Like most real estate the distributor normally wants too much and the purchaser wants to pay too little for a movable home park. Positive buyers may have separate motivations for buying a Positive park (1031 money, potential to derive best financing, conversions to other uses, and location to where they live). In this book we will only look only at the value of a movable home park for the typical buyer who will continue to control it as a movable home park.
Anyone that has seen an assessment on a house or most types of real estate will have heard mention of the 3 approaches to determining the value of that real estate. They are the Cost, Sales, and wage Approach.
Modular Homes Texas
Unless you are arrival up with the value of a brand new movable home park or one that is predominately vacant, I do not see any presuppose to use the cost approach. It is not likely that a new movable home park will be built nearby and what it would cost to build a new park does not even take into account the number of time, effort, and money it takes to fill that park up with busy and paying residents.
As far as the Sales or market Comparison arrival to value, this is also extremely suspect. This is based on comparing the sale of the field property with other modern sales and adjusting for differences that you may or may not know about. Problems with this arrival consist of varying expenses, rents, and management. Either you are an investor or appraiser I would just use this arrival as potential facts and not draw any conclusions from it. Here is a quick example of the improper use of this arrival from my experience:
Examples
Property A: 50 lots, 100% occupied, Lot Rent of 9.00. Lots will hold a maximum home size of a 14' x 60' - Water and Sewer is submetered back to residents - Noi of about ,000.
Property B (10 miles from property A): 53 lots, 10 vacancies, Lot Rent of 0.00. Lots will hold 16' x 80's and doublewides. Park pays water and sewer - Noi of ,000.
Property B is sold in December of 2004 for 5,000.
The owner of property A(one of my Llc's) goes to the bank to refinance the property in January of 2005. The appraiser appraises it at 0,000 and places the most emphasis on the Sales Comparison arrival as property B just sold and it was a first-rate property in terms of size, appearance, and location. In fact in the assessment report, he claims that we were charging too much and that our numbers were inflated.
After arguing with the bank and appraiser for a incorporate of weeks, we were refunded our money for the appraisal. In the meantime, we were approached by another investor who made us an offer of 5,000 for the park and we standard and the sale accomplished by the end of March 2005. I categorically wanted to send the appraiser a copy of the conclusion statement with a nice letter but decided against it.
The point is that even though one park may look nice, be in a best location, and have so much more going for it on the surface, does not mean it is worth more per space or even worth as much per space as an inferior finding park.
As a side note, once I found out that property B was sold for 5,000 I was in feel with the new owner and tried to buy the park from him - I offered him ,000 more than he had just paid and he didn't want any part of it. He knew he had just made a large buy and was already raising the rents and beginning to get his lots filled up.
The third arrival to value is the wage arrival and I find that this is categorically the best and only way to rate a movable home park correctly. I have come up with a basic formula in which I value the park based on what it is currently doing, what it should be doing, and what it will do once I implement some basic changes and run it more efficiently.
Here is my standard process in estimating the value:
I want to know how many lots there are, how many are busy and paying, what the lot rent is, what expenses the owner is paying, and who is responsible for the water lines, sewer lines, and roads. (Example provided Below)
A good rule of thumb that I use to start with is that I take the number of busy spaces and multiply this by the midpoint monthly space rent and multiply this by 70.
For example if the park has 110 spaces with 10 vacancies, a monthly midpoint space rent of 0. Then my first value calculation is 100 x 0 x 70 = ,400,000.
If the park is on the market for million I will probably pass. If the park is on the market for ,800,000 or less than I will probably look into it further. Remember this uncomplicated calculation is very generic and may or may not be the true indication of the value of a movable home park.
In finding at the park in more detail, I will ask for actual operating wage as well as actual operating expenses.
The operating expense ratio can vary significantly from one park to another in the same city even if located adjacent to one another. One of the largest expenses in a park is the water and sewer expense. If the residents of the park are paying this expense then you can expect the operating expense ratio to be as much as 15% less than the average.
I owned a park in Northeastern Texas a few years ago that had the bottom expense ratio that I have ever dealt with(I regret ever selling it). Although this park had large lots 60' x 120' and up, it was filled with old homes (trailers). We even had some old Rv's and campers renting lots. normally when you encounter a park such as this with old run down homes and trailers they are normally stacked on top of each other with about 20 per acre. This was not the case. Each home was on a large lot and every time I drove through the park it seemed that the homes had aged any more years. Anyway, the park had 94 spaces and each space was separately metered for all utilities by the city and utility companies. The streets were owned by the city, the city was responsible for the water and sewer lines up to each home. The city paid for the street lights. We had basically 5 expenses:
Taxes: 00 per year (the assessed value of this park was under ,000!)
