Interview with Mobile Home Park Fund Manager Skyler Liechty

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 Skyler Liechty, a third generation mobile home park owner and founding member of American Dream Communities. Throughout his career Skyler has overseen a multitude of turnaround, stabilized, and value-add mobile home communities. Skyler is an expert in the space and has his mobile home retailer, broker and installer licenses in a number of states. His success in the industry has led him to a total pad count of nearly 5,000 mobile home lots. Today, Andrew and Skyler talk about the difficulties in finding a good mobile home park management team, trailer park risk assessments, why Skyler prefers not to buy used mobile homes, Skyler's preferred percentage of park-owned vs. tenant-owned mobile homes, Skyler's management company and investment fund, as well as what passive investors should look for when investing in mobile home parks.

***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:

00:18 - Welcome to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast

00:28 - Skyler's introduction

01:47 - How Skyler got into manufactured housing

02:42 - What the '08-'09 recession was like

03:42 - The hardest part about this asset class

04:35 - Skyler's management company

05:26 - Ideal community & mismanaged communities

09:18 - What passive investors should look out for and the cost of a used home

14:38 - The terms of Skyler's fund

17:15 - Park-owned homes versus tenant-owned homes and converting

23:53 - Putting money into the fund and signing recourse

25:28 - 10-year plan: goals and exit

26:15 - GP and LP splits and fees

28:00 - Skyler's team

29:40 - Skyler's first deal and great deals

35:43 - Getting a hold of Skyler

36:10 - Conclusion

Links & Mentions from This Episode:

Skyler's email: [email protected]

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:

"Whether we want to admit it or not, whether we like it or not, we're in the people business." - Skyler Liechty

"What's the perfect asset look like? 100% occupied, 55 + retirement community in Florida." - Skyler Liechty

"A cap rate is supposed to be a reflection of the risk so if you buy an asset that's been mismanaged, you're going to have a different cap rate for it because you're going to have a different risk profile." - Skyler Liechty

"A renter has a different mindset than someone who wants to own a home." - Skyler Liechty