Risk vs. Reward is a huge topic with successful mobile home park owners. In this episode we are going to review what the concept of Risk vs. Reward is, and then go over in granular detail many of the top risks to be concerned about, and what your percent of success or failure might be with that trait. While Vegas offers you riches, it rarely delivers, and mobile home parks are more of a game of skill that always rewards those that used good planning and diligence and have done their best to mitigate chance.

Despite providing a terrific housing product to thousands of Americans, we continue to hear from the media that mobile home parks are a “predatory” business model. But is this true? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to try to put this issue to bed once and for all, breaking down what “predatory” means and then applying those definitions to the actual methodology of mobile home park ownership and management. Here’s a spoiler: the media is horrendously off-base, based on sheer ignorance, and nobody ever calls them out on it. In this podcast we will.

The television show COPS would suggest that all mobile home parks are community crime centers. The movie 8-Mile, starring Eminem, makes it look like trailer parks are the “go-to” spot for drugs, violence and petty crime of all varieties. But is that stereotype true? The U.S. government answered that question in 2010 with the release of “Trailers and Trouble? An Examination of Crime in Mobile Home Communities” written by Professor William P. McCarty of the University of Illinois, which was part of HUD’s formal “Cityscape: a Journal of Policy Development and Research”. So what did HUD’s research show? Let’s just say that the trailer park crime narrative was more than just a little off-base.

Both Dave and I got into the mobile home park business with smaller properties, and many of our early purchases were tiny communities. Even in recent times we have no issue with buying a great deal with a smaller lot count. However, there are many things about small parks that we have learned over the decades and wanted to share those with you to help you craft the right buying decision. As you’ll see, there are some important tips for buying smaller parks that will make your plan more successful and your experience in ownership more enjoyable.

There’s an old saying that “when the tide goes out you see who was swimming naked”. In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to analyze what real estate sectors were swimming naked in light of the Covid-19 pandemic – and future such events – and which sectors had their swimsuits safely on the whole time. The world may never be the same after the national quarantine and it’s important to evaluate real estate investing going forward based on the new reality.

What were the hot topics a decade ago? Has anything changed over the past ten years? We’re going to review the headlines and articles of mobile home park industry magazines from 2010 to see if there have been any substantial changes to the “trailer park” business model, and use this analysis to make projections for the decade ahead. They say that history repeats itself, but in the case of mobile home parks, is it more like Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day? That’s the focus of this discussion.

No mobile home park in history has generated as much undeserved negative publicity as North Lamar in Austin, Texas. Nothing we did was good enough for the Austin media. We saved the park from the wrecking ball. We brought the park back to life with new streets, entrance and lot-by-lot TLC. We made its ongoing operation possible by raising rents and fixing resident abuse of water and sewer. Finally, we allowed the residents to buy the park from us and gave them a huge amount of time to put the deal together with the non-profit group ROC.

What’s the highest hurdle you can jump over? Can you clear 4’ or more? In this second part of our Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast two-part series on the “Top 7 Deal Killing Hurdles” we’re going to review the three highest hurdles that any park buyer must face and why they are so difficult. We’re also going to discuss the limited options to scale them and the enormity of the risks involved. If you want to clear these last three you better get out to the track and start working out, as they have destroyed many a park buyers who didn’t know what they were or how to address them.

Webster’s Dictionary defines a “hurdle” as “an obstacle or difficulty”. We’ve all seen runners in races going over hurdles of various heights – some successfully and others not. So what are the “Top 7 Deal Killing Hurdles” that mobile home park buyers have to navigate to successfully invest in affordable housing?

The mobile home park industry is filled with a number of time-proven mantras. It has benefitted from various high-profile players that are often quoted in the media, as well as affiliated stories from other sectors of real estate that have remarkable overlap. The sum of this body of work is the collective wisdom of many who have gone before, as well as those who are still an active part of the industry. In this episode of Mobile Home Park Mastery, we’re going to review many of these items and what they mean to all park owners and operators.

In 2014 the New York Times brought out a huge story about Frank & Dave and their success in building one of the largest mobile home park portfolios in the U.S. They even declared that Frank & Dave are the “best thing going in affordable housing when the nation’s need for low-cost places to live has never been greater”. But what else did the writer, Gary Rivlin, find in his research about the industry. In this episode we’re going to review the discussion we had with Gary after the article came out, and share some quotes of his opinions on what we do and how we do it. Since the New York Times is known to not typically be pro-business, there are certain strengths to the mobile home park industry that converted even a self-professed antagonist to be a big fan of “trailer parks”.

