Interview with Jefferson Lilly of Park Avenue Partners

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 one of his biggest mentors; Jefferson Lilly with Park Avenue Partners. Jefferson talks about his first mobile home park deal in 2007, the demographics information on what would be his perfect mobile home park, what makes Park Avenue Partners different, and his predictions of where the mobile home market will be in 2021 and after.

Jefferson is an expert and educator in the mobile home park asset class. As a founding member of Park Avenue Partners (and it's predecessor, Park Street Partners), he is responsible for their strategic direction, property operations, and new acquisitions. In this episode, Jefferson shares his expertise on the manufactured housing industry and also shares resources like his podcast and his Mobile Home Park Investors LinkedIn group.

***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 1,400 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.

Would you like to see mobile home park projects in progress? If so, follow us on Instagram: @passivemhpinvesting for photos and awesome videos from our recent mobile home park acquisitions.

Talking Points:

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

02:14 - Jefferson's background in the business

06:22 - Jefferson's first park in 2007

09:37 - The most important thing passive investors (LPs) need to know or look for (risks)

14:35 - The toughest hurdle

17:19 - The current state and future of the mobile home park industry & manufactured housing

21:55 - Value-add implements Jefferson uses in his new acquisitions

25:30 - Jefferson's perfect mobile home park

27:56 - The value proposition at Park Avenue Partners and what makes them different

29:40 - Getting a hold of Jefferson Lilly

37:39 - Conclusion



Links & Mentions from This Episode:

Mobile Home Parks 2.0 presentation: https://www.mhvillage.com/pro/community-owner-presents-mhp-2-0/

Mobile Home Park Investors LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/131404/

Jefferson Lilly podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mobile-home-park-investors-jefferson-lilly-brad-johnson/id1069263193

Jefferson Lilly website: http://mobilehomeparkinvestors.com/

Park Avenue Partners website: https://parkavenuepartners.com/

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:

"Honestly, I'd say the most important thing is doing diligence on your deal sponsor, on the GP. Making sure that person is ethical and a good operator." - Jefferson Lilly

"I think it's all really, for me, revolves around people, hiring people, motivating them, and building a culture. This business is relatively easy to get into if you're a sole practitioner and you want to buy a park at 50 pads or 100 pads, that's how I got started. It's easy to do everything." - Jefferson Lilly

"The big three for all of us are basically bumping rents, that's the easiest, obviously it doesn't take hardly any effort.." - Jefferson Lilly on value add components in mobile home parks.

"Unlike most other partnerships, we take no fees. I get no salary. I get no acquisition fee. I get no backend investiture fee. We are truly aligned with our limited partners. We split the profits 50-50, that's both cash flow quarterly as well as no guarantees but presumably some much larger checks at the end of the fund, at the end of 10 years.." - Jefferson Lilly