Water is a precious commodity in America today – it’s literally liquid gold. And water and sewer expense is the #1 largest line item in most mobile home park profit & loss statements. The great part is that it’s a turn-around plan that is 100% within your control and has no reliance on residents or market forces. But how do you do it? In this installment of our five-part series on “Easy Turn-Arounds” we’re going to analyze the methodology from A to Z on saving huge amounts on water & sewer costs and fostering conservation along the way.

Firing people is never fun – but it can certainly be profitable! In this second of a five-“part series on Easy Mobile Home Park Turnarounds”, we’re going to examine the role of cost-cutting in turning around mobile home parks, with a specific focus on personnel and utility issues. You’re also going to hear the story of a park we own in Illinois that went from losing around $40,000 per year to a positive $270,000 in one year, mostly as a result of cost cutting. Benjamin Franklin once said “a penny saved is a penny earned” and must have been talking about trailer parks.

We’ve talked about tough turn-arounds, so now it’s time to turn our attention to a different type of mobile home park experience: the simple ones. Just as there are factors that make a mobile home park tough to convert into an economic engine that produces predictable, sustainable cash flows, there are basically five different turn-around methods that require minimum effort to create significant profit. In this first of a five-part series, we’re going to discuss a simple method to enhance the cash-flow and value of a mobile home park. Why it works and how to do it effectively. With just this one podcast, you’ll see why we got hooked on mobile home park investing, and it will forever change your thoughts on “trailer parks” as an economic engine.

In this final installment of our series on Tough Turnarounds we’re going to examine the story of a mobile home park that required not only a complete renovation of all common areas, but also the renovation and sale of over 200 park-owned homes. It’s tough enough bringing a mobile home park back to life, let alone all of the homes inside of it. But we learned some important lessons from this unusually difficult project and successfully finished within 36 months. Hear how we did it in this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast.

In this fourth installment of our five-part series on Tough Turnarounds, we’re going to examine a property in Illinois that looked like Berlin after the war – just a giant pile of rubble with a mobile home park underneath. But beneath that rough Hollywood set of destruction was a fairly nice asset that had, at one time, been a luxury community. Learn how we bought this mobile home park back to life despite drug dealers, trash, dead trees, burned homes, and a general lack of pride that was determined to drag it down.

In this third installment in our five-part series on “Tough Turnarounds”, we’re going to discuss Hidden Hollow – a mobile home park that didn’t even have a rent roll or a financial statement. This turnaround came with the added twist of Frank being chased down the street by a 300 pound man in a diaper. Learn the techniques that can allow you to take a piece of land with some old, rusted flat-roof trailers and no law and order (or dress code apparently) and make it into a tame, income-producing asset.

People living in school busses is charming on the Partridge Family, but not so much in real life, In this second in our five-part series on Tough Turnarounds, we’re going to review a park that had a half-century of decline and the battle to bring it back to life. You’ll learn what makes a mobile home park worthy of such an effort, and the exact steps that were taken to make this park a nice place to live again.

One of the most lucrative ways to get into the mobile home park industry is to buy a property that is “broken” and “fix” it. This concept has long been called a “turnaround” because what you’re effectively doing is taking something that is not performing properly and bringing it back to life. So how does that concept work in real life? In this first part of a five-part series on “Tough Turnarounds” we’re going to take give different parks we’ve bought and fixed over the years, and lay out the game plan from start to finish and what happened along the way. If you’ve ever driven by a rundown trailer park and thought “I bet I could fix that place” then this podcast series is right up your alley.

In this final segment of our five-part series on the Legal Side of Park Ownership, we’re going to discuss some important tips on creating seller financed notes. Since one of the most attractive components to buying mobile home parks is the frequent availability of owner financing, this is a very important topic that we receive frequent questions on. Seller financing is what got us in the business to begin with, and it’s still a very important tool. But to do it successfully, there are some basic insider secrets that you need to know. We’re going to review these items and wrap up our five-part series with a discussion of what you need to know about seller notes and how to construct them

The starting point for buying a mobile home park is the contract. But what are some of the essential items in this all-important document? In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast, we’re going to discuss some of the key components to writing a successful contract, and some strategic suggestions to make the contract more effective. Since the contract is your primary tool in acquiring mobile home parks, it’s worth your time to fully understand the techniques to give yourself an edge.

In this third installment of our five-part series on the “Legal Side of Park Ownership”, we’re going to examine the entire evictions process – from A to Z. And we’ll include some insider secrets we’ve learned along the way to save you money and make the process go smoother. We’re also going to give you our ideas on the moral aspects of evicting and why you should not be judgmental but simply accept the fact that sometimes bad things happen to good people and the act of evicting a resident is a lose/lose. With over 70% of U.S. households lacking even $1,000 in savings, this is a big issue even beyond the affordable housing sphere.

In this second of a five-part series on the legal side of park ownership, we’re going to discuss the SAFE Act and Dodd-Frank, two pieces of legislation that single-handedly deprived thousands of people the America Dream of homeownership. Learn the history of these laws, how they have altered the manner in which park owners can provide housing to customers, their potential repeal, and why it’s probably too late to really make much of an impact without a significant governmental push. If you own a mobile home park, it’s mandatory that you understand these regulations and learn how to navigate them.

