hard times. Tenant laws and. No, not really there. No, not currently, but we did own a park at one time in the little rock area. Of course, if you have to buy a park in Arkansas with the focus on little rock and Fayetteville, those are two great markets. Really. All regards, they've got great employment, great foundation.
Little rock is the government area is a college town A. However, in Arkansas you do have some stigma issues because for some reason this house enough that people still call the things trailer parks and because of that stigma you often don't get the, the customers that are as good as are in Wisconsin.
Next step, Mississippi and the 31st position or 470 for mobile home parks, median home price, 105,357 with an average department rate of 930 a month. Prices in Mississippi tend to be higher and the letters are building seems to be lower. In fact, in some cases is none based on where you are there senator from the law is. No, not really. Are we there know that we'll ever be? I'm not really sure why. Well, the libraries are really low. Not perhaps in the largest cities, but it's very competency, lot rates of $75 a month in many parks and when you look at a $75 rent and you look at all your costs, you can find your clearing like 20 or 30 bucks a month and that just doesn't make it sensible to us to own something there.
There's also a lot of really, really rough parks there. I know that I auditioned for and got the job as the host of the show. People don't know this strange that have history, but I did a screen test when they were going to bring out in the country music channel, a show about mobile home parks and it was going to be just like those home turnaround shows. I think that so going to trailer park may something she'll never got launched. I got the job as the host, but it never actually went on the air. Many reasons. One of the biggest was when they figure out the cost of doing the shows, the cost of forests in Turin parks around, but I know that they wanted to base much of the show in the state of Mississippi because they wanted to find a really, really rough parts to turn around and that's a place you would go if you're looking for a really, really rough parks.
State of Iowa and 32nd position, 457 mobile home parks in Iowa. Median home price, a hundred and $42,778. Every department is 851 a month. The cap right there. Pretty much average letters. I've only very average, tenant friendly is not really. Are we there? Yes we are. There were there in Des Moines and southern markets in Iowa, Iowa. Well, look back, just google it and look at the unemployment rate in Iowa during the height of the great recession when our nation exceeded 10%, they were sitting there in many cities at, so I think they get a gold star, a blue ribbon for being able to pull off. Very, very good, unemployment rates during that whole terrible, great recession and I will tell you also, we were on the board of the Iowa Association, which also doesn't exhalant jobs. So the state is blessed with lots of really good associations, kept the laws very, very favorable.
State of Idaho in the 33rd position at 400 mobile home parks, median home price 210,361 bucks.
Average department rate 1,024 a month. Cap rates and in Idaho tend to be lower, because people really aren't enamored with Idaho. Lender desirability very high. When you say the word Idaho, most lenders are feeling pretty happy tenant from the laws. No, not really. Or were there? Yes we are. There were, were in Jerome. What can I tell you about Idaho? While you have very, very high demand for affordable housing in Idaho because not all your things expensive, but they're just not a whole lot of housing.
Also because we're down to the states with 400 parks, fewer depended on rarity of parks of Idaho. And so that makes it a little more intriguing. Ah, from the lender's perspective, it also allows you to feel like you own a little bit bigger piece of the pie because there's not that many of the mobile home parks to begin with and one more out of. There's no real stigma in Idaho. Peoples in mobile home parks are perfectly happy and proud to live there.
Next up in 34th position, the state of Wyoming, with only 347 mobile home parks. Median home price $216,547, and the average apartment rent is $998 a month.
The cap rates in Wyoming tend to be lower. People really like the state of Wyoming. We really like the state of Wyoming.
The lender desirability is extremely high because Wyoming has a very, very, very stable, everything. Stable housing economy, stable state finances. It's just stability personified. Tenant friendly laws? No, not really.
Are we there? Yes. We have a park in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and we've owned other parks there over the years. Huge demand in the state of Wyoming for all things housing, because there simply is so little affordable housing.
Finally, one oddity about Wyoming, there's so many tires on roofs. People ask me all the time, "Why are all these tires on the roofs in Wyoming?" It's because the wind blows incessantly, and those tires keep the roofs from shaking. And tires apparently are the best counter weights to the effects of the wind, so that's why people use them. 35th position, South Dakota, with 343 mobile home parks. Median home price, $163,442 and the average apartment rent, $864 a month.
Cap rates in South Dakota tend to be lower, because when you get in the Dakotas, you're getting the same kind of feel as you get in Colorado, kind of, and some of the Pacific Northwest. People know over time that parks perform very well there. Lender desirability is extremely high.
Tenant friendly laws? No, not really.
Are we there? Yes. We have parks in Marcus, Rapid City, and Yankton.
