Mobile Home Park Investing

Mobile home park investing, generally referred to today as manufactured housing community investing, generally involves owning the land and infrastructure of a community while individual residents own or rent the manufactured homes situated on leased lots. This structure generally differs from a traditional apartment building, since the investor is generally responsible for maintaining roads, utility infrastructure, and common areas rather than individual dwelling units, and in many communities residents own their own homes and pay only a lot rent, which can reduce the landlord's maintenance obligations compared to a conventional rental property. Columbus, OH and the broader central Ohio region include a number of manufactured housing communities, with performance generally tied to affordable housing demand and the local supply of comparable rental alternatives.

A manufactured housing community held for investment or business use generally qualifies as like kind real property for a one thousand thirty one exchange, since the exchange treatment applies to the underlying land and infrastructure rather than the individual manufactured homes owned by residents in a land lease community. Investors evaluating a mobile home park as replacement property generally review the percentage of lots occupied by resident owned homes versus park owned rental homes, the condition of utility infrastructure such as water and sewer systems, local zoning restrictions on manufactured housing communities, and lot rent levels relative to comparable communities in the area. Because infrastructure condition can significantly affect both operating costs and capital expenditure needs, Columbus, OH investors generally commission a utility infrastructure assessment during due diligence before finalizing identification of a manufactured housing community as replacement property.