There are around 44,000 mobile home parks in the U.S., with roughly 40,000 of those still owned by the original moms and pops. It is the challenge – and opportunity – of the current generation to bring these selectively back to life. Some qualify for investment and others don’t, but the trick is understanding what makes money and what’s hopeless and following established guidelines for making them successful again. The photo above is from the 1955 book titled “How to Build and Operate a Mobile Home Park” and, as virtually all mobile home parks in the U.S. were built between 1950 and 1970, the photo above represents the “before” shot for many of these investment projects. So how do you create the successful colorized “after” photos?

The sudden rise in inflation to levels not seen in 40 years has changed the playing field for successful investments. Americans have become accustomed to inflation rates of 1% to 2%, and therefore tolerated investment returns that were only mid-single digits in everything from stocks to bonds. Even those who ventured into real estate often did so with REIT dividends of around 4%.

What really makes customers stay in mobile home parks for decades on end? Is it truly a barrier to removing their homes or is it something more? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to focus on what really makes residents stay in place, as well as what makes them leave, and what the options are when they want to go.

Warren Buffett is a big fan of “moats” that protect your investment, but probably the largest ones in America are industries that are “regulated”, thus constructing the supply of competition. There are only a handful of such business sectors, and I have been fortunate enough to be involved in two of them: billboards and mobile home parks.

In honor of the start of baseball season, our next event is titled “Three Home Runs” and it’s the story of Nevelle from Utah’s fantastic journey from zero mobile home parks before Boot Camp to now three deals purchased.

Many people look at a handful of listings on Mobilehomeparkstore and Loopnet and declare “mobile home parks are overpriced!” But is that really true? In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to focus on this topic and examine it factually. Are all the good deals gone? We’re going to talk about that.

One of the few books ever written about mobile home parks was the 1955 “How to Build and Operate a Mobile Home Park” by L.C. Michelon. What’s amazing about this book is how little has changed over the decades regarding what makes a mobile home park successful. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss all the similarities reflected in the book and why they continue to hold true.

One of the most common questions we get regarding buying mobile home parks is “can you make $100,000 per year on a single asset?” This is understandable as most investors are looking at alternative investing to do what the stock market fails at, and that’s to provide predictable and significant cash flow on a recurring basis. With the average dividend yielding around 2.5%, you would need $4 million in stocks to accomplish this. And to own $4 million in stocks you’d have to earn around $8 million pre-tax. That’s not much of a business model. So here’s why mobile home parks can hit this target, but based on complete science and not a “get rich quick” infomercial premise.

If you own a mobile home park with even one vacant lot, you probably have a plan to fill that lot with a new or used home to obtain stable, monthly lot rent. And if you are going to sell or rent a home in a mobile home park, your success or failure begins with the simple action of picking up the phone. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore everything you need to know about getting that phone line answered and answered properly.