Posted on 02/11/2017 10:40:46 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The mobile home park has been around as a real estate sector for over half a century. However, it has remained in complete obscurity except for a few lucky investors and such heavyweights as Sam Zell. But 2017 is the year in which mobile home parks will finally be identified for the wonderful business models that they are, as well as the prime solution to the affordable housing crisis in America. And this attention is coming from a number of sources.
The U.S. government
After being ignored by the Federal Government for the past 50 years, that period of silence is ending. In 2016, Congress passed H.R. 3700, which will allow Section 8 vouchers to be used to buy mobile homes beginning in mid-2017. Thats a huge step, as there are roughly as many people in Section 8 apartments in the U.S. as there are in all of the mobile home parks in the U.S. combined. In addition, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have introduced new programs to finance mobile home parks that are more attractive than any other offering. Finally, there is talk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may start working on making it easier for first-time homebuyers to buy a mobile home, by taking a more active role in re-purchasing these loans. Its a great year for the industry legislatively.
The media
Although the media has for decades relegated the very concept of the mobile home park as something to ridicule through such shows as COPS, Myrtle Manor and Trailer Park Boys that attitude is shifting as a result of the very serious issue of housing those of lesser incomes. The affordable housing crisis in the U.S. is a huge news story, and the nations newspapers, magazines, television stations and on-line sources are beginning to look past those old stereotypes and see the bigger story: that mobile home parks allow people to be homeowners and have a nice yard and neighborhood for a fraction of the price of single-family and multi-family options.
Private investment groups
There were three $2 billion transactions in the mobile home park sector in 2016: 1) the sale of Carefree to SUN (a U.S. REIT) 2) the sale of Northstar to Brookfield (a Canadian REIT) and 3) the sale of YES to GIC (the sovereign nation fund of Singapore). Clearly, the mobile home park industry is poised for massive consolidation. The Carlyle Group the largest private equity group in the U.S. already owns over 3,000 lots and is buying more. These transactions give incredible credibility to the industry and helps it become more mainstream.
Conclusion
2017 is looking to be a pivotal year for the mobile home park industry. It already has the highest yields of any form of real estate, but it has long lacked respect. This year that missing element is coming into focus, and its an exciting time to be involved in the birth of a mainstream real estate investment arena. If you are not currently investing in mobile home parks, you should definitely investigate this opportunity before its too late.
That looks like a fantastic resto-mod of a late 40’s Spartan, can’t say I dig the modern wheel choice but I’d imagine they match the owner’s tow vehicle.
They’ve all gotten a little pricey since the collectors jumped on them several years back, they’re like a vintage Airstream but with more variability and character in their form factor. I’m more partial to the mid-50’s style of Spartan, though.
I’ve seen a 70’s GMC motorhome that had been converted into a toy hauler like that, the owner raced a vintage Mini Cooper and it fit perfectly, with the factory rear converted to a hatch and a motorized ramp. The front portion was still a motorhome with the original sofa that converts to bunk beds but completely redone. Love those things, too.
I’ve read that in Florida, newer mobile homes can stand up to a hurricane just as well if not better than a site built house.
That article is talking about owning mobile home parks NOT mobile homes.
Seems like it wouldn’t be too bad.
Also seems like storage facilities would turn a profit.
Anyone have any experience with THOSE?
There’s the rub. My husband is a pack rat, and we’re both clutter bugs. I marvel at people who are naturally organized. I marvel further at those who don’t seem to accumulate stuff.
“This has boondoggle written all over it.”
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns two of the largest mobile home manufacturers — Clayton and Oakwood. Buffett was a big Obama supporter. This new policy was just announced by the federal government. Given the government doesn’t move quickly, and Trump’s HUD secretary pick is still awaiting confirmation one might suspect this new program is a payoff to Buffett.
The devil is in the details. Are these going to be quality units placed in communities with good infrastructure or cheaply constructed units which will create suburban and rural blight like so many cheaply built apartment built in recent years and filled with Section 8 recipients?
Remember it was the policy of the Obama administration to use Section 8 housing to change the culture and character of communities. Mobile home parks can be quick and inexpensive to build. Within a year farm acreage can be transformed into acres of hundreds mobile homes crammed in rows on tiny lots. Roads in these hastily constructed communities can be dirt or gravel, not paved. In a few years poorly constructed dwellings, accessed by washed out roads, serviced by inadequate septic systems, and filled with unassimilated refugees on government assistance becomes a ghetto filled with angry idle people ripe for exploitation by community organizers.
Dotting rural America with thousands of mobile home parks filled with hundreds of thousands of refugees is one way to change voting patterns in flyover country.
i would question it as a kit car.
bugatti would probably frown on the infringement.
Trailer parks seem to be magnets for tornadoes.
I will never be truly happy because my husband is an unorganized pack rat and I prefer space and organization. When I heard of a Hollywood couple that had separate but attached houses I was quite jealous. Of course, that would require an income we are nowhere near ever acquiring :)
It's perfect in every way.
It's 30 years old but was virtually never used.
May live in it someday :-)
A friend of mine is moving his trailer to another trailer park across town. His current park was recently bought by an out of town corporation. They jacked the lot rents up enough that it makes sense to move. Hopefully the move wont be for nought.
Wow! Nice find. $1500 for something like that, and in that condition... Can’t complain about that!
Do they want to sell their house?
Interestingly, the quality of manufactured homes has grown stronger over the years and in many cases is better than the so-called “stick built” homes. The homes, are factory built on jigs and their lines are truer, fittings tighter. There has also been a huge improvement in architecture design.
How many here live in a manufactured home?
Mobile home parks in California can be very nice not unlike your local subdivision.
Not so much in Georhia
Overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu. For sale now for $1.5 m.
Best post on the thread. Seems quite possible.
Wife and I did when we first got married for 2-3 years but it was a single wide on a private lot not a trailer park. We lived in a trailer park when I was in the Navy going to school cause that’s all we could afford and no base housing was available.
Nothing wrong with them except where they might be and the shxt that’s around you. Lot of retirement communities are trailer parks.
Putting my hand up
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