Shownotes
In this episode of Money Talk with Tiff, host Tiffany Grant delves into mobile home investing with special guest Rachel Hernandez. Rachel shares her journey from single-family home investing to venturing into the often-overlooked niche of mobile home investing.
She offers insights into what mobile homes are, how she got started in the industry, and the process of buying, selling, and renting out mobile homes. She also discusses the importance of providing affordable housing and offers valuable advice for those interested in entering this real estate market. Plus, Rachel includes information on where listeners can find more resources and training on mobile home investing.
Join Tiffany and Rachel in this eye-opening discussion about mobile home investing and the opportunities it presents in the real estate industry.
About Our Guest
Rachel Hernandez is an award-winning mobile home investor with over ten years of experience. As an author and blogger, her books have hit #1 on Amazon, and her blog has been featured as one of the |Top 20 Real Estate Investing Blogs." She is also the #1 Writer for Mobile Homes on Quora. She has been featured in MHVillage, Forbes, Experian, and various real estate publications and blogs.
Her podcast, Adventures in Mobile Homes, is recognized as one of 30 Asian American Podcasts to support and was nominated by the Asian American Podcasters Association for a 2020 Golden Crane Award.
Connect with Rachel
Website: https://adventuresinmobilehomes.com
Twitter (X): @mobilehomegurl
Instagram: @mobilehomegurl
Facebook: Adventures in Mobile Homes
Connect with Tiffany
Website: https://www.moneytalkwitht.com
Facebook: Money Talk With Tiff
Twitter: @moneytalkwitht
Instagram: @moneytalkwitht
LinkedIn: Tiffany Grant
YouTube: Money Talk With Tiff
Pinterest: @moneytalkwitht
TikTok: @moneytalkwitht
Timestamps
[00:00] Transitioned from single-family to mobile home investing.
[04:04] Real estate investments led to challenges, solutions.
[08:38] Mobile homes often overlooked as real estate investment.
[10:52] Locate mobile home parks locally, invest wisely.
[14:12] Curious about mobile home investing, ownership, land.
Key Themes
- Mobile Homes: Affordable Housing Solutions
- Real Estate Investing: Transition and Strategy
- Cash Flow: Maximized Income Potential
- Niche Markets: Finding Investment Opportunities
- Property Management: Park Owners and Lot Rent
- Stigma: Overcoming Negative Perceptions
- Resources: Training and Education Opportunities
Additional Links & Resources
Copyright 2024 Tiffany Grant
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Transcripts
You know what it is. That's right. It's time to talk money with your
Speaker:money nerd and financial coach. Now, tighten those purse
Speaker:strings and open those ears. It's the money talk with Tiff
Speaker:podcast. Hey, everyone. I'm
Speaker:so excited because I have Rachel Hernandez on the line now. Rachel's here to talk
Speaker:to us about something we've never talked about on the podcast before, and that's
Speaker:mobile home investing. So, hey, Rachel, how are now? Great.
Speaker:How are you, Tiffany? I'm doing
Speaker:excellent. Excellent. I appreciate you coming on the show to talk about this
Speaker:topic, so let's just dive right in for the audience. First
Speaker:of all, why did you get started? I guess, what is a mobile home? Just
Speaker:in case we have people listening that have no idea. And then how did you
Speaker:get started in mobile home investing? Sure, no
Speaker:problem. Well, to answer your first question, what is a mobile home?
Speaker:It's exactly just that a mobile home is a home
Speaker:that is actually mobile. So basically that
Speaker:means you can take a mobile home. They call them manufactured
Speaker:homes now. They used to call them trailers back when they
Speaker:first started getting manufactured. But basically, you can
Speaker:take that mobile home and move it from one
Speaker:place to the other. And that's one of the things I
Speaker:like about mobile home investing versus single family
Speaker:home investing. Other niches in real estate
Speaker:investing, like commercial apartment buildings, duplexes,
Speaker:I don't think you can move a regular home.
Speaker:So that's what I like about mobile homes. You actually have
Speaker:options. So hopefully that answers your first question.
