037 Partnering with Mobile Home Parks to Scale Quickly with John and Matt

In today’s 60-minute Mobile Home Investing Podcast episode #37 I’m honored and so proud to introduce you to active Mobile Home Formula investor, Matt to the co-hosting microphone. In a short period of time Matt has already been able to added 20+ cash-flowing mobile homes to his long-term portfolio.

Matt has been busting his butt, but also working smarter too. In today’s hour-long podcast we talk about what is working for Matt to scale his mobile home investing business so fast.

Learn from Matt’s mistakes and successes on today’s video podcast below.

Special Thanks to Matt for giving value to other mobile home investors he’ll likely never meet.

Over Improving based on exit-strategy

Like most times in life, it is good to have a plan A and Plan B. This is why we plan our “exit strategies” before we ever make any of our purchase offers to sellers. Your desired exit strategy will (or should) determine the repairs you make to your mobile home investment.

• Over improving the property? In these situations, the buyer is happy. This will likely take you longer to repair. You will need to make all this invested money back before you start seeing any profit. It is easy to over improve as your end-buyers may not care about the specific repairs/improvements you make. This over-improving is a direct hit to your profit margin.
• Under improving the property? Buyers negotiate you down on price due to repairs needed. Potential buyers turn away or may not even want to walk inside of the home. Fewer buyers will show up to view the property. Positive: You will be able to gain valuable feedback of what repairs people would like to see.
• Improving the property adequately for the target sales price, neighborhood & condition of home: In these situations, the buyer is happy. This strategy comes with experience and knowing what most end-buyers are looking for when purchasing a used mobile home for sale either cash or payments.

Pro Tip: When reselling an investment mobile home, always disclose any repairs and issues needed on the very first advertisements when you are selling a mobile home. You do not need to waste anyone’s time, including your own, by making the home sound prettier than it really is on the online advertisement.

Moral of the story: If you are selling for top dollar then there should be comparable sales to support your resale price estimation. When selling for top dollar cash then certainly do fix up the home accordingly to neighborhood standards. If reselling in an average neighborhood for cash or for rent-to-own only fix what is broken; aim not upgrade unless it is needed. Pass this savings on to your rent-to-own buyer with a lower Move-In fee required for the right buyer. While wholesaling no repairs are typically made.

In the podcast episode below, John and Matt cover:

• 0:00 Intro
• 3:00 Sales to Bootcamp at 31.
• 4:00 Real estate experience
• 5:30 Who is mobile home investing for?
• 6:10 Working for yourself.
• 8:00 Networking with investor-friends
• 12:20 Investing full-time now.
• 14:00 Selling multiple deals at once.
• 16:30 Partnering with park owners.
• 18:40 Partnering with your brother.
• 20:00 Why join the military at 31?
• 22:30 Giving back.
• 25:40 Talk about your deals
• 26:30 Juggling 25+ mobile home deals
• 31:00 Do this in other states?
• 35:30 Handyman mistakes & lessons
• 43:00 Wholesaling for cash in 5 days.
• 54:00 Staying positive to keep grinding
• 55:00 Wrapping it up

Wholesaling, Retailing, & Cash-flow

Quick reminder of wholesaling, retailing, and cash flowing.

• Wholesaling: This method of investing in mobile homes allows you to secure a mobile home under contract. This gives you time to find a cash buyer for the mobile home. The investor typically makes money without investing any capital.
• Retailing: Selling mobile homes retail is exactly what it sounds like, selling for top dollar to a retail buyer that will likely be living in the home. Ideally these buyers pay cash, however sometimes bank loans may happen.
• Cash-flow: Any mobile home that is sold for monthly payments is typically worth much more than its “all-cash” value. Simply put, the value is higher since the seller will take payments. Selling via monthly payments allows you to collect an upfront Move-In fee from a tenant-buyer and monthly payments for 5+ years.

Effort is required. Some education is very helpful. Also, knowledge about the local markets is needed to make any of these selling strategies successful.

Partnering with parks to scale quickly.

While helping mobile home investors around the country grow their business, we’ve seen mobile home investors partner with parks in major ways and minor ways. All of the ways listed below are still very impressive and allow you to scale faster than working on your own.

• ✔ Partnering with a park and splitting equity in the community: This is major! This is less common. This is what Matt is doing in today’s podcast. Matt found this park owner and they both realized they could help one another out. Matt and his brother’s role are to fix up the existing mobile homes, bring in used mobile homes, and sell everything on payments for a fair and reasonable price. They will all be partnering together on future parks too.
• ✔ The park is allowing you to be the community’s go-to mobile home investor, mobile home buyer, or mobile home broker inside of the community. Any mobile homes available or sellers that arise are sent directly to you for help. This is minor, but still great. This is more common. While this is very nice and helpful, you do not get any equity of the mobile home community. You will get all of the profit from investing, wholesaling, or brokering any mobile homes the park connects you with.

In conclusion you will never learn everything you need to know about real estate investing from reading books or watching videos. While there are many ways to make money in real estate, there are countless ways to lose profits as well. Have fun and take daily action to reach your financial goals. If you have questions, ask them. There are plenty of active investors around to give you help and guidance if you simply ask for it.