What can I tell you about the state? Parks perform really well there. I can't give you any story in history of a park that didn't do well in South Dakota. Again, there's a lot of demand for affordable housing, and the market is just so darn stable. Also, there's no stigma in South Dakota, and that's refreshing. So, when people live in mobile home parks in South Dakota, they don't call them mobile home parks, they just call them basically, homes. New Mexico is 36th, with 267 mobile home parks. Median home price in New Mexico is $165,190 and the average apartment rent is $1002 a month.
Cap rates in New Mexico are kind of average, but they can also tend to be lower based on where you are. If you're near Santa Fe, I would say they'll be lower. Other markets, not quite as low.
Lender desirability would definitely be higher. New Mexico, again, gets a lot of the feel of the Southwest, of Arizona and California, and some people like that market. Tenant friendly laws? No, not really.
Are we there? Yes. We have parks all around New Mexico, in big cities like Albuquerque, then in also more rural markets like Farmington. There's huge demand in New Mexico for affordable housing. Why? Median home price is $165,190 and you don't see a lot of hack job building there, it's typically just a lot of really expensive housing, or shacks. So there's a lot of demand there for housing.
One thing about New Mexico, even more rural areas work there because there's so much demand. And also, a lot of people that want to retire in New Mexico. If you've been to Santa Fe, Albuquerque, it's a lot of, kind of an artsy retirement area. So a lot of the people don't have to have jobs, and as a result, they can be out in markets like Ruidoso, where we have a mobile home park, and do extremely well. Basically housing people who are just there 'cause it's beautiful, and because they're retired.
Delaware's our 37th market at 260 mobile home parks. Median home price $239,998. Average apartment rent $1033 a month.
Cap rates tend to be lower because hey, it's Delaware, okay, it's the Northeast. Lender desirability, very, very high because again, hey, it's the Northeast. Tenant friendly laws? I don't know the laws there. We have nothing there so I don't know, but I never hear anything bad about 'em, but just because they are up in the Northeast, I'm gonna figure they're a little harder than other states.
What can I tell you about Delaware? Number one, scarcity of parks. Only 260 parks in the entire state. That's not many. Of course, it's also a very small state. Also, there's really no stigma in Delaware. Delaware is just north enough, people don't really consider them trailer parks. They're more like subdivisions.
Vermont is the 38th state. 239 mobile home parks in the entire state. Median home price, $229,548. Average apartment rent $1191 a month.
Cap rates tend to be lower because again, you're in the Northeast. Lender's desirability, very, very high.
Tenant friendly laws? No, not really.
Are we there? No, we're not. We've never actually been in Vermont owning parks, but we do go there occasionally 'cause it's a cool place to go.
Parks in Vermont are obviously very, very rare. So that enhances the value, 'cause there's very limited supply of parks there. And the parks obviously are very beautiful, because Vermont is a state that is in fact very beautiful.
One down side of Vermont, because it is rural in much of it, there's a lot of private utilities there. In the 39th position, the state of Maryland. 234 mobile home parks. Median home price, a whopping $313,799. The average apartment rent $1785 a month.
Cap rates in Maryland tend to be lower, again, you're in the Northeast. Lender desirability very, very high.
Tenant friendly laws? Yes, they do have some. Maryland is a state, I believe, is one of the few states that actually has rent control. I have no idea how it correlates into the mobile home park universe, because we don't own any mobile home parks in the state of Maryland. Again, not a lot of parks there, but again, not a really big state as far as it's dimensions. Next, on the 40th state, so now we're nearing the end, or on the downwards slope, state of West Virginia. Only 220 mobile home parks in the entire state of West Virginia. Median home price, $114,926. Average apartment rent $855 a month.
Cap rates tend to be higher in West Virginia because there's been so many issues with coal mining over the years.
Lender desirability, it's fine, it's okay, but it's not sure high, but it's fine.
Tenant friendly laws? Not to my knowledge.
Are we there? Yes, we are in such areas as Ridgeley and Vienna.
What makes West Virginia parks tick is really just the scarcity. There's only 220 of them in the entire state. So, if you just own two of them, you own 1%. So that's getting fairly scarce.
Next, in the 41st position, is the state of Montana, with only 200 mobile home parks. Median home price, $235,268. Average apartment rent, $993 a month.
Cap rates, relatively low. People really like the state of Montana. It gets very much that Southwestern flavor.
Lender desirability, extremely high.
Tenant friendly laws? Not that I'm aware of.
Are we there? No, we're not in the state of Montana. It doesn't mean we wouldn't be. We'd like to say that it's in many ways kind of reminiscent of Wyoming.
