MHP Brokers Closing Cocktails Edition of Tips and Tricks Podcast, Eric Wanck Interview

The Mobile Home Park Broker's Tips & Tricks To Investing

In this Closing Cocktails episode of The MHP Broker’s Tips and Tricks podcast, Maxwell Baker, president of The Mobile Home Park Broker, interviewed rock star broker Eric Wanck regarding the ins and outs of his recent 4-park Kentucky sale.

This and every Tips and Tricks podcast episode is brought to you by The MHP Broker’s’ proprietary Community Price Maximizer. Use this four-step system to get the highest price possible for your mobile home park or RV community when you sell it through The MHP Broker. Guaranteed. Ask Max for details.

Here Are the Show Highlights:

• This interview is with The MHP Broker’s Eric Wanck, a superstar mobile home park and RV community broker who recently sold a 4-park package in Kentucky. (Max, 1:31)

• There were a lot of park-owned homes (POH) in this portfolio, which can sometimes scare off investors. But there was a stable tenant base and very good cash flow, which increased interest. The rent rolls were impressive. (Eric, 1:46)

• The overall global occupancy was in the high 80 percents, and low 90s by the time the sale closed. Those numbers are good with the pad count at nearly 100 total. (Eric, 3:09)

• The park had a great local management situation in which the third party handled everything from rent collection and deposits to daily maintenance and park upkeep. This made for a very passive, turnkey operation for the current owner as well as for the new owner if they want to continue the relationship. (Eric, 3:30)

• The global expense ratio was around 10 or 11 percent, which is pretty normal. (Eric, 4:30)

• The park owner was fortunate to be able to find a good onsite manager, because most management companies don’t want to be involved with mobile home parks. (Max, 4:40)

• The fact that there was city water and sewer (with some septic) and direct billed also increased buyer interest. (Eric, 5:47)

• The buyer was a local investor who was very familiar with the Kentucky real estate market and already owned some single-family units in the area. (Eric, 6:06)

• There was no financing contingency in that the buyer had already secured bank financing. That removed one serious hurdle to all such deals. (Eric, 6:25)

• Eric didn’t look forward to the bank appraisal since the high number of park-owned homes can sometimes make lenders hesitant. While the initial appraisal came in a little low, Eric was able to plead his case and successfully boost the numbers. (Eric, 6:50)

• The portfolio was the third deal this year in which Eric had to get the appraisers to “move the needle” by further educating them on rent rolls or other park advantages that justify a higher appraisal. (Eric, 7:40)

Reach out to Max Baker if you’d like him to learn how we can help you get the maximum price for your park. Just drop him a line at [e-mail] or call The Mobile Home Park Broker at 678-932-0200.

Power Quotes in This Episode:

“…strong rent rolls make for easy closings.” (Eric, 2:45)

“Now there was a great local manager that the seller put in place. Not only did they handle the management portion, collecting rents, deposits, knocking on people's doors for rent, but they also handled all the maintenance. Kind of the dream setup for an owner.” (Eric, 3:30)

“This was somebody that was familiar with the Kentucky area and just having that familiarity of where this was located helped a lot.” (Eric, 6:06)

“Kind of a dream scenario on the broker side. We didn't have to worry about a financing contingency, even though it did go through a bank. So, it just shows you we had some financial strength from this buyer.” (Eric, 6:25)

“Never think that the deal is done or dead.” (Eric, 7:40)

“We're able to move the needle a lot of times for these appraisals that come in low.” (Max, 8:32)

“You know, these are very complicated transactions at the end of the day, a lot of variables, but we have the track record, and we know how to get them from A to B.” (Eric, 9:12)