The best way to train and empower your manager to make your park successful - at the same time saving you the time, hassle and expense of doing the training yourself.
Whether you like it or not, your Manager is your eyes and ears in the field, as well as the buffer between you and your tenants and the only source of getting the job done for you on everything from posting notices of rules violations to pressing tenants on collections. So the manager is one of the most important players on your team, whether it's a greeter or a full-time manager. As a result, the best chance you have of making the most money with your park is having this player as well trained as possible, and as well coached on a continuous basis. The Certified Community Manager Program provides both - we teach your Manager how to be a star, and then we follow that up with continuing education and support to make sure they play at the top of their game. If a well-trained manager can simply rent one extra home or bring in one extra rent check per month, then the impact can be giant. Everything they do is amplified by a multiple of 10+ when you go to refinance or sell. As a result, a smart owner gives their manager the best training and continual education they can buy. That's why we built this program - for the hundreds of managers that work in our properties.
Several years ago, we realized that there was a better way to train and empower our own managers, because we were spending way too much time in the field going over the same repetitive material with managers that could be more efficiently done with several of them at one time. However, the cost to bring them together at one central location was excessive, and it became readily apparent that the correct way to train managers is using modern technology to save the enormous cost in time and money of a face-to-face training session. In addition, face-to-face training is often interrupted by cell calls and other distractions, and the whole time you are in training you really want to go home or be someplace else, so there is no enthusiasm and many important points are skipped or forgotten. So we started creating a new course for managers - for our own use - about two years ago. This is now what we use to train the managers in our few hundred parks, and we seriously believe that it is the best in the industry. Here's how it works:
Modules
Webster's Dictionary defines "rent" as "a payment by a tenant, in regular intervals, for the right to occupy the property of another". But in simpler terms, rent is the bond between the tenant and the park owner. The park offers a service - a plot of land with functioning utilities and reasonable access by roads - and the tenant pays money for this service. It is very important to understand that rent is the essence of the bond between the park owner and the tenant. There is no other bond between the parties; the park owner has no obligation to provide any service without receipt of rent. Some people get confused on this issue and believe the park owner "owes it to them" to provide their lot regardless of whether or not they pay - in fact, they think that a landlord that tries to collect the rent is "greedy" and "heartless". This is completely false. The landlord has no more obligation to provide their service with non-payment than the restaurant has to serve food without payment or the gas station has to provide gas.
Rent is the only source of revenue that the mobile home park has. Without this revenue, the park has no way to pay its bills, including your salary. Parks that consistently show poor collections are faced with a dilemma; how do you keep the park utilities flowing, the roads passable, the grass mowed - and many other items - without the money to pay for them? What normally happens is the park owner has to elect to let things slide. They may keep the utilities going, but the roads begin to deteriorate, the mowing gets bad, and anything that breaks, and is not absolutely essential, remains broken. So, essentially, the best thing that the tenant can do is to pay the rent, so that their community remains maintained and in good working condition. Every time they pay rent, they are doing so for their own benefit. Without rent - in the worst case scenario - the park would close its gates and the tenant would be left with the expensive proposition of moving their home out.
The rent is due in equal amounts each month. It is not calculated in terms of days. For example, the rent in October, which has 31 days, is the same as February, which has 28 days. It's important to note that, if the rent was calculated every four weeks, there would be 13 payment periods each year! So the rule is that rent is due in equal amounts each month of the year.
The amount of rent is based on the charge shown in the original lease, coupled with any amendments or notices of rent escalations given since the lease was originally signed.
Rent is due on the first of the month. However, most industry leases allow for the rent to be counted on-time as long as it is received by the 5th day of the month. This period between the 1st and the 5th is called the "grace period". This "grace period" has been in effect for decades, and probably ties back to the fact that most tenants get paid on the 1st of the month, and need time, therefore, to get the rent to the manager.
Any rent received after the 5th (on the 6th, for example) is considered late and subject to a late fee, as well as an official demand notice for it not being paid.