We all know that Columbus discovered America in 1492, and that America declared independence in 1776. But do any of us know the interesting dates in mobile home park history? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast series, we’re going to review these important dates and their relevance to this unique affordable housing product. While it’s unlikely that any high school will ever require knowledge of these moments in order to graduate, that doesn’t mean that smart mobile home park buyers and owners should not be fully fluid in these historic moments.

Like any other science, there are a host of terms that are of relevance to mobile home park investing. In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast series, we’re going to literally review these from A to Z – from “Affordable Housing” to “Sam Zell”. If you want to get a good grasp on the components of brief strategies that successful mobile home park buyer and operates utilize, then this topic should be of great interest.

Back in 1999 there were 400,000+ mobile homes sold in the U.S. with dealers making fortunes. Today, there are less than 100,000 being sold (it’s been that way since around 2000) and most of those same dealers have disappeared. In fact, you never even hear about mobile home dealers these days. Why is that and where did they go? In this episode of Mobile Home Park Mastery we’re going to discuss the rise and fall of mobile home dealers and what the future might hold for them.

“NIMBY” stands for “Not In My Back Yard” and is the attitude that has stopped new mobile home parks from being built in the U.S. for the past half century. Now the federal government is discussing the concept of promoting “YIMBY” which stands for “Yes In My Back Yard” – trying to coerce city government to allow mobile homes to be placed on lots restricted to stick-built single-family homes only. In this edition of Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss the cage fight of these two acronyms and why the victor is probably “GUMBY” which stands for “Give Up on My Back Yard”.

The Wall Street Journal recently declared that the 4,100% rise of one Mobile Home Park REIT stock (and 2,000%+ of another) was a better return than virtually every other sector in the market. They compare the rise of trailer parks to that of high-tech. But is that a fair assessment? In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss why mobile home parks are doing so well, and why it has nothing to do with stock market speculation.

There’s an old saying that “good ranchers live poor and die rich”. But mobile home park owners get to live rich and die rich. Why the difference. In this episode, we’re going to discuss that second profit center of mobile home parks that few people talk about. As you’ll see, there’s actually two compelling reasons to get into mobile home parks, not just one.

Are mobile home park residents really like “Waffle House customers chained to their booths” or is there much more freedom than this quote (that was taken out of context) would imply? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery we’re reviewing just exactly what the real options all mobile home park residents have, and why the media – and certain politicians – refuse to accept this reality.

Opportunity Zones are hot right now. But the way to make money with them may be a little different than what most Americans think. In this episode of Mobile Home Park Mastery we’re going to discuss the action steps to harnessing the power of the Opportunity Zone tax program based on the bigger picture than delaying or avoiding the tax man.

All good mobile home park owners have the same core of beliefs on what their role and duties are. But there’s a whole additional list that is not what they’re all about. In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast series, we’re going to review the division between the sacred pledge of the smart park owner vs. items that should never be assumed to be in that list of duties.

In 1955 a business school professor named L.E. Michelon published the first text book on mobile home parks titled “How to Build and Operate a Mobile Home Park”. Sadly, this book could not be further from the truth in how the industry operates today. In this episode of Mobile Home Park Mastery we’re going to discuss what the main differences are between 1955 concepts of construction and management vs. the modern equivalent. Come see how times have changed (and for the better).

There’s a board game called “Trailer Park Wars” that is based on every American stereotype of mobile home parks and their residents. But are these assumptions true?

We get love letters from residents all the time – not only on Valentine’s Day. Why do people love their mobile home parks so much? In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to read some of these letters and analyze the key drivers to customer satisfaction that we clearly deliver on every day. We’re also going to discuss other factors that make us the best housing option in America.

Film star Greta Garbo used to exclaim “I want to be alone” when approached by fans and even other actors. And this sentiment can also have beneficial aspects in certain functions of the mobile home park buyer and operator. As you’ll see, there is power in solitude: the power of making better decisions. While many decisions a park owner makes work best with a spirit of inclusion of all parties involved, there are certain moments when being an independent thinker pays big dividends.

Sometimes the best course of action is to go with the force instead of against it. In this edition of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to review effective strategies for park owners to harness negative energy and use it to create powerful solutions. As you’ll see, these are some classic moves that work every time if you just know how to complete them.