Speaker:The second part of your question is how I actually got started
Speaker:in mobile home investing. Well, I basically got started in
Speaker:mobile home investing because I was actually a single
Speaker:family home investor, and that's how I got started,
Speaker:which a lot of real estate investors get started in single family homes.
Speaker:So I started out as a bird dog, first finding deals
Speaker:for other investors, and I got paid to find deals for
Speaker:other investors. And then I became a wholesaler in single
Speaker:family homes. So I put single family homes under contract
Speaker:and assigned my interest to my investor
Speaker:buyers and got paid that way. And then I
Speaker:eventually became a landlord doing a buy and
Speaker:hold with single family homes. So that
Speaker:is my journey as a real estate investor. How I got
Speaker:into mobile home investing is basically from my
Speaker:single family home journey. I took my entire portfolio
Speaker:of single family homes. I decided to sell the entire
Speaker:portfolio of single family homes as a landlord,
Speaker:and I got into mobile home investing after
Speaker:reading Lonnie Scruggs, the godfather of mobile home
Speaker:investing, material deals on wheels and
Speaker:basically as a single family home investor,
Speaker:I was receiving income, but that income was
Speaker:going towards paying other things first before me, say, as the
Speaker:mortgage insurance homeowners association.
Speaker:And what I learned from Lonnie Scruggs material was that
Speaker:I can purchase these homes, mobile homes, for cash
Speaker:without having a mortgage. It's less of an entry as
Speaker:a beginning real estate investor, less cash involved. And
Speaker:then all that cash flow comes to me as a real estate
Speaker:investor. So that's pretty much my journey from real
Speaker:estate investor to mobile home investor. Wow.
Speaker:And I know that takes a lot of courage,
Speaker:probably, to just say, you know what? I'm going to sell this whole entire
Speaker:portfolio in one swoop, and I'm going to do something different.
Speaker:So take me through that thought process, because I know you
Speaker:said that you thought about the cash flow and things like that,
Speaker:but was it difficult for you to take that step? Was it
Speaker:scary? How were you feeling? I'm just curious. It
Speaker:was scary for sure. But it was a point
Speaker:where as a single family home
Speaker:investor, you can only purchase so
Speaker:much under your own name, and then you
Speaker:actually have to bring in partners, you have to do
Speaker:owner financing, because when you
Speaker:purchase real estate
Speaker:under you, it's only limited to you. But then you'd
Speaker:have to do other creative ways, which I've done.
Speaker:But I always found that the income coming
Speaker:in would get paid to the bank, to the insurance,
Speaker:to the homeowners association. And then there was a point
Speaker:where I was like, okay, let me free up my time and hire
Speaker:property management. But even when I hired property
Speaker:management, I had to manage the managers, and then it's another
Speaker:portion of that income coming in. So I'm like, there has to be a different
Speaker:way to do know as a small investor. So
Speaker:that's where I got into Lonnie Scruggs material. Read about mobile
Speaker:home investing. It is definitely a niche in real estate investing.
Speaker:Not many people hear about mobile home investing.
Speaker:And what attracted me was that I
Speaker:would actually be basically, essentially receiving all
Speaker:that cash flow coming to me and I wouldn't
Speaker:have a mortgage. It's kind of scary purchasing a
Speaker:home all with cash, but it was a less
Speaker:investment of my money versus a single family home and
Speaker:also less risk as well, too. I see. Okay,
Speaker:so how does this work? Because I hear you
Speaker:saying that it's less overhead and all of that.
Speaker:So for the audience, how does buying mobile homes work?
Speaker:I know you mentioned that they're mobile. Are you moving houses across
Speaker:the country? Like, what does this look like? Sure, no
Speaker:problem. Well, actually, I'm based in Texas. And I actually
Speaker:don't buy out of state. Actually, I stay within my own
Speaker:state. But I have moved mobile homes from
Speaker:community to community. So basically, I work in
Speaker:mobile home parks, mobile home communities, and
Speaker:usually I purchase them the homes, and I leave them
Speaker:there, and then I basically rent them out,
Speaker:owner finance them for cash flow. That's basically the entire
Speaker:model that I have. So, for example, I'll tell you
Speaker:about my first deal. My first deal way back when I
Speaker:started in 2007, I found a motivated
Speaker:seller in a community I was already working with mobile home
Speaker:park. The park manager told me that I could work in the
Speaker:community. That's one of the things that, being a mobile home
Speaker:investor, you have to make sure you're allowed to work in the community. And there's
Speaker:an art to doing that, which I teach. But basically
Speaker:she said, yeah, you can do deals in this park. There's no problem.
