Interview with Elevation Capital Group's Ryan Smith

Welcome back to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, hosted by Andrew Keel. On this episode of the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, Andrew talks with Elevation Capital Group's co-founder, Ryan Smith. Ryan has been in manufactured housing community ownership for over fifteen years and he currently is raising funds for Elevation Capital's 8th fund! Elevation Capital Group focuses on two main types of alternative real estate investments: manufactured housing communities and self storage facilities.

In this episode, Andrew and Ryan discuss why Ryan chose to get into mobile home park ownership, they also discuss the perks of investing in the lucrative niche of self storage facilities. Ryan also talks about the importance in vetting your deal sponsors and shares his thoughts on where we are in the current MHP business cycle. Ryan also shares his expertise on mobile home park ownership and his predictions about the future of the industry, COVID-19 and all!

***Andrew Keel and Keel Team Real Estate Investments (Keel Team, LLC) do not endorse any interviewee. This interview is for informational purposes only and should not be depended upon for investment purposes. ***

Andrew Keel is the owner of Keel Team, LLC, a Top 100 Owner of Manufactured Housing Communities with over 1,500 lots under management. His team currently manages over 20 manufactured housing communities across ten states - AR, GA, IA, IL, IN, MN, NE, OH, PA and TN. His expertise is in turning around under-managed manufactured housing communities by utilizing proven systems to maximize the occupancy while reducing operating costs. He specializes in bringing in homes to fill vacant lots, implementing utility bill back programs, and improving overall management and operating efficiencies, all of which significantly boost the asset value and net operating income of the communities.

Andrew has been featured on some of the Top Podcasts in the manufactured housing space, click here to listen to his most recent interviews: https://www.keelteam.com/podcast-links. In order to successfully implement his management strategy Andrew's team usually moves on location during the first several months of ownership. Find out more about Andrew's story at AndrewKeel.com.

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Talking Points:

00:21 - Welcome to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast

02:01 - Ryan's background in the industry of manufactured housing

05:00 - The most important things passive investors need to look for when investing into the mobile home park asset class

07:37 - Tips on vetting a sponsor

10:21 - Ryan's thoughts on the current cycle and the current state of the manufactured housing industry

15:04 - The impact of COVID and what could happen next year

16:11 - Ryan's perfect mobile home park

17:26 - The value proposition at Elevation Capital and what makes their funds different

20:00 - Traveling out to properties

22:20 - The self-storage asset class

27:10 - Building and developing mobile home parks and self-storage

29:40 - Getting a hold of Ryan

30:31 - Conclusion

Links & Mentions from This Episode:

Ryan Smith phone: 407-602-7662

Ryan Smith email: [email protected]

"Trailer Cash: How To Cash In On the Low-Income Housing Investment Boom" by Jamie Smith: https://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Cash-Low-Income-Housing-Investment/dp/193524535X

Keel Team's official website: https://www.keelteam.com/

Andrew Keel's official website: https://www.andrewkeel.com/

Andrew Keel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkeel

Andrew Keel Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PassiveMHPinvestingPodcast

Andrew Keel Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/passivemhpinvesting/

Twitter: @MHPinvestors

Quotes:

"The two most compelling asset classes for storage and mobile home parks, but mobile home parks were a lot more undiscovered at that point in time. We started by buying properties generally at that time where two star quality world markets you can buy at 20+ cap rate range. That's what brought us to the asset class." - Ryan Smith

"Our goal is to create wealth for the people who we work with and for. For me, a good mobile home park is one that allows us with as minimal risk as possible to create wealth for those who we are fiduciaries for over the long run." - Ryan Smith

"To me, it's really a joy, it's fun. It's a great thirst quencher for curiosity. I think the top needs to be connected to the field, otherwise what are they managing? They're managing a business they don't understand." - Ryan Smith

"Mobile home parks, what you'll find are a little bit more boring in an exciting way. It's a little bit more predictable." - Ryan Smith

"Baby boomers in our country, about 10% of the Americans do storage. One in ten people you know is a customer of storage. For millenials, it's actually over 30%." - Ryan Smith

"You have growing demand per person of storage. You have user based, user groups that they themselves demand storage more. We think storage is going to be a good asset class for the long run." - Ryan Smith