You’ve heard of the popular 1960’s television legal drama “Ironsides”? Well, in this case it’s “Ironsides” meets “metal sides” – the legal side to mobile home park ownership. It’s the first of a five-part series in which we discuss what every park owner needs to know about the law. We’re not lawyers, and we’re not dispensing legal advice. We’re just reviewing the things we’ve learned from 20+ years of park ownership and how that relates to issues that pop up from time to time. If you worry about staying out of harm’s way (and who doesn’t) then you’ll appreciate this discussion.

If you want the smallest rate of delinquency, which states would you buy in? What about what areas have the most litigious residents? In this final installment of our five-part series on “Lessons Learned From Our Residents”, we’re going to review the unique attributes of our customers on a macro scale, both regionally and by state. It’s an interesting narrative on how large and diverse America is, and how mobile home parks throughout the U.S. have different challenges and opportunities based on where they are located.

How well do you really know your customers? In this episode of our five-part series on “Lessons Learned From Our Residents”, we’re going to explore the deepest thoughts and goals of our resident base, and discuss how to provide the basic quality of life options that make residents stay for a life time. You will find that the desire for a nice place to live is universal, and the most important thing that any park owner can do is to create a wonderful community that has high levels of customer retention.

The conduit to lot rent is an occupied home. So what makes the consumer choose one mobile home over another? What can you do to make your mobile homes more desirable? In this episode of our five-part series titled “Lessons Learned From Our Customers”, we’re going to examine what the key components are in the buying and renting decision of mobile home consumers. We’ll discuss not only what these hot-buttons are, but even the ranking of priority. If you have vacant homes – or will have in the future – this should give you some great ideas on what’s essential and what’s not.

What makes one mobile home park more occupied than another? What qualities do you need to instill in your own park to make it more desirable? In this episode of our five-part series titled “Lessons Learned from our Residents” we’re going to examine exactly what the hot-buttons are for the consumer in selecting the right mobile home park to live in. Even though the level of competition in mobile home parks is relatively low, it’s essential that you make any property as desirable as possible, and stay away from those that lack the basic raw material to be “in demand”

Why do people live in mobile homes parks? In this first part of our 5-part series on Lessons Learned from our Residents, we're going to discuss the reasons that 8% of Americans choose to live in mobile homes, and what the key drivers are for them in making that selection. We have roughly 90,000 residents living in our properties -- and we've been renting lots and selling homes for over two decades - so this is a topic that we are intensely interested in. Hear what we've learned about why customers choose mobile home parks to live in, based on our past experiences

Mark Twain once said “buy land, they’re not making it anymore”. But land is not always what it’s rumored to be, as far as an investment – particularly when it’s attached to a mobile home park. In our final installment of our five-part series, we’re going to talk about the insider secrets to the options with raw land that sometimes comes with a mobile home park acquisition.

Back in the 1950s to 1970s, moms & pops often built clubhouses and laundry buildings as needed service facilities for residents who lived in 8’ to 12’ wide trailers with little room on the inside and no washer and dryer connections. However, more modern homes don’t require these amenities, and today these buildings often sit vacant or under-utilized. In this fourth installment of a five-part series, we’re going to discuss the insider secrets on how to make the best of these structures.

The self-storage industry has been a part of mainstream real estate for about three decades, but it takes on a completely different dimension (and playbook) when it’s located inside a mobile home park. And commercial buildings are a lot harder to make money with when they have a “trailer park” address. In this third part of a five-part series on additional assets that often come with mobile home park purchases, we’re going to talk about how to correctly operate storage units and commercial structures inside mobile home parks.

While mobile home parks frequently compete with apartments for customers, what do you do when your arch-enemy is located inside a mobile home park? In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to talk about the insider secrets of operating mom & pop’s old apartment complex inside your mobile home park boundary. Back in the day, early mobile home park pioneers would often build an apartment building at the front for either their family’s use or as an extra income source. Today, the challenges – and opportunities – are different. Enjoy this second installment in a five-part series.

Sometimes mobile home parks come with more than just land or mobile homes. So how do you value and work around these additional assets? In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re starting a five-part series on the insider secrets to all those assets that mom & pop often convey with the park purchase, including homes, apartments, self-storage, commercial buildings and raw land. If you ever wondered what to do with the miscellaneous items that come with a mobile home park sometimes, this podcast series is for you.

As the final installment in our series on insider secrets in mobile homes, we’re going to interview Ryan Howerton of 21st Mortgage regarding the CASH program – the only way to fill vacant lots in your mobile home park with zero dollars out of pocket. It’s also a way to finance used homes in your park. Since you can create $20,000 to $60,000 in value by filling just one vacant lot in your community, the CASH program can be a huge engine to create profits. Learn about this exciting program for increasing occupancy and maximizing net income in this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery’s podcast.

It’s one thing to buy and renovate a mobile home, but that’s of no value if you can’t properly rent or sell it. As the 5th largest owner of mobile home parks in the U.S., Frank is going to discuss his lessons learned from the sale or rental of thousands of homes across 30 states. You’ll learn what the 9/3/1 template is, and other valuable insider secrets that can help you to get your homes out the door and help solve the affordable housing crisis one home at a time. This is the fourth in our five-part series on mobile homes.