Speaker:So basically, I found my first motivated seller. It was a
Speaker:family that had been living there for ten years. To make a
Speaker:long story short, they needed to move out of the community
Speaker:because they were getting into another home in the area. Actually, it was a
Speaker:single family home, and they had no for sale by owner sign.
Speaker:They were not advertising the home, none of that. They
Speaker:actually found me through a flyer that I had passed out in the neighborhood,
Speaker:which was okay by the park manager. And they just
Speaker:didn't want a bunch of people going through their home. And they said, we need
Speaker:to work with someone who's honest up front, who will buy this
Speaker:home, do what they say they want to do. They knew exactly what they
Speaker:wanted. And let's get to know you. Let's
Speaker:negotiate. So I negotiated that deal. I bought that home
Speaker:for $3,600 cash. They even cleaned it for me.
Speaker:Tiff and, yes, I actually sold it
Speaker:in two weeks to a nice family. It's a starter home as a two bedroom,
Speaker:one bath. And I sold it, owner financing
Speaker:for $10,000. I got $1,000 down and $250
Speaker:a month in cash flow for the next four and a
Speaker:half years. And that was my first deal. Oh, wow.
Speaker:So when you say $250 a month, I'm like, whoa,
Speaker:this is super affordable for people. So if there's, like, people on the other
Speaker:side that are looking for affordable housing,
Speaker:how important is that for you, being able
Speaker:to offer affordable housing for people? It is very
Speaker:important, especially since
Speaker:a lot of things in the marketplace, you only
Speaker:see single family homes. As a real estate investor, it's pretty much
Speaker:the entry point for people. But to see
Speaker:something like mobile homes at a lower entrance point.
Speaker:There actually is a stigma with mobile homes, a
Speaker:negative stigma with, I guess, society in general.
Speaker:But also real estate investors, they tend to look down on mobile homes
Speaker:because they see what's displayed and portrayed in
Speaker:media. The best thing I can tell you do an example
Speaker:is that movie called eight Mile
Speaker:where you think that's a mobile home. And those are the types of
Speaker:people who live in mobile homes. But yes, that exists,
Speaker:but it's only one portion of the population.
Speaker:Just like single family homes. Mobile homes are no different. There's
Speaker:low end, middle of the road, and high end communities, and most people don't
Speaker:know that because they're not in the niche. So basically,
Speaker:that's an advantage in terms of weeding out
Speaker:competition, other real estate investors. So I think
Speaker:it is definitely an advantage for that. Got you.
Speaker:So if someone is thinking about getting into this,
Speaker:how would they go about finding the neighborhoods that
Speaker:they're looking for? Do they just ride around?
Speaker:Exactly. That's what I did when I first started out. Now I am in
Speaker:Texas. There's a lot of mobile home parks, a lot of mobile home communities,
Speaker:but you'd be surprised in your own neighborhood
Speaker:the types of mobile home
Speaker:communities that are there, because it's actually part of american
Speaker:culture. So a lot of these parks, they've been
Speaker:there for a while. I'm talking a lot of them that I work
Speaker:with have been there ever since the 50s.
