Welcome to the Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast where you will learn how to identify, evaluate, negotiate, perform due diligence on, finance, turn-around and operate mobile home parks! Your host is Frank Rolfe, the 5th largest mobile home park owner in the United State with his partner Dave Reynolds.
Due to mismanagement and lack of vision, many American mobile home parks suffer from extreme vacancy. But is there opportunity with 50% occupied parks? In this edition of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast series, we’re going to explore the issue of parks with huge vacancy challenges and decide whether the glass is half empty or half full – or both.
Listen To Episode 120What does the mobile home park industry have to be thankful for in 2019? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast series we’re going to explore what the positive factors for the industry are in 2019.
Listen To Episode 119The U.S. is in an epic affordable housing shortage. Some people cannot afford even to live in a mobile home park, despite its low cost. So where can they go? Politicians say that building truly affordable housing is an impossible task. That’s nonsense. In this edition of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast series, we’re going to explore the exact ways that insanely affordable housing could be created in the U.S. for those who cannot fit into traditional housing metrics. Sure, it would take some outside-the-box thinking and some variances from building codes, but there’s no way that a country that put a man on the moon cannot provide housing for all Americans regardless of income.
Listen To Episode 118So you’re looking at buying a mobile home park but the numbers and price just don’t equate. Some deals – as a last resort – can be solved with creative debt construction. But how does that work? In this week’s edition of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast series we’re going to focus on making deals happen with debt as the tool to tie the numbers together. You’ll see that there’s still hope for some deals if you can piece together an attractive debt structure.
Listen To Episode 117There is probably no greater way to destroy a conversation than to say “I own a mobile home park”. It typically triggers a negative response that is typically reserved for violent criminals or wearing a Green Bay Packers shirt to a Cowboys game. But why is that? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast series, we’re going to review the types of reaction you get by admitting you own a park, as well as the root cause of these responses. As you’ll see, there’s a whole host of reasons that most Americans have a very poor opinion of the mobile home park industry – and all completely unjustified.
Listen To Episode 116There is not a single $250 million dollar self-storage facility in the U.S. There’s also not a $250 million house or parking lot or many other real estate sectors. So what does it mean that the Plaza Del Ray in Sunnyvale, California has sold for $237 million? Quite a lot, actually. That’s the topic of the discussion on this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast. Hear how a sale like that will have a huge impact on the credibility of the “trailer park” going forward.
Listen To Episode 115Home appreciation. It sounds good, right? It’s a given, correct? Well, not so fast. The Associated Press tried to claim that mobile homes are a bad investment because they do not appreciate. Is that a fair assertion? In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast we’re going to discuss this single point that the Associated Press simply can’t come to grips with despite the fact that it’s economic nonsense.
Listen To Episode 114A couple weeks ago, a huge number of articles about mobile home parks were published by the Associated Press focusing on communities in Colorado. They fixated on several facts 1) mobile homes are difficult to move 2) all other forms of housing cost double 3) corporate owners are buying out the moms and pops 4) failure to pay rent or follow rules leads to ultimatums. In this Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast we’re going to review these concepts and try to figure out how anyone would not know these basic tenets of life and compare these to how the Associated Press itself operates.
Listen To Episode 113There are around 45,000 mobile home parks in the U.S. Each and every one is different. Some are truly unique. In this edition of the Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast series, we’re going to discuss some of the most unforgettable parks we’ve seen or purchased – unusual pieces of American history that virtually nobody knows about. If you think a “trailer park” is just a shotgun road with homes on either side, then you will soon learn the error of your ways.
Listen To Episode 1128% of Americans live in mobile homes. That means there are about 24 million unique stories to hear. We only have a few minutes of time, so I’m going to tell you about a handful of the extremely interesting people I’ve met in mobile home parks we own. You’re about to see that there’s a whole lot more going on out there than the media wants you to believe concerning who really lives in “trailer parks”.
Listen To Episode 111There are 50 states in the U.S. One has no mobile home parks (Hawaii) and the other 49 all have different traits – both positive and negative – regarding historic mobile home park performance and opportunity. In this edition of the Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast Series, we’re going to explore five of the top markets and what makes them stand out above the pack. Just as no two parks are the same, no two states are the same regarding making money with mobile home parks. Find out why.
Listen To Episode 110Mom and pop owners share a set of behaviors that must be understood if you are going to successfully strike a deal with them. In this final segment in our four-part series on “Park Psychology” we’re going to look into what motivates mom and pop owners and how to appeal to their basic instinct to help both the new owner and residents alike and to proudly be the “Greatest Generation”.
Listen To Episode 109Mobile home park residents are great people, but they often have trouble adjusting to living within rules and regulations after often decades of loose management. In this third of our four-part series on “Park Psychology” we’re going to discuss the causes of some negative resident behaviors and how to correct these so that everyone in the community can live happily side-by-side and enjoy a high quality of life.