In the 42nd position, the state of New Jersey. Now this is an eye-opener. There's only 179 parks in New Jersey. I bet you thought there'd be a lot more than that, but there's not. Median home price is $341,926. Average apartment rent $1862 a month.
What's that tell you? Huge affordable housing demand in New Jersey. Why are there not more parks in New Jersey? I'm going to imagine there used to be a lot of them, that've been redeveloped, because the land prices have gotten so high.
Cap rates in New Jersey tend to be on the lower side, because of the proximity to New York. Lender desirability is extremely high because again, you're near New York.
Tenant friendly laws? I don't know the laws in New Jersey. I'm going to have to imagine though, because New York is nearby, they've got to be a little rougher than some other states. Are we there? No, we're not there in any which way.
Now I'll move on to the 43rd state, and that's Utah. Utah only has 165 mobile home parks. Median home price is $279,746 and the average apartment rent is $1290 a month. What's it mean? Very healthy housing market there. Very huge demand for affordable housing.
Cap rates tend to be lower because again, you've got that whole kind of California feel, where Washington state got going on.
Lender desirability, extremely high. Utah parks are notorious for being super, super strong. Tenant friendly laws? No, not really.
Are we there? Yes, we're there in a big way. We're in Brigham City, Layton, and Ogden and other spots. So, we really like Utah a lot. It's a very, very well performing state for us. So, we definitely give it two thumbs up.
44th position North Dakota. Only 163 mobile home parks there. Median home price $178,032 and the average apartment rent's $904 a month.
Cap rates north of Canada tend to be lower, simply because parks do so very well there. Lender desirability's very high.
Tenant friendly laws? No, not really.
Do we own any parks there? Yes, we do own parks in North Dakota.
What can I tell you about the state? Well, I can tell you that the residents in North Dakota in the parks are really a cut about many other states, because there's really no stigma there. So, you get a lot of people who typically don't live in mobile home parks. Case in point, one of our parks there, the manager used to be a teller at Wells Fargo. You'll find all kinds of people in regular jobs like engineering and stuff, living in mobile home parks in North Dakota. Simply the function of the factor is just A, not a lot of housing in North Dakota, and B, there's just no stigma there.
By the time you get to North Dakota, the stigma has long left the building many states to the south of you, and that's great because otherwise you'd get a lot of residents in the parks, that typically wouldn't live in mobile home parks.
45th position, the state of New Hampshire, and there's only 104 mobile home parks in the state of New Hampshire. So, now we're getting into very rarefied territory of these last few states. Median home price 271,067 people. Average apartment rent $1434 a month. Cap rates in New Hampshire tend to be on the lower side because of the New York effect. Lender desirability very high, again, because you're in the Northeast.
Tenant friendly laws? No, you don't hear much about New Hampshire laws as being a problem. Are we there? No we're not. Is there any reason for that? No, we simply just have never found anything in New Hampshire, and why? There's not many parks there. Only 104.
Massachusetts, 85 parks in the 46th position, as far as largest number of parks in the state. Massachusetts has under 100. Median home price, a whopping $400,405 and the average apartment rent of $1756. What's it all mean? It's a state that has a huge demand for affordable housing, but not many mobile home parks to meet it.
Cap rates are very low there because again, you've got that whole Northeast thing going on. Lender desirability very, very high.
Tenant friendly laws? Yes, and very, very scary laws in Massachusetts as far as park ownership. I don't know them from memory because we don't have any parks there, but I've heard horror stories from some park owners that do own there. So, if you're going to buy a park in Massachusetts, by all means, call the state association and ask them what the laws are regarding the residents.
Also, bear in mind, that Massachusetts 'cause there's very few parks, there's always going to be a lot of value in those parks, due to simple scarcity. And also, you've got a lot of folks who live in the parks in Massachusetts you typically don't find. Simply because the folks in those parks don't have that stigma to overcome, because there really isn't a stigma on mobile home parks by the time you hit Massachusetts.
47th position is Alaska. There's only 70 mobile parks in the entire state of Alaska, and remember Alaska is a giant state. So, that's probably the lowest density of parks per square mile in the United States. $265,648 on your median home price, and the average apartment rent of $1527 a month.
Cap rates in Alaska, kind of a mystery to me. I believe they're a little on the lower side, but I don't know. Not a lot of people invest in Alaska that I know, so I don't know a lot about it.
Lender desirability, I'm going to guess average. I don't know. I don't know a lot about Alaska. I never see parks for sale there. They cost my desk.
Tenant friendly laws? Again, don't know the laws there. I don't think they're bad. I've never heard anything, or read any articles on it.
