Some people say they like to stay within 30 min drive or so. In my opinion, I’ll try to stay as close to home as possible.This because I still have a J.O.B. that takes a lot of my time.
However, some people are willing to drive longer and even buy properties in a different States. I would say to you, study your market and see what your tolerance level is . Who knows? You might be able to find your first deal right in your back yard.
Good Luck,
Ed Ortiz
Re: How far from home do you do MH deals? - Posted by Dave Swett-CA
Posted by Dave Swett-CA on July 13, 2003 at 14:20:03:
It drove me crazy. I traded into a property one hour from my home (from one bad property to another). I had to do a lot of fix up and eventual sale of the place. I ended up sleeping over at the place to save that two hours of commute every day.
I now feel that if I was in another property that far away, I would be looking for a property manager and I would be looking for a great deal with cash flow to be able to pay for those expenses. I’ll keep that in mind when I start doing the multi million dollar deals like the big boys do.
Posted by Tennessee Bob on July 08, 2003 at 06:56:06:
Tony,
In My experience, I have tried to stay within 30 minutes from home. However, I have traveled up to an hour to look at homes that need to be moved, but the deal has to be heavily in my favor. I have several parks within 20 minutes of home that like me to move homes in. If a home is in a good park that is an hour away, I plan all the repair work on weekends and plan to be at the home no less than 6 hours at a time. This is the only way that I can justify the drive. When I have a M/H far from home, I list it in a paper that is local to the home and tell callers when I will be there working on it so I don’t have to drive an hour just to show the home. I also hold open houses so I can show the home to as many people as I can in a short period of time. Open houses are great because when more than one perspective buyer is at the home at one time, it gives a sense of urgency to the buyers to close the deal quickly.
Tony,
I’ll travel half an hour. I’d suggest starting close to home and concentrating there first then as you get your feet under you in the business you can start ranging further.
All the best, Lyal