Re: Average deal time per MH - Posted by JHyre in Ohio
Posted by JHyre in Ohio on February 11, 2000 at 03:32:21:
Sarah,
I also do MH’s part-time in OH. My average deal time depends upon 3 primary factors:
- Manager cooperation
- Repairs
- Season
I’ve sat on mobile homes for 2 weeks to 7 months. The seven month deal was in a park with lousy management, needed lots of repairs and was purchased in late August, i.e.- the end of the busiest part of the year.
The 2 week deals needed few repairs (only skirting, if that), were bought in January (just before tax refunds started rolling in) and most importantly by far, were in good parks with outstanding and cooperative management. Those managers have moved all kinds of homes for me in all stages of repair in all seasons- and quickly. That kind of management is worth its weight in gold…they bring great sellers, great buyers, cut my turn-around time and dramitically cut the amount of work I do. I keep their parks filled, pay referal fees and do whatever I can to make them look good. I’ll probably start moving homes into their empty spaces- I make money, make them look good, and avenge myself on the bad mangers from whose parks the homes shall come. As the rest of the MH investors on this site will tell you, a good relationship with good managers is BY FAR the most important factor in this business. You can do good deals if management is good but you don’t have the relationships…just be prepared to work alot harder. If the management is not good, forget about the park in question…selling becomes a nightmare- it becomes expensive, time-consuming and the buyers are usually sub-par. Your initial time investment in this business will be high while you establish the relationships. Building trust takes a little bit of time when you’re new. Once built, that relationship will divide the time required per deal by 10.
My ballpark time per deal started at @40 hours per home. I simply spent alot of time driving through parks, talking to people, researching the law, etc. I’m now down to about 5 hours per deal. That includes driving time- usually 90 minutes one-way…so @ two hours per deal after average driving time. Talk about a learning curve! Gotta love those managers, along with a touch of experience on my part.
Where in OH are you? I’m in Findlay, but do most of my deals near Columbus.
John Hyre