Are we there? No, we're not there. Will we ever be there? Unlikely, it's just not a part of America that we look at. Then on top of that, there's just not many mobile home parks there. Okay, now we're coming down to the final two.
48th position, state of Rhode Island. Only 48 parks. How odd is that? It's the 48th position and it has only 48 parks. So, there's a whole lot of 48 applied to Rhode Island. Median home price $270,704. Average apartment rent, $1324 a month.
Cap rates would tend to be on the lower side because A, there's not many parks there and B, the parks that are there are fairly desirable, 'cause again, there's a huge shortage of affordable housing.
Lender desirability would be extremely high.
Tenant friendly laws? I'm not aware of any that are negative.
Are we there? Yes, we are there. We have a park in Middletown, and we really like the state of Rhode Island. Macro observations on Rhode Island, it's just rarefied territory. It's like a little jewelry store, there's just not a lot of parks there. So when you can find one that the numbers work on, that's a very rare commodity.
And now finally, in the last position, our final state in 49th position is Connecticut. Connecticut only has 44 mobile home parks. Median home price, $260,028. Average apartment rent, $1455 a month.
Cap rates tend to be lower because again, you are a suburb of New York City. Lender desirability, extremely high.
Tenant friendly laws? Not that I'm aware of. But the simple fact that you're near New York would make me think there might be.
Are we there? No, we're not there. Will we ever be there? It's unlikely. There's only 44 mobile home parks in the whole darn state. I mean, what the heck? You buy four mobile home parks and you own 10% of the entire state, so that makes Connecticut unusual.
Now, any other macro observations that I wanted to go over with you on these states before we change it over to the Q and A format. Yeah, I think one big one that you probably noticed throughout that entire discussion is, the stigma, or what we call the stigma wall, which some say it basically equates to the Mason-Dixon line. I don't know exactly where it is, but it definitely runs across America right about, a little higher, somewhere there in the little north of Oklahoma line maybe.
What's unusual is in the southern part of America, people always talk up and make fun of people as trailer trash, and trailer parks. Then when you go north of the stigma line, it just suddenly evaporates. Where I live here in Missouri, no one ever calls these things trailers, ever. They don't call them really mobile homes typically. It's just a home. Just a house. They don't give it any descriptive term, and that's one thing you notice in my discussion, that made those northern states attractive was the fact that because there's no stigma, you cast a much wider net on your residents. And you also get residents with much higher disposable income, so you have much higher pride of ownership in their mobile home and lot.
So, that's one macro observation. Another macro observation is, you probably heard in that list, states you've never heard of before, but having so many mobile home parks. I mean, Texas, that was an easy one. Of course, everyone thinks Texas and California as being high. Florida obviously. But who the heck would believe that Kentucky would be in the 4th position? So that begs the question, why do we not hear more about Kentucky? I can only guess the reason you don't is, is that many of those parks are more rural in orientation. As a result, you just don't find many people on a larger scale, who are assimilating parks there. It's just kind of shocking when you hear the actual number of parks in each of these states. Some of them make complete and utter sense, some don't make any sense at all. You thought they either had way more than that, or they would have way fewer than that.
Another observation in every state, you heard how high those median home and apartment rents are, right? In every state, we had a median home price of over $100,000. In every single state. That's amazing. The apartment rent's, well not all them were $1000 month on over. Many of them weren't, and many of them were several times that.
And what's that mean? That means there's a huge affordable housing crisis in the United States. That's good for our industry, because that's what we do. We meet the affordable housing demand. I think I'm in quote in saying that the biggest issue in America is affordable housing. And possibly the biggest opportunity, because when you have such a huge unmet demand, it's really hard to go wrong if you've got a park that meets the simple basics of having a good local economy, so they have plentiful jobs, good infrastructure, good density. It's kind of hard to go bad, because the phone just rings off the hook. That's why if you wrote a test ad, and your phone doesn't ring off the hook, there's something terribly wrong. Because almost throughout every state in America, there's a massive, massive housing shortage.
Other macro things we talked a little bit about, is the fact that in some states there's a lot of private utilities. We're not huge fans of them. We do have some in our portfolio, but most people prefer, I think we would all agree, city water and city sewer. But some states like Louisiana just don't seem to have much of it. So, if you're not right in the city limits in Louisiana, you're often looking at private utilities, which can be a turn off to some buyers. So, you might check in to that as well.
Also, as you probably heard, you've got cap rate issues on the East and West Coast. Why is that again? I think part of that is the people always see parks in those areas as being part park, and part land. They're always thinking what's the future land value of this, and it kind of skews where they see the cap rates.