Accepting Rent Payments On-Time: If a tenant approaches you to pay rent, have your rent roll available to write the date, amount of payment, whether the payment is check or money order (no cash accepted) and the check or money order number. While the tenant is with you, make sure the payment has the date, tenant name, lot number and is payable to the correct name (typically the community name or company that owns the property). The payment must also be signed by the payer.
Keep a receipt book available with the rent roll so you can write the tenant a receipt if they would like one. Each receipt should include the amount paid, date, type of payment and reference number of check or money order, and balance due. Cancelled checks and money order receipts may be used by the tenant as a form of receipt of payment as well. A receipt is only required to be given if the tenant requests one.
Log the payment on the rent roll.
Follow the procedure that the corporate office has designed for you in regard to making deposits. Some managers will prepare the deposit and take it to the local bank. Others will mail the checks to the corporate office. Some managers will be provided with a check scanner, which electronically deposits the money into the bank.
Mailing Checks to the Corporate Office: If you mail your checks to the corporate office be sure to keep a record of the check or money order number, the payment amount, the name on the check and the lot number the payment should be credited to, as well as the date they were sent to corporate in case they would be lost in the mail. You should always mail payments via certified mail.
Check Scanner: If you have been provided with a check scanner, you will be required to take an online instruction class from the bank. The corporate office will also provide instruction on how to set up and use the system.
How to Complete a Bank Deposit Slip: No matter what, write legibly! Try to print instead of using cursive, and use a pen that has blue or black ink. Make sure the Company Name and account number are correct on the deposit slip.
Write the date the deposit is being made on the appropriate line of the deposit slip.
List all checks individually on the deposit slip; include the tenant last name and lot number in the first column and the amount of the check or money order in the next.
Add the check and money order amounts and place the total deposit amount in the section(s) provided at the bottom of the deposit slip.
A deposit sheet provided by the corporate office will need to be filled out and it should be faxed with a copy of the bank deposit receipt as soon as the deposit has been delivered to the bank.
If you have a check scanner, you should deposit every day that you have payments. If you are going to the bank, you should take the payments to the bank every day the first week of the month. The rest of the month, you should go to the bank when you have $500 worth of payments or a minimum of once a week. If you are mailing to the corporate office, you should mail payments every other day during the first week of the month and once a week for the rest of the month.
A rent roll is a document that the corporate office compiles at the beginning of the month which lists the tenants? names and amounts due. The manager and corporate office will update the rent roll throughout the month when payments are received, late fees are accrued, and any move-ins or move-outs of tenants. This is used by the Manager and the Corporate Office for record keeping.
A rent roll should include the Lot number, First and Last Name of tenant, mailing address, phone number of tenant, and amount of rent and other fees per month for the lot and/or home rental.
The detail of this course is astonishing - as detailed as our Home Study Course for investing. And it was written by Frank Rolfe & Dave Reynolds, as well as many of the folks in our corporate office who are in the trenches every day and know this material backwards and forwards through daily effort.
In short, if you have a manager - and don't use this program to train and motivate them - you're losing money. Because this course will pay for itself many time over in the first month or so. And that does not count all the time - and travel cost - that you are wasting training the managers yourself.
Here's the best part - this course is outrageously inexpensive. We built it for our own use and, like military surplus, we're letting you use it at a fraction of the cost it took to build. The total cost of the course is $299.
We seriously think that this product will fill a giant void in the industry, and will become the industry standard for training and motivating all successful managers going forward.
It has taken us two years to build it, and now we're excited about it.
This course will make your manager better trained and motivated than 99% of the mobile home park managers out there, and will allow you to have a shorter learning curve, higher productivity day one, lower mistakes and liability, and a greater focus on profitability. In exchange, you don't have to leave your home and family to train them, and the cost is lower than your hotel bill would be. We built this course for our own use and now, like army surplus, you are able to get two years of work for the price of an hour of your attorney's time.
Money Back Guarantee: If you do not feel like this program has improved the performance of your manager, then you get 100% of your money back, no questions asked.
