Florida’s warm climate, beautiful white beaches, and the lack of state income taxes made the state a preferred choice for movers and mobile home dwellers.
Florida is second only to Texas when it comes to the total number of mobile homes but its relatively high standard but lower cost of living is starting to attract more movers from across the US.
Because of the increasing popularity of mobile homes in some Florida places like Sarasota, many people are buying multiple mobile homes in the same park. If you are planning to do the same, this article will tell you exactly the things you should know before owning multiple mobile homes in the same mobile home park in Sarasota.
Many times we at, The Mobile Home Dealer, have several people come to us on a monthly basis who are looking at purchasing more than one mobile home within the same mobile home park throughout the Sarasota area.
This could be because the Buyers are investors looking to either fix up and rent or flip these additional mobile homes.
This is not always the case as many times other Buyers are looking to purchase a second mobile home within the same community for various reasons.
Just last week, we sold a mobile home to an out-of-state Buyer whose husband was looking for a “project home” to work on after they had moved into their current home. This Buyer was a carpenter by trade and, after retiring recently, was not ready to quit working as he felt working on a project down the street from his home would help keep both his physical and mental skills sharp.
Their plan was to live in one home and take their time fixing up the other one. Once this project home was finished they said they would want us to sell it for them and use the proceeds to purchase another mobile home in the same community and repeat the process.
Sounds easy enough, right?
Unfortunately, not so fast.
Each mobile home park within the greater Sarasota area has what is called a park prospectus which is, essentially, the rules and regulations of the park.
This document will state when the trash is to be picked up if a home is able to be moved from the park, what the rules are for animals, and how many homes one person can own within the same park.
It is important for any would-be resident or sales agent to inquire about this document and make sure it is fully read and understood before looking to work or live within the park as many times the questions or concerns that you will eventually encounter will be answered in this document.
Most parks throughout the Sarasota area have a limit on how many homes a resident can own at one time.
The reason for this limit is that the park owner does not want to give too much authority to any single resident.
To explain this, allow us to review a basic example below:
For this example let’s assume there are 100 total homes in the park and within this park, there are no vacant lots so every home that can be in the park is physically there. One resident moves in and, over time, buys 20 homes in the park including their own. This means that one person owns 20% of the entire park. Let’s further assume that lot rent increases every year and the year the 20 home-owning resident owns these homes it increases by $20. When the rent increase comes out the resident who owns the 20 homes tells the park they are not going to pay the increase and they are going to remove their 20 homes from the property if the rent does not stay the same.
If this were to happen and the resident was to move all of their homes then the park would lose 20% of all of their lot rent payments each month which would cripple the profitability of the park with the owner.
This simple example shows that the reason why a park will put a cap on how many homes a single resident can own is that the park owner does not want anyone resident to have too much-controlling power over the future outcome of the park’s lot rent.
When looking to buy a second, third, or even fourth mobile home within the park for which you reside make sure you understand what the rules and regulations are prior to doing so in order for there not to be any issue with your plans on purchasing mobile homes.
Owning multiple mobile homes in the same park can be profitable if you plan to flip them, but without knowing the responsibilities of being a mobile home owner, the laws and regulations of the park, and the things you can and you can’t do, can result in a bigger loss.
Managing multiple mobile homes needs bigger maintenance money as well so be prepared to have a deeper pocket.
Buying multiple mobile homes also requires a fair amount of time and money and a longer time to resell.
If you plan to buy, repair, and resell a mobile home, the best advice we can give is to do it one or two at a time depending on the park’s regulation on how many mobile homes an owner can have.
If you’re looking for a warm climate and beautiful white beaches, you may want to consider buying a mobile home in Sarasota, Florida. The state’s lack of state income taxes makes it a preferred choice for movers and mobile home dwellers. Sarasota is also home to a number of golf courses, parks, and other recreational activities.
This is Mark Kaiser with The Mobile Home Dealer and we help mobile home Buyers and Sellers get to a better place in life.
See Also:
- How To Budget For Your Sarasota Mobile Home-Roof Repairs
- Is It A Good Idea To Buy A Sarasota Mobile Home Fixer Upper?
- When Is The Best Time To Sell Your Sarasota Mobile Home?
- How To Buy A Sarasota Florida Mobile Home Virtually
- How To Speed Up The Selling Process Of Your Sarasota Florida Mobile Home?