Editor’s Note: Welcome to the companion article to Episode 8 of the MHP_IRL podcast! The purpose of this article is to expand your podcast listening experience with additional content. Companion articles will unpack larger concepts that we talk about during each episode that will give you practical and most importantly, actionable advice that you can apply to your MHP investing journey.

The mobile home park industry has been branded a lucrative niche for investors . Therefore, it comes as no surprise that capital allocator types want in on the action.

Unfortunately, even with a financially literate mind, capital allocation skills will not set you apart from other investors. I encourage all you financially minded folks to think about what other skills you have to offer because being financially savvy will not be enough if you want to become a park operator.

If you don’t believe me, stick around. I am going to recount my year building, not my first, but my third mobile home park, and share the good, the bad, and the ugly while I was operating my first park (and living on the property).

June 30, 2017 - It was a nice summer day.

Ian and I rolled up to La Costa mobile home park ready to move in. In our vehicles, we brought only the essentials - two mattresses, cheap lawn chairs, and a TV with no stand.

Thinking back now...it wouldn’t have mattered what we brought because let me tell you, we did not know what we were getting ourselves into.

That summer, our knowledge was put to the test. I even questioned myself on why I left my cushy corporate job with a stable and secure salary. And just to let you know, this was my third mobile home park.

Truth be told, even though La Costa was our third, it felt like we were going from zero to one, not two to three MHPs.

From day one, we felt like we were in over our heads. After 90 days, we were still in over our heads, but at least we had six valuable lessons.

If you’re not visiting the front lines, you’re losing out on money.

You can’t truly know what’s going on with your mobile home park until you’ve experienced it first hand.

The morning after we got into the park, we made our way to the office. We were giddy with anticipation - it was like the first day of school. That feeling did not last long.

As soon as we hit the door, 8:30 AM, we were bombarded from every angle.

Suddenly, we had employees that reported to us. Not only were they ready, but they looked at us expectantly waiting for instruction (as if we knew what we were doing). Having never done property management, I can say for certain that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

Tenants were already waiting for us. La Costa was home to 76 tenants, and it felt like we met every single one that day.

Requests poured in and ran the gamut of issues from rent collections, to home repairs, and some long-overdue park maintenance. Before lunchtime, that day Ian and I were already way over our heads, and to top it off, the maintenance staff only spoke Spanish. This experience seriously exposed the gaps in our knowledge.

We also met the slick talkers and con artists, who were all ready to pitch why they should live rent-free on our property (did I mention that it was also rent collection week?) Even if you think you are prepared for this, you are not.

If you don’t know, I majored in psychology in college and even wrote a book about how to use psychology to negotiate in sales. Despite my subject matter knowledge, I was woefully unprepared for the way that my skills would be tested. In those early days, I found myself drawing on every single psychology tool in my toolbox.

The people who lived here made it their job to come up with THE perfect sales pitch to con me out of collecting rent. And now because the old owners were out, I was fresh meat that they were going to try to make mincemeat out of me.

I had to learn on my feet how to deal with difficult tenants. I made mistakes and learned a few things. MHPs aren’t for the weak of heart and definitely require courage and confidence, because not every tenant is going to love you.

If you’re looking for a thankless job, owning and managing a mobile home park is for you.

Owning and managing an MHP is like being mayor of a small town. People wave and smile at your face, and throw daggers at your back when you walk away.

They expect you to wave a magic wand around or have an unlimited bank account to make everything work. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and rarely will your tenants understand--they don't own your asset, and won't be invested in its upkeep the way that you are.

But, if you can’t magically fix everything, you shouldn’t expect that of your staff either.

It’s important to trust your employees, but verify they are doing a good job.

In my time at La Costa, I learned a lot about being a property manager. There’s a lot that a park owner might not even get told by a property manager. And that requires a lot of, but necessary, trust. If you want to scale your time away from the park, you must trust that your property manager is running park operations smoothly. With that being said, this doesn’t mean you can’t do your due diligence.

I have to say, going to the front lines showed me how much power my property managers wield. There are a lot of things, some important and some unimportant, that my managers shield me from.

You have to ask yourself, “where is the line on abusing that power of what I am told” and “is it costing me money?”

In your quest to build a solid team, you’re going to make mistakes.

I’ve hired contractors, who we later found out did not have a business license. I’ve hired people who had warrants out for their arrest. I’ve hired people who have carted out thousands of dollars worth of materials. The list goes on.

If there is one thing that I learned from this, it’s that you have to let your ego go and know that this is a learning process.

Once you’ve done that, you’re going to have a team that is a well-oiled machine.

You have to work to get the right butts in the seats. Or, in this case, bodies in the homes.

If you’ve never been on Craigslist, I encourage you to peruse that website. You’ll notice that a lot of MHPs will advertise mobile homes there.

Here’s what they won’t tell you: your time is going to be wasted, but it may be worth it.

Ian and I began with about 30 vacant mobile homes that we planned to rehab and flip. I thought it would be a great idea to advertise both the complete rehabs and “handyman” specials on Craigslist.

From my experience, and I wish I had known this then, advertising on Craigslist, one out of ten people will become a tenant.

I would spend days following up with leads, just to come up with nothing. This idea demanded a ton of my attention, and really thinking back on it now, why wouldn’t it? I essentially plastered “free house” on the internet.

With the advancement of technology and how people are getting their information, I encourage you to look outside of Craigslist to advertise your mobile homes. This could include building a Google My Business profile, starting a Facebook page, and advertising on social media. The possibilities are endless.

5. After the first 90 days, you start to understand where your knowledge gaps are and can begin to make moves to fill them.

If you ever want to be knocked down a couple of pegs, get into mobile home parks. After 90 days on the front lines, you’re going to have, what I call, conscious incompetence. By this I mean, you’re going to be fully aware of everything that’s going on and still not know how to fix it.

After our first 90 days, we learned the landmines that existed on the playing field. Did it make us better park operators? Not quite yet, we knew we still sucked but we were able to start making planning for improving our operations. We put one important action into place, and that was organizing a Google Sheet called “La Costa Universe.”

We stored everything here - contractor information, sales efforts, key performance indicators, and the list goes on. This excel put all of the small pieces of the pie together for us. It was truly our lifeline.

Living and breathing La Costa truly taught me lessons that I use today. If Ian and I hadn’t made the decision to pack up our cars and learn the ins and outs of that mobile park home, we might still be making some of the mistakes we made early on.

6. Because of this I am thankful. After everything I experienced, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

This article has been strongly negative. I have even stressed how unprepared we were. But here’s the deal...I would not trade it for anything in the world.

I didn’t have to work 12 hour days. I didn’t have to get down in the trenches. I didn’t have to stay for 90 days. But, I did because I wanted to.

In those 90 days, I was stressed, anxious, and unsure about my decisions and what I was doing. But the one emotion that I felt throughout the entire time was exhilaration.

I truly believe I was made for this industry. I live for the chaotic churn of mobile home parks. From figuring out maintenance needs to optimizing performance, every action and decision demands high energy.

The problem is….you can’t experience this just by reading this article or listening to a podcast. You have to get out there and experience it yourself.

So, I have one question for you…

If you’re not out on the front lines, then where are you?