Owning mobile home parks was a very attractive investment for me after my experience with owning single families, apartment complexes (small and large), a motel, restaurant and industrial real estate, for several reasons:

• It is a land play with incredible cash flow
• It requires a minimum of maintenance and management
• There is a significant barrier to entry
• Provides an opportunity for creating additional profit centers.

Most of mobile home parks range from 10 to 20 acres - some are even as large as 50 acres. As a result, the land becomes so valuable that eventually those homes are replaced by retail, residential, or commercial real estate. But in the meantime, the mobile home park is creating an incredible cash flow because in essence you are renting the dirt that the mobile homes sit on - so you are leasing the land to people - which makes it a very attractive investment.

Another feature that makes this investment attractive is the minimum amount of maintenance required. By leasing the land to residents, you have very little maintenance needed. You will need to ensure that the infrastructure, (the electrical, gas, water and sewer) are in good condition, and that the utilities are working properly up to the point of connection to their mobile homes. From the point of connection into their homes, the owners are responsible for all maintenance expenses. The expenses incurred by the mobile home park owner are minimal, compared to apartments (or even homes) because it only involves providing the infrastructure and connections for electricity, water, gas, and sewer.

Minimum management also makes this an appealing investment. Once the occupancy of a mobile home park has stabilized, you can hire a caretaker or a part-time manager who will collect the rent the first five days of the month, and then for the remainder of the month be responsible for enforcing the park's rules. Additional work is required when bringing in mobile homes into the park and selling on lease option or a note.

By owning a well run mobile home park with high occupancy you can create an incredible income stream for life. Most residents stay for a very long time. The average tenancy in one of my mobile home parks in Texas is about 12-15 years. Providing a great environment to live can produce a tenant for life.

There is also the possibility for many profit centers. For example, there is the option to bring in homes to provide tenants with a lease option (or sold on a note). So you are not only leasing the land, but you are selling the mobile home on terms as well. Another option is to provide lawn service a monthly fee, or even bringing in storage containers and offering self-storage services.

The purchase of an existing mobile home park is preferred as there is a huge barrier to entry due to the difficulty of obtaining mobile home park zoning. Many cities and counties do not want mobile home parks in their district, and so this creates a barrier to entry for investors to be able to go ahead and develop these parks.

Some people are able to develop parks out in very rural areas, but that takes really deep pockets in order to be able to do, because once you have developed a mobile home park it still takes quite a while for it to reach capacity. For example, you have an average of two mobile homes a month that you begin to fill the park with, and if it is a 100-space park, that could take approximately four to five years to reach capacity. In the meantime, you have a lot of carrying costs with regards to the land and also the infrastructure, which can become very, very expensive.

The best investment by far comes from investing in solid, well located mobile home park that has great infrastructure and high occupancy. Purchasing a mobile home park with these attributes can create an incredible income stream that will give you the freedom to be financially independent for life!

Corey Donaldson      http://www.mobilehomeuniversity.com