The April 2020 Commercial Real Estate Investing Newsletter

Bridging The Gap Between Construction and Permanent Financing On Storage

While most storage investors buy existing properties, there is another breed that additionally builds storage properties from scratch. This type of approach requires a specialty type of financing and then transferring this debt to permanent status. So how do you bridge the gap between construction and final financing?

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The Future Of RV Parks Includes Both A Housing And Vacation Choice

The average RV owner in the U.S. plans on hitting the road two weeks per year. Yet there are many customers that plan on 52 weeks and have not home other than their RV. Indeed, the RV park industry is seeing new forces for permanent housing in addition to temporary residency. So what are these new occupancy sources and what will the impact be on the RV park industry?

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Piers, Slabs Or Runners - Which One To Choose?

Vacant lot preparation is a big deal when filling vacant lots – it can cost as much as 1/3 of the total home in some states. HUD controls the lot preparation requirements in some markets and, while the purpose is to minimize home movement from frost heave, the reality is that it’s a terrible financial burden for the homeowner and a pain in the neck for park owners to perform. But if you have to do expensive lot preparation, what are the options and which should you choose?

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Hidden Billboard Acquisition Opportunities

American highways have attracted new business ideas since the 1920s. Many of these roadside attractions built billboards to let the motoring public know that they were there. And, over the years, many of these have failed and left behind some important assets that they don’t even know about.

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Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast: Episode 141 - The A To Z Of Mobile Home Park Investing Terms

Like any other science, there are a host of terms that are of relevance to mobile home park investing. In this episode of the Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast series, we’re going to literally review these from A to Z – from “Affordable Housing” to “Sam Zell”. If you want to get a good grasp on the components of brief strategies that successful mobile home park buyer and operates utilize, then this topic should be of great interest.

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Good Resources For Mobile Home Park Questions

For many years, the mobile home park industry had no available information except for a few ancient books like the 1955 “How to Build and Operate a Mobile Home Park” by L.C. Michelon. It was a lonely existence for park owners with nobody to bounce ideas off of or to share experiences. And that’s as recently as the 1990s. Today things have changed. So where can you go to get answers to your mobile home park questions?

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Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast: Episode 140 - Where Have All The Mobile Home Dealers Gone?

Back in 1999 there were 400,000+ mobile homes sold in the U.S. with dealers making fortunes. Today, there are less than 100,000 being sold (it’s been that way since around 2000) and most of those same dealers have disappeared. In fact, you never even hear about mobile home dealers these days. Why is that and where did they go? In this episode of Mobile Home Park Mastery we’re going to discuss the rise and fall of mobile home dealers and what the future might hold for them.

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A Short Clip From Our “Virtual” Boot Camp

We are continuing to teach investors the correct way to identify, evaluate, negotiate, perform due diligence on, re-negotiate, finance, turn-around, and operate mobile home parks. And the way we’re accomplishing this is with our first-ever “Virtual” Mobile Home Park Investor’s Boot Camp this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday April 17th to 19th.

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Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast: Episode 139 - Nimby Vs. Yimby = Gumby

“NIMBY” stands for “Not In My Back Yard” and is the attitude that has stopped new mobile home parks from being built in the U.S. for the past half century. Now the federal government is discussing the concept of promoting “YIMBY” which stands for “Yes In My Back Yard” – trying to coerce city government to allow mobile homes to be placed on lots restricted to stick-built single-family homes only. In this edition of Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss the cage fight of these two acronyms and why the victor is probably “GUMBY” which stands for “Give Up on My Back Yard”.

Listen To Episode 139

Is Population Size The Only Factor In Self-Storage Success?

Many people would have you believe that population alone is the determining factor in self-storage success. They claim that the only markets worth investing in are those that are large and growing daily. But the truth is that this is far from the key factor to success. In fact, many of these “hot” markets are lacking in a more important trait: profitability. But why?

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Why Even Build A Billboard Out Of I-Beams?

When you drive down the highway, you see all kinds of billboard structures. You see a whole bunch of steel monopoles, and quite a few wooden telephone pole units. But you also see these steel I-beam structures – but not so many of them. Why does anyone even build these old-fashioned looking steel units?

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Getting Your RV Park Ready For The Prime Season

As winter ends, it’s time to get ready for the prime part of the year for RV park owners: spring and summer. This is when most of your revenue will be derived and you will be very busy. Proper preparation is key. So what do you need to do to get ready for the new season?

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Floods, Famine and Pestilence: The Impact of Crisis on the Mobile Home Park Industry

The impact of disasters (natural and economic) on mobile home park investing. Sure, Covid-19 is the current disaster in America, but it’s not the only one we’ve endured over the last three decades (The Texas S&L Crisis, the Dot.com bust, earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, Katrina, Harvey, and the Great Recession). So if catastrophes are a part of American life, what is the impact on the mobile home park industry and how will these events impact your investment?