Listen To Episode 108It is not uncommon for mobile home park owners to have to deal with harassment from city hall. But why does this happen and how can this behavior be corrected? In this second of a four-part series on “Park Psychology” we’re going to review the very predictable behavior patterns of city officials, the cause of this behavior, and how to get city hall to back off and be a partner and not an adversary.
Listen To Episode 107In this first of a four-part series on “Park Psychology” we’re going to discuss the reasons behind bank behaviors and how to get banks to do what you want. You’ll see that banks follow a very predictable pattern in approving loans and that you cannot fight these motives but need to embrace them to obtain the desired results.
Listen To Episode 106Who listens to mobile home park residents? How can they have a political voice? In this final episode of our four-part series titled “Politically Correct Parks” we’re going to review how those 8% of Americans that live in mobile homes can have a political presence and what topics are important to them. You will find out how mobile home park owners share the serious responsibility of watching over our residents’ interests while few in government share that commitment.
Listen To Episode 105There’s been tremendous discussion in the media of the “Green New Deal” – but is nobody aware that mobile home parks owners already perfected that model years ago? In this third installment of our four-part series titled “Politically Correct Parks”, we’re going to examine how mobile home parks fit into this entire “green” narrative. There is certainly no business model in America that is more successfully “green” and that offers a sustainable housing solution with a minimum usage of natural resources and a smaller carbon footprint.
Listen To Episode 104Perhaps our elected bureaucrats could learn a thing or two from mobile home park owners. We’ve been delivering on many promises on a consistent basis, while the government struggles to tread water. In this second of our four-part series titled “Politically Correct Parks” we’re going to discuss the many important programs that park owners initiate and maintain that provide important benefits to our residents.
Listen To Episode 103Democratic debates and candidate grandstanding. A torrent of headlines on the 2020 election and primary predictions. It’s the advent of the political season in the U.S. – and that’s a big deal to any business as nobody wants to be on the wrong side of the political process. So where do mobile home parks fit into the national election and what is the impact of the proposed platforms? We’re starting off a four-part series titled “Politically Correct Parks” with an introduction as to where the mobile home park industry stands on a variety of political topics.
Listen To Episode 102While the nation debates the “Green New Deal” one housing option is already far ahead of the others when it comes to sustainability and low carbon footprint: the mobile home park. In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast episode, we’re going to discuss the many ways that mobile home parks may just represent the best thing going in the U.S. on this front. Who would have thought that “trailer parks” would be on the cutting edge of modern political debate?
Listen To Episode 101A 100th Anniversary is called a “centennial” – and that’s exactly what this episode represents. Starting on August 7th, 2017, the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast series has delivered 100 straight weeks of everything you need to know about mobile home park investing. We’ve covered every topic from the history of the sector to predictions of the future – and everything in between. No topic has been taboo and we’ve continually offered straight facts with no sugar coating. Our mission is to erase the untruths and stereotypes about an industry that provides the only non-subsidized form of affordable housing in the U.S., while providing practical tips and explanations on how to correctly invest in this unique asset class. Thanks for listening in for the past 100 weeks and we look forward to talking with you further in the future.
Listen To Episode 100Webster’s Dictionary has two meanings for the word “interest” 1) the quality of exciting curiosity and 2) money paid regularly at a particular rate. In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast series, we’re going to combine the two together and discuss the curious puzzle of making sense of interest rates. You’ll see that there is a methodology based on risk and reward, and that today’s interest rates regarding mobile home parks and homes are really fair in all regards. Do we have your “interest”?
Listen To Episode 99We’ve all seen the show Fixer Upper. Chip and Joanna Gaines take old worn-out houses and bring them back to life – often using the same repetitive design elements. How would they approach an old mobile home park’s renovations? In this episode of Mobile Home Park Master, we’re going to discuss the new and best approaches to bringing old mobile home parks back to life – inexpensive ways to freshen up 50 year-old properties and make them seem new again. Maybe one day HGTV will have a show on mobile home parks but – until then – this segment will provide some design insights.
Listen To Episode 98Do billionaires live in mobile home parks? Yes. And so do many other notable folks in the U.S. In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast series, we’re going to review the many different types of customers that are served by this unique housing option. Are some of them household names? You better believe it. It turns out that “trailer parks” are not only about affordable housing – there are many different facets to this industry.
Listen To Episode 97If the desired effect is to keep mobile home park lot rents low and parks not re-developed into new uses, how can this be accomplished politically? By mandating rent control? By adding more bureaucratic hurdles? Or is there a new approach that might actually work? In this edition of the Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast series, we’re going to review what some political paths to progress might look like, and review those that have no positive impact whatsoever. If you are tired of hearing the “fake news” regarding affordable housing assistance by the government, then this will give you some fresh perspectives on what can and can’t be done to stem the national shortage of affordable housing as far as mobile home parks are concerned.
Listen To Episode 96