New Company

the company i work for is very new to the business i am in. they started buying properties in 2017 with 8 parks. by 2020, they had 80 properties. they are great at acquiring parks, but have no long term plan for the future of the properties they now own. additionally, they are currently buying more and more parks with little or no due diligence. they do not understand the way parks work, nor do they understand the people that live in them.

trailer parks are a meme for a reason.

The Premise

my direct boss is a wall street financial guy who happens to be friends with a trust fund billionaire. the billionaire guy decided, one day, to purchase some apartment rental property. this did not go very well, due to the fact that turn around and rehab is a constant expense, so somebody suggested to him that he should start buying trailer parks.

this was a wonderful idea if you can make sure that your residents BUY and OWN their homes. the trailer sits on your property and you collect rent for the land underneath the home. the icing on the cake is the fact that, since they own the dwelling, they are responsible for maintenance, upkeep, and taking care of the property. this means they have to mow YOUR grass, fix THEIR homes, and make sure the health department doesn't cite them for random infractions.

The Reality

we are not worried about preventative maintenance at this point

what they didn't figure out is that they must maintain the property. they thought this was a "quick buck" to make with no strings attached. townships, counties, cities, and all the departments that go along with those entities do not like mobile homes or the parks they are in. they are actively looking for every single infraction, no matter how small it might be, so that they can bleed the owner of revenue. it works out well for the municipalities because you can cite the owners for the bad behaviors of the owner's tenants... and fine them.

additionally, their end game is to close parks down so that they can use the land for "better things," such as strip malls and apartment complexes, which bring in more tax dollars. my company does not understand this. they think that if you purchase a park, put a home on it, you will collect rent forever without putting a cent into maintaining the rest of the property. to put it bluntly, the company supervisor told me:

i think the company only owns one or two leaf blowers.