Building mobile home park/community

[psears]

Dear Chrissy,

Here's an idea I've been running through my head lately. Please tell me what you think...

I buy between 5 & 20 well-located growth -corridor (10 year min. time frame) acres in the county, or unzoned in the city, & either rehab a house already on the land or put a high-end MH on it for my primary residence. Then, after I talk the wife into it, I begin designing part of the property to accomodate either:

1) A "traditional" mobile/trailer home park with single-wides that I could but low, rehab myself, & place on the property for sale (income from both the lot rent & loan notes.) If successful, my residence eventually becomes the park office.

or:

2) Create a design reflecting a more rural, larger-lot type development that would allow me to start with perhaps a single high-end double-wide to place on my property that I could rent-out or lease-option to someone. If it goes well, I could then put another one next to it, and so on, until I have created a de-facto higher-end land lease community of sorts, with perhaps 10-20 homes on it.

Although I have found some books on the internet regarding purchasing existing trailer parks, I haven't found anything regarding building one from scratch. I've heard that it's easier to buy & rehab an existing "trailer park" in the city limits than trying to build a new one because of zoning, red tape, opposition, etc., but how about father out in unincorporated areas? Plus, I want to be able to start out small then expand only if the demand is there.

Basic questions:

If there is no city sewer available, are there septic designs that can accomodate multiple trailers/houses?

How much do the different types of roads cost to build?

How about other utilities? Wells for multiple units?

What do you think? Has anyone out there done something like this, or am I smoking crack?

Thanks!

psears

[Chrissy]

Most of your questions are very regional in answer. Septic tanks are very tightly regulated, and most areas are not allowing multi-connections, but are requiring one tank per home, with the size of the tank determined by the number of bedrooms in the home. Roads are another entire story and the construction - since you are on private property - can be anything from a dirt path to gravel to asphalt to concrete or even upscale brick pavers. A lot of your decision depends on your wallet and your plans for the future (deed it over to a municipality?) Wells for more than one home are still common, but there is a lot of concern about monitoring and testing for various contaminants that adds terrifically to the cost of ongoing performance.

Has anyone else done it??? Sure - at one time or another every community that is currently existing has been started by someone like you. It's just that if you can get over the zoning hurdle - everything else takes almost as much time. And, with the economy, a strong demographic and economic study of the area where you plan to develop is a must. If you require any financing for the project, they will most likely want a business plan grounded in firm facts, costs, and projections for performance that can be justified with statistical data.

Good luck! People will always need housing - the question is can you find an area and a financially profitable way of providing it.