Amanda Cruise
Amanda Cruise has been a guest on Collecting Keys, the real estate investing podcast hosted by Mike DeHaan, Dan Austin and Dylan Koch.
How To Buy Mobile Home Parks Off Market with Amanda Cruise
Amanda Cruise explains how she and her husband moved from a duplex and BRRRR deals into mobile home parks, buying their first 50-lot park in April 2020 after six months of studying the asset class and six months of cold calling owners. She covers her buy-box criteria, why she prefers tenant-owned homes, how to screen lenders for mobile home park experience, and how she funded the first deal with her own capital before later bringing in investors and syndicating.
Key takeaways
- Before calling a single owner, they spent about six months consuming mobile home park education (Kevin Bupp's podcast, Frank and Dave's CD course), then six months hunting for a deal.
- Their buy box: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, 20+ units, no combined well-and-septic, no wastewater treatment plants, growing population and local jobs. They screen on the park, not the seller's age, though sellers under about 55 rarely sell.
- Ask any potential lender whether they already have a mobile home park on their books. If they don't, their underwriters may not understand the asset class and can walk at the last minute.
- Fannie and Freddie will finance larger paved parks (roughly 50+ lots) in certain markets, but most smaller parks are financed by local commercial banks with a personal guarantee.