Kevin Bupp is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and real estate expert. Since 2010 Kevin has been focusing his attention on the mobile home park market, the results of which he has happily agreed to share with me today. Throughout his entrepreneurial journey, Kevin has always returned to real estate, a market he calls ‘one of the easiest ways to create true wealth’. Now that he has made the leap to mobile home parks, his only wish is that he had done it sooner!
Listen now to hear my chat with Kevin, including; how he dealt with the economic recession, his chance move to mobile home park investing, and most importantly his best and transferable techniques to close those important deals.
Kevin Bupp – Key Takeaways
[03:17] Kevin's real estate journey.
- Got into real estate when he was 19 years old
- Began his real estate journey with single family homes.
- He was in the business for 5 years before he bought his first multifamily home.
[4:48] The recession and a two-year hiatus.
- Took a couple of years away from the real estate market following the crash.
- Worked on some different markets, including health & fitness and fashion.
- A chance meeting got him interested in the mobile home park market.
[05:51] ‘The biggest small project I ever worked on’.
- How he found his first mobile home park deal.
- Various partnership structures.
- He always has at least one business partner.
[10:07] Raising money for his first deal.
- His credit was shot following the economic crash.
- Former investor helped to finance his first park.
- It was important to make his investor feel safe.
[11:47] Why Kevin decided to go back into real estate
- He believes it is still one of the easiest ways to create true wealth.
- Only way to get back to the lifestyle he was used to.
[14:17] Lessons learned from the recession.
- Single family homes are very inefficient.
- Mobile home parks provide scalability.
- He wishes he had started buying multifamily sooner.
[19:17] So what’s so great about mobile home parks?
- Some unique barriers to entry.
- They don’t build them anymore.
- The only commercial asset class with a diminishing supply.
- It's affordable housing, a market with a growing demand.
- Tenant turnover rate is low because homes are expensive to move.
[22:20] Park management and scalability.
- There are not many professional management companies for mobile home parks.
- Kevin has his own internal management structure.
- On-site manager who lives in the park.
[24:53] Where Kevin finds his on-site managers.
- Look for tenants who maintain their homes, displaying ‘pride of ownership’.
- You can also hire managers from outside, but they must live in the park.
[26:25] Finding new deals in the mobile home park market.
- Majority of his deals are found off-market.
- Utilizes direct mail and cold calling to target potential park sites.
- Identifies target market first
[30:07] Techniques and tips for finding owner information.
- Using TLO.com you can find out nearly any person’s contact information.
- The information gained in this way is very accurate (but you have to meet TLO criteria).
[37:40] What would Kevin tell his younger self?
- Buy multifamily homes and stay away from the single family market.
[41:25] What Kevin is most excited about right now
- It is a unique time for the industry.
- It’s a great time to be buying mobile home parks.
How do you evict someone from a mobile home park? Do you have to move their home out, or put a lien on it & kick them out, or what? I’ve never heard a park investor talk about that process.