Insurance: ,000 per year
Management: 0 per month plus free lot rent - about ,000 per year
Telephone: - the manager used his phone number
Repairs: 00 per year on midpoint (the only fix we had was each time a home moved out and a new home moved in we had to update the galvanic pedestal - about 3 per year)
Office & Travel: 0 per year
In the 3 years I owned the park, the expenses never totaled more than ,000.
The gross collected wage over these 3 years averaged just over 5,000. So this park had an expense ratio of under 12%.
This is truly an exception to the rule and the manager I had at this park was awesome and we had collections in excess of 97%. It is rare that you are able to find a park with such a low expense ratio but it is possible. The usual case is that you find a park that is listed for sale and the projections or proformas have expenses that are ridiculously low and may not have expenses listed for repairs, capital improvements, management, guarnatee and so on.
The value a movable home park may be million for one someone and .5 million to someone else. The key is categorically deciding what you are willing to pay based on your expectations of what type of return you want on your investment. This return on venture will come in any separate forms:
o Monthly/Yearly Cash Flow
o Tax Savings
o Equity Buildup
o Appreciation
o Rent Increases and expense Reductions
In analyzing the financial statements and tax returns, they are often different. The financial statements normally have more wage and less expenses and the tax returns normally have less wage and more expenses.(however, I have seen in some cases that the tax returns are also overstated in order to show a best net wage when it comes time to sell or refinance a park. If by paying taxes on an additional 20k in taxes for a incorporate of years increases the value of the park by 200k then a real sophisticated and dishonest distributor may be trying to pull a fast one. So be careful.
The key then is to reconcile the tax return with the profit and loss statement and then interject reality into the whole process.
Figuring out the actual wage is normally not too difficult. You can take the actual number of spaces in the park and multiply this by the actual rents being expensed and subtract out a uncostly discount for collections and you should be able to come up with a good assessment of the income. I normally use 3% as the collections expense.
The next thing to do is to come up with the staggering expenses based not only on how the park is currently operating but also based on how the park will control with you as the new owner. For example, if the current owner is managing the park, then you need to plug in an number for management and payroll taxes and workers comp. If the park has vacancies and there is no advertising expense, then you need to plug in an number for advertising. And so on.
Common expenses for movable Home Parks. Not every park has all of these expenses and some have additional expenses but this is a good beginning point.
Advertising
Bank assistance Charges
Depreciation
Insurance: Liability
Insurance: Property
Insurance: Workers Comp
Interest: Mortgage
Legal and Accounting
Licenses and Permits
Maintenance Labor
Management Offsite
Management Onsite
Mowing & Landscaping
Postage
Rent Discounts & Incentives
Repairs: Equipment
Repairs: Property
Reserve for Capital Improvements
Supplies: Maintenance
Supplies: Office
Taxes: Payroll
Taxes: Property
Telephone
Travel
Utilities: Electric
Utilities: Gas
Utilities: Trash
Utilities: Water & Sewer
In most cases when you describe a sales box for a movable home park for sale it will not mention any withhold for capital expenditures. This categorically should be addressed in your assessment of the park and in the due diligence phase. Items like replacing all the water lines or sewer lines for older parks, resurfacing the roads, topping all the trees, are large expenses that can occur in the future and they should be budgeted for. While they are not expensed for wage tax purposes they are capitalized and depreciated over 15 years or so, and are therefore real costs. I would consist of at least 2-3% of gross wage as a withhold for Capital Improvements in your numbers when determining the value.
You will find some sellers that expense everything and then find the opposite where owners capitalize as much as potential to make the bottom line look better. Spend some time going through all the expenses and estimating future capital improvements.
After arrival up with the wage that the park is currently generating and deducting from that all the staggering operating expenses along with the withhold for capital expenditures you will have what is called the Net Operating Income.
If you take the Net Operating wage and divide this by the price you come up with the Capitalization Rate (Cap Rate). Also, if you divide the Net Operating wage by the Cap Rate you come up with the price and so on.
Now this is where subjectivity comes into play. I remember not too many years ago you could buy 50 -100 unit movable home parks valued in the 12 - 14% cap rate range. It is hard to find these deals anymore. Add into that the fact that the interest rates were so low for the last few years and the 12-14 caps are now 7-10 caps. The question for good potential movable home parks is and has been much greater than the supply. There are even stabilized parks that I have seen purchased for 5 & 6 percent caps. These were not just for redevelopment purposes either.
What is a good cap rate? The acknowledge is categorically up to the buyer. Some buyers tell me they want at least a 7 cap, some say 10 cap, some say 15 cap(I say good luck to these people).
So in reality, a Positive movable home park will have a separate value to each and every person. The idea is to settle what you want or will wish in terms of your venture and then work to make the deal fit these requirements.
