Interview with Jeffrey Cook of Cook Properties

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 Jeff Cook, the CEO and CFO of Cook Properties NY. Today Andrew and Jeff talk about what it's like to own real estate in the state of New York and what it's like to own affordable housing in the state given the current landlord-tenant laws. Jeff talks about how COVID-19 has impacted his business and he also discusses the up's and down's he has faced in the manufactured housing community business. Jeff gives his advice to passive mobile home park investors and talks about mobile home park financing options as well as his opinion on the current state of the mobile home park asset class.

Cook Properties NY is a top 50 owner of Mobile Home Parks in the United States. Cook Properties recently launched a $20 million dollar mobile home park and self storage investment fund focused on acquiring mobile homes communities and self storage facilities in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Cook Properties NY was formed in 1997 and they currently own and operate 26 mobile home communities with over 2,000 lots, primarily across the state of New York.

***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.

Book a 1 on 1 consultation with Andrew Keel to discuss:

• A deal review
• Due diligence questions
• How to raise capital from investors
• Mistakes to avoid, and more!

Click Here: https://intro.co/AndrewKeel

Are you getting value out of this show? If so, please head over to iTunes and leave the show a quick five-star review. I have a goal of hitting over 100 5-star reviews by the end of 2021, and it would mean the absolute world to me if you could help contribute to that. Thanks ahead of time for making my day with your five-star review of the show.

Talking Points:

00:21 - Welcome to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast
01:44 - Jeff's background and history in manufactured housing
03:18 - The recessionary environment in 2008
04:38 - Important things passive investors should look out for when investing in mobile home parks
05:29 - Rent control and landlord-tenant laws in New York
07:02 - Purchasing properties and park owned homes
09:00 - Trends in the competition
10:43 - Toughest hurdle in the mobile home park business
11:59 - The current state of the manufactured housing industry
13:01 - Retailing homes, buying trends
14:00 - Jeff's perfect mobile home park
14:50 - Jeff's community's performance during COVID
17:03 - Financing in order to secure communities
19:08 - Cook Properties: value proposition, and what makes them different
20:36 - Getting ahold of Jeff
21:07 - Conclusion

Links & Mentions from This Episode:

Quotes:

"I think to have the best operator is the good indication of success for a mobile home park investment. I think you need a good operator to have a good investment. Yeah, definitely a good operator." - Jeff Cook

"We love manufactured housing. I think the demand is going to continue to increase not just on our side as far as purchasers, but the resource of affordable housing, the demand, is going to continue to increase." - Jeff Cook

"Age of the homes is also a very big factor in our decision to buy a park. We certainly prefer not to have a large amount of park owned homes that are really aged." - Jeff Cook

"A lot of people do not want to come to New York or they want to get out of New York. We're comfortable here. We've been successful here." - Jeff Cook

"One of the things that we like about New York State is we don't have the explosive downs a lot of other parts of the country do. It's extremely extremely steady and stable." - Jeff Cook