Speaker:So it's just one of the things that you may not
Speaker:have noticed it before because you were not interested
Speaker:in it or you didn't look into it, but the best thing to
Speaker:do would just be to kind of start in your own area. Get
Speaker:a list of all the mobile home parks in your area. Some mobile home
Speaker:parks are not listed, so you would actually find
Speaker:them just by driving your neighborhood. And I really
Speaker:advocate being a local investor. That's how I've been
Speaker:successful as a local investor, versus trying to
Speaker:do things virtually and trying to see what
Speaker:communities are in there, and then from there, getting to know the
Speaker:park manager, the park owner, and to see if these are the types
Speaker:of communities you want to work in. Because what I advocate is
Speaker:you want to work in a community that you feel comfortable, that works with
Speaker:your personality, and attracts the type of clientele that
Speaker:works for you. For me, I have a corporate background as a business
Speaker:to business sales executive, so I tend to work
Speaker:more in corporate owned parks and
Speaker:higher end parks versus lower end parks that are not
Speaker:corporate. Gotcha. Gotcha. So when you say
Speaker:because I heard park owner, park manager. So if
Speaker:you own the homes, are you paying for the
Speaker:lot space, or how does that part work? Yeah, that's a good
Speaker:question, Tiff. Yeah. There are two parts for it. There is the
Speaker:home itself, which I own as the
Speaker:investor, and the homeowner pays me,
Speaker:just like a bank or renter. And then there's a
Speaker:second part. I don't own the land. So basically,
Speaker:wherever that home sits on, someone needs
Speaker:to pay the landowner. Usually, since I do business in these mobile
Speaker:home communities, mobile home parks, basically,
Speaker:they pay the park owner, park
Speaker:manager, the community a space rent, and it's
Speaker:called lot rent. So there's two parts to it. And the way I do it
Speaker:is they pay me my portion, the residents, and then they
Speaker:pay the lot rent to the park, to the community.
Speaker:If there are any issues, then the park manager, the park
Speaker:owner, lets me know, and then I have to talk to the
Speaker:resident. I see. Okay, so the resident is responsible
Speaker:for paying the lot rent? Yes. Got you. Okay. All right. And
Speaker:is that pretty affordable, too? Yes and no.
Speaker:I mean, it depends on the area. But
Speaker:as we are in 2023,
Speaker:going into 2024, there's not many
Speaker:affordable options left. And I think
Speaker:manufactured housing is like, the last affordable
Speaker:housing option. It depends on the area.
Speaker:I'm sure these values go from country to country. I mean, state to state,
Speaker:country to country. But I think in general, yes,
Speaker:manufactured housing, it is pretty affordable. So it
Speaker:is something that, and I'll be honest, the people who actually are
Speaker:in the space, residents, buyers,
Speaker:even investors, they've actually grown up with manufactured
Speaker:housing, so they know the niche. So we're talking about Tiff.
Speaker:Generations upon generations of families
Speaker:know, have grown up in manufactured housing, who have family
Speaker:members and friends who have bought mobile homes in the
Speaker:past, and they may have lived in it, too.
Speaker:So most people in it, they're already familiar with the.
Speaker:You awesome. Well, this was very insightful.
Speaker:I've always been curious about mobile home because we have quite a bit, I'm
Speaker:in North Carolina, so we have quite a bit around, and I always
Speaker:wondered, how do these know, who owns
Speaker:know, how does the land work? All of these different things? So
Speaker:this was very insightful for me and hopefully for the audience as well.
Speaker:Now, Rachel, if people were interested in learning more about mobile home
Speaker:investing or more about you, where could they find you?
Speaker:Sure, they can find me on my website. It's really easy
Speaker:to remember. Adventuresandmobilehomes.com
Speaker:and on my website, right on the landing page. You can't miss it. I have
Speaker:a free training class if anyone is interested in learning how
Speaker:to invest in mobile homes. Perfect. Well, I will
Speaker:make sure all of that information is in the show notes. So thank you so
Speaker:much again for coming on the show. This was so interesting and fun and
Speaker:I appreciate you. Thank you so much, Tiff. Appreciate it.
Speaker:Bye bye. Thank you for listening,
Speaker:joining and being a part of the Money Talk with TIFF podcast this week. You
Speaker:can check TIFF out every Thursday for a new Money talk podcast,
Speaker:but if you just can't wait until next week, you can listen to previous
Speaker:podcast
Speaker:episodes@moneytalkwitht.com
Speaker:or follow TifF on all social media platforms at
Speaker:moneytalkwitht. Until next time, spend wise
Speaker:by spending less than you make a word to the money wise is
Speaker:always sufficient.