If you want a 10 cap on a property priced at a 7 cap, it does not necessarily mean you should pass on the deal. For instance, what if the park has rents that are under market and through your inspections and due diligence you know you could raise the rent to market rates in 2 months. What if this would make it a 10 Cap? another possibility would be to put it under covenant and then in your due diligence you tell the distributor that you want to move send with the purchase but in order to do so and to satisfy your lenders requirements, derive an adequate appraisal, and/or make the required return on your investment, you need to have him send a rent growth notice out right away so the rates are where you want them at closing.
In another example, suppose the park has an Noi of ,000 and is priced at 1 million. Also, suppose that the park is currently paying for water and sewer and this expense is running practically ,000 per year. You know that you could setup water meters and pass this expense on to the residents. You want a 10 cap on your purchase. You could very well purchase this park and comprehend the return you want very swiftly in situations such as this. If the rents are under market or there are expenses that can be reduced or other ways to growth the net wage with minimal work and cash outlay you might pay extra for a park if it otherwise meets your venture criteria.
As my general rule when dealing with parks that are borderline but have the potential to growth in value and offer an standard return on venture by raising rents or reducing expense: I generally will add up to 50% of the value from these quick fixes to my offer on a park. So if I can growth the rates to market and sell out expenses and this increases the value of the park by 0,000, then I would reconsider adding ,000 to my offer price if necessary. After all, we should earn something from our expertise and doing what the owner could have done already.
Other considerations on the value of the park will be the entrances, streets, landscaping, utilities, parking, lights, storage sheds, number of singles versus doubles, swimming pools, clubhouses, etc. The nicer the park typically the lower the cap rate and the easier it will to tap into best financing programs.
Other Value Considerations:
Vacant Lots:
When purchasing a movable home park that has vacant lots which are ready to be occupied, what value, if any should you place on these lots? We just came up with the value we are willing to pay based on the Noi and the cap rate we are finding for. So, unless these homesites will fill up with minimal exertion and investment, I would not place much of a value on them at all. In fact, having empty homesites that are hard to rent out will end up costing you money in terms of monthly maintenance and time. I would without fail point this out to the distributor as a negotiating point. Many sellers like to say there is upside on all the vacant spaces. However, if this upside was easy to obtain, then the distributor would have most likely realized it before selling.
In some cases, you will be able to fill up the homesites with minimal venture and exertion so you may place a value of 25-50% depending on your relieve level. I would without fail lean toward the 25%.
Park Owned Homes & Notes:
When purchasing a movable home park where there are park owned rentals, rent-to-own homes, and movable home notes it is prominent to break out the wage and expenses from this quantum of the business from the lot/space rental portion.
Many times the wage and expenses from the whole operations are lumped together and the distributor or broker says the property is priced at say a 10 cap.
Here is the question with this arrival of lumping it all together:
Suppose you have 10 movable homes that are renting for 0 above the general lot rent per month and that there is an additional expense of 0 per movable home each month. You basically have a net of 0 per month for each home or ,000 per year. If you are capping this wage at a 10 cap, you are placing a value of ,000 per movable home. Now there may be some nice doublewides that are being rented in some parks that are worth ,000 but it is not the norm. Most of the time, these homes are older singlewide homes that may have a value from ,000 to ,000. So if you are valuing them at ,000 you are paying too much!
Another situation occurs when you have movable home notes or rent-to-own homes. Lets say you have a note cost of 0 per month in increasing to the lot rent and that the equilibrium left is ,000 on the note. The monthly payments of 0 per month will add up to ,400 per year and if you cap that at 10% then you are paying ,000 for an ,000 note. Not a great venture move!
So what do you pay for these types of additional wage sources?
Mobile Homes Rented Out: Many citizen will say that you should pay what the home is worth on the market if sold for cash or for cash with covering financing. My formula is that I will pay about 75% of what I feel I can sell the home to the current renter for on a rent-to-own business transaction with a term of 3-5 years and also growth the lot rent in the process..
Here is an example:
A home is being rented for 5 per month and the lot rent is 0 per month. I will arrival the current renter and tell them if they continue paying rent for 3 more years, then I will assign the title over to them and the home will be theirs. In the rent-to-own agreement, I specify that the lot rent is 5 per month(not 0) and after 36 monthly payments of 0 plus lot rent, the home title will be transferred to them.
In this case, I would not only be receiving 36 x 0 or ,200 for the home, but I have also increased the lot rent for that home in the process. When I get ready to raise rents for other residents in the park, I can always say that there are other citizen already paying the higher rates. So, in this case I would pay somewhere in the ,000 to ,000 range for this home. (,200 x 75% = ,400)
Mobile Home Notes and Rent-to-Own Agreements: When I am purchasing notes and agreements that have already been created by the current seller, I will typically use the lower of the value of:
o 75% of the value of what I can resell the home to a new renter in case of default as calculated above; or
o 65% of the future note or rent-to-own payments.
How to Value a movable Home Park
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