Manufactured/Mobile Home Investing

Would like to learn more about this. My buddy is investing his family's fortune in creating affordable housing, trailer parks.

I know nothing about it but would also be interested. Hope you'll get some responses

I know a few multi-family guys that switched over to that game. Think of it kind of like a hybrid between multi-family and self-storage. You have to have on-site management but there are a lot of value-add plays throughout the country due to mismanagement.

It's definitely become more competitive with cap rates heading to the 6 range. One of my clients bought something around a 7cap on in-place numbers last year but there was 30-40% vacancy and he saw a lot of potential to fix the place up. However, it took him a lot of searching to find a deal like that. He said 3 or 4 years ago the deals were very plentiful but now it's competitive like anything else.

Underwriting is similar to multi-family but conceptually it's a bit different.

roll tide!

Read up on the different between a 1 star park, a 2 star and so on. There are very high quality 4 star parks throughout the US. There are literally master planned MHP's all over the US. Yes, there are some dumps. It's just like every other asset class with regard to quality. Good owners, bad owners and such.

You're not investing in the coach's/double-wides/triple-wides. Rarely will you collect coach rent as that is not "real estate." Coach's are personal property. Lenders don't even calculate coach rent into gross rents. The idea behind MHP's is to simply be a grounds keeper and collect a fee for doing so. The tenants fix and repair their own toilets, electrical, etc. It's a great investment. Cap rates in CA are under 5% in many markets. You can borrower very close to MF rates. Inventory is extremely tight out West.

Many MHP's in CA are rent controlled. Every 20 years or so a new Accord is issued by a specific agency in each town. They tend to allow owners a 10-15% rent bump every new Accord.

It's an asset class that has gotten attention from bigger REITS. For example, Northstar Realty Finance has a $1.8 billion portfolio of Manufactured Housing. http://www.nrfc.com/business-lines/real-estate-portfolio/manufactured-h… ....It looks like they're about to sell the portfolio too.

Good interview by Joe Stampone with the guy doing mobile park investment: http://astudentoftherealestategame.com/park-street-partners-finding-opp…

I recently interviewed at a REPE shop that has a big presence in the MHP industry. The general gist was that these things cash flow like crazy. 10 years ago the majority of MHP were owned by individuals, but now there has been a notable move to consolidate these assets. Usually the investment period on these properties are longer, 7-10 years. Almost no one leaves these parks once they move in so tenant roll is extremely small.

As another person commented, there is a major difference between "high quality" and "low quality" MHP's. The best MHP's are usually age restricted to seniors and are just another form of a retirement home. These properties attract the most institutional capital. Properties that aren't age restricted tend to have more problems (think Trailer Park Boys), but this isn't always the case.

I know the Washington State Pension fund is the sole backer of Hometown America which is a huge MHP owner/operator, Sam Zell has a REIT that focuses on MHP that has performed really well over the past couple decades, also Green Courte Partners out of Chicago assembled and sold off a massive Portfolio of MHP's to Sun Communities within the past 24 months. It is still a very fragmented asset class, but I would expect this trend of consolidation to continue.

This article was in WSJ recently. Looks like GIC and Stockbridge Capital have a large presence in the segment:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/singapores-sovereign-wealth-fund-is-in-talk…

I spent a while exclusively buying MHP around the country. Closed on about $250mm worth of communities in the period I was doing it. Cap rates are relatively low right now. Someone above said funds target 20% IRR, I don't see how you could achieve that right now unless you're renting out the homes right now, which is not a business I'd want to be in.

Our financing sub 3% and 75% LTV. That's where all the value comes from. It's difficult to repositon these assets thanks to Frank-Dodd act; however, there are firms that do it. PM if you want to know more or have specific questions.

It's very similar to multi-family just different expenses, lower turnover and usually different rent control statutes than for apartments.

From what I understand, the "investing" is the easy part. The difficult part is simply "identifying" the "mom and pop" owners to find a deal. Does anyone know how to acquire a list of off-market mobile home park owners? I know some states require licensing and list the licensees.

Hi, Guys, I am looking for a contractor in Sydney for my construction work. Can anyone help me out from this situation?

Lots of great info on here, and it looks like the message was an unrelated bump, but wanted to add one more point: one of the major strengths of the sector is that municipalities these days will 9 times out of 10 downright refuse to approve new mobile home parks due to pressure from neighbors who are worried about property values, poor and often unfounded public perception, and the strain they can put on public schools due to the high densities of families. There isn't really any other sector with such a high barrier to future supply.

I've been actively working on/researching prefabricated modular homes, which are basically regular houses with permanent foundations that are made in a facility, trucked to the site, and then stitched together over a few days. They cost roughly the same as a site-built house.

Seems like most people here are talking about the classic "mobile" home community, but I really think there's something to this. About 1/3 of the population is lower-middle class--this type of housing could be a real boon to this class of society if it could be made more ubiquitous and higher quality.