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Introduction To Real Estate Investing – Part 4

Introduction To Real Estate Investing – Part 4

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Introduction To Real Estate Investing – Part 3

Introduction To Real Estate Investing – Part 3

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Introduction To Real Estate Investing – Part 2

Introduction To Real Estate Investing – Part 2

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Introduction To Real Estate Investing – Part 1

Introduction To Real Estate Investing – Part 1

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Harnessing The Megatrends in American Real Estate – Part 2

Harnessing The Megatrends in American Real Estate – Part 2

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Harnessing The Megatrends in American Real Estate – Part 1

Harnessing The Megatrends in American Real Estate – Part 1

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Mobile Home Park Mastery Podcast: Episode 138 - Trailer Vs. Tech For Highest Yield

The Wall Street Journal recently declared that the 4,100% rise of one Mobile Home Park REIT stock (and 2,000%+ of another) was a better return than virtually every other sector in the market. They compare the rise of trailer parks to that of high-tech. But is that a fair assessment? In this week’s Mobile Home Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss why mobile home parks are doing so well, and why it has nothing to do with stock market speculation.

Listen To Episode 138

Replacing Utility Systems: A Primer

One of the key requirements of owning mobile home parks is to provide working utilities. But in many older mom and pop parks there may be problems with old lines that have been denied proper maintenance for decades. Here are some things to think about when it comes to the issue of replacing a utility system.

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Investing in Senior Housing: A Primer

A recent “Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2019” report named senior housing and care one of the top areas for investment. These sector includes independent living units, assisted living facilities, nursing homes and long-term care facilities. So what is fueling the power of investor interest in this niche?

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Why Billboards survived The Internet Attack

The internet has destroyed newspapers, magazines, radio and television advertising. They have reduced once-strong networks into struggling enterprises with depressed stock prices. Yet billboards stand alone as the only one of the old-fashioned advertising methods that seems free from disturbance from an on-line marketing world. Why is that?

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Where the opportunity is right now in Billboard Investing

Billboard investing is an outstanding way to build a side-income and to gain financial independence. You can get in with little money and grow your portfolio with little risk. But you have to go where the opportunity is to prosper. So where is the opportunity right now in billboard investing?

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Where the opportunity is in Office Investing today

The world is changing rapidly, with external forces such as Covid-19 creating new and uncharted environments. It’s essential that today’s office investor monitor the current state of affairs in the U.S. and invest accordingly. So where is the opportunity today in office property investing?

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Where investing has a higher purpose: Assisted Living

Assisted Living is just that – a property that revolves around providing help to residents in making their daily life more pleasant and rewarding. It’s an interim step between living on their own and living in a nursing home. And it’s a really important step for many Americans.

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Tips on calculating the Cap Rate on an Office Property

The capitalization rate (or “cap” rate) is one of the primary measuring tools of any office building investment. It is a short form method of deriving the rate of return based on the purchase price and allows you to compare many properties simultaneously to select the highest yielding. But there are some important considerations required in this area.

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The many ways to make big money with very little cash in Billboards

One of the most attractive parts of billboard investing is the ability to get in the door with very little capital. So what are the ways you can get into the billboard business for less than $5,000 cash? And how much money can you make with those signs?

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Investing In Senior Housing: A Primer

A recent “Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2019” report named senior housing and care one of the top areas for investment. These sector includes independent living units, assisted living facilities, nursing homes and long-term care facilities. So what is fueling the power of investor interest in this niche?

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How to select the correct Management Company for your Office Property

One thing that’s great about investing in office buildings is that you can hire a third-party management company to manage them for you. Unlike some other sectors, there is an established management company in most markets that can handle leasing and repairs and give you the freedom to a be a fully passive investor. But how do you select the right one?

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Assisted Living: The Ultimate in Creative Deal Making

There are few real estate niches that require as much creativity as the assisted living sector. While nursing homes are mostly the bastion of larger institutional players, assisted living is something that even smaller investors can get involved in if they use creative constructions

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Assisted Living 101

Assisted living is a unique niche of real estate that requires some serious management challenges but is on the right side of the Baby Boomer (those born between 1946 and 1964) megatrend – the biggest part of the American population is rapidly aging and many are needing assistance in the process. It can be lucrative if you know what you’re doing and find the right property to buy.

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Why Texas Is Such A Great State For Mobile Home Parks

Texas has been an important part of our mobile home park past. We have owned mobile home parks in Texas for over 25 years – it’s an extremely vital part of our strategy to look at every deal that comes up in Texas that meets our criteria. So do many other investor groups. So why is Texas such as great state for mobile home parks?

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The Impact Of College Towns On Self-Storage Demand

There are roughly 5,300 colleges and universities in the U.S., and they’re spread out over all 50 states. There is a huge following with these establishments of higher learning for football and other sports, but there’s also a following among smart storage owners. College towns have always been good locations for self-storage facilities. But why is that?

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How To Price A Ground Lease And Permit Assignment

So you’ve obtained the ground lease and permit to build a billboard, and you’ve decided to sell it to another billboard company rather than to go forward and build it yourself. It’s not an uncommon concept and one that I’ve done many times. But how do you come up with the price you’re asking?

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Harnessing The Tiny Home Revolution For Your RV Park

America is enthralled with the concept of “living small” and tiny home programs have taken over HGTV. So how does this related to RV parks? Few people realize that the only legal place where a tiny home can exist in most cities is inside an established RV park.

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