Old-timer neglect. Manufactured housing communities are the only real estate type that offers true affordable living (monthly rent under $800). Typically, a third of the cost of the average two-bedroom apartment rent. Apartments have more restrictions and no yard! A massive shift has occurred in how parks are managed in the past decade. Living conditions and type of management continue to improve. There are approximately 45,000 parks in the US. The big change has been that many Mom and Pops are selling after decades of ownership. These properties have hundreds of thousands of dollars of deferred maintenance - worn roads, inadequate utilities, and poor management. Why - not all, but many long-time owners did not make capital expense repairs needed over time. This neglect also resulted in some properties with lot rents much lower than market rent due to neglecting conditions.
The dawn of the new age operator. We consider ourselves a trendsetter when it comes to managing mobile home parks. We always use the latest technology to manage tenant information, check and maintain property conditions, and consult other operators on how to best operate infrastructure and tenant relations. Consider that many parks in the US are now between 50-70 years old! Without major repairs, utility lines, mobile homes, and other infrastructure items have completely disintegrated or are at the end of their life cycle. The average life cycle for utility lines and homes is 30-50 years before complete replacement or major repair is required.
More parks shut down. Unfortunately, most cities consider low income to be an amount that is much more than lot rent. For this reason, most cities (typically bigger cities) only incentivize real estate classified as low-income, generally apartments or condos. Older parks, improperly managed, may receive continuous violations and fines by the county or city. The result is typically one of three outcomes. The first is the owner may repair the minimum required to continue operation. The second is that the city will condemn the park (forcing a sale), resulting in a land developer lease terminating all tenancy to redevelop the land for apartments/condos or another type of business. And the third and last outcome is a purchase, a real estate professional can purchase the property and maintain it as needed.
Maintaining low income is the goal. Repairing infrastructure, paying the bank, and providing professional management is costly. With that said, our goal (which should be the same for every park manager) is to have lot rent be at or LOWER than market rent, IF possible. Keeping lot rent low can be challenging, as cities continue to increase and even DOUBLE and TRIPPLE taxes. MHPs must be legally protest taxes EVERY year since most cities DO NOT classify manufactured housing communities as low-income housing. Rising inflation, increased water cost, insurance cost, and increasing vendors costs since Covid times, doesn't help. With all of these challenges, we have continued to be able to provide at-market or below-market lot rents at ALL of our properties! Thankfully, we only acquired trailer parks that were in fair condition versus poor condition.
Quality of life for tenants. The only way to professionally manage a property is to treat everyone fairly and EQUALLY (Texas fair housing law). Fairness means that we must be equally strict with requirements for tenants to maintain their homes and lots, and we do this by enforcing park rules.
Clean and Safe Communities. Clean and safe is our business slogan, and a lot is required for us to keep properties clean and safe. When we call a community 'family safe,' it means a lot of things. It means there are no hazards (chemicals, debris, other threats), that streets are maintained (no potholes or road hazards), that there are no dead trees, that tenant's homes are in livable condition and maintained without dangers to the community, that yards are mowed, no large or vicious dog breeds, and that trash and debris are non-existent on both lots and in common areas. Lastly, one of our many items scored for property inspections is a place people want to call home. 'A place people want to call home' includes at least a few dozen items ranging from curb appeal (community sign) to a missing fence picket. Our scoring system grades the property on a scale of 1-100, and we are always grading our properties. If any property receives a B score (less than 90), we quickly make an improvement plan to ensure that the property keeps an average score of 'A" throughout the year.
In summary, we do this business because it feels good. Every operation has challenges, but only a few enterprises solve a hardship need. Low-income housing is one of the biggest crises in America, yet it continues to have little to no local government support. Investing big money now in park infrastructure will be the only catalyst that helps preserve the only proper low-income housing solution(in our opinion) for decades and even centuries to come! It feels good to invest in repairs needed to keep parks as parks. It feels good to talk to residents that appreciate a clean environment for themselves or their families. Seeing SAFE neighborhoods free of dangers, criminal activity, and hazards feels good! We love our work and work hard to listen to tenants and respond immediately to any requests or concerns! We appreciate and worship our residents.
Primary address for our trailer parks in New Braunfels, TX is: 1687 I-35, New Braunfels, TX 78130. See highlighted properties for addresses. Visit our vacancy page to see up-to-date information for mobile homes for sale and vacant mobile home lots that are available. Lastly, call about mobile homes for sale in New Braunfels, as we could have one turn up any day.
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YourPark YouTube - We also do not YouTube, but we may if we have tenants request helpful videos.
