Interview with Steve Case, Active Mobile Home Park Investor and founding member of SECO

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 Steve Case, Active Mobile Home Park Investor/ Owner and Founding Member of SECO.

Steve Case has had an illustrious career within the mobile home park industry and he has been an active investor in mobile home parks for over 24 years. Steve Case is also one of the founding members of the SECO conference for mobile home park operators. 

Steve Case’s mentors and educators have been some of the greats within mobile home park asset class, including Lonnie Scruggs (‘Deals on Wheels’ author). Steve has been involved in all areas of the mobile home park industry, including: education (he started MHU and sold it to Frank Rolfe and Dave Reynolds), he also has served on the board of the Georgia Manufactured Housing Association, he formally offered consulting on the construction of the Community Series manufactured home & advised financial institutions on the creation of chattel community owner finance programs from the purchase of manufactured homes. 

The SECO Conference, which Steve co-founded, is one of the most popular annual mobile home park investor conferences. This conference in 2023 was located in Atlanta, GA and is for mobile home park owners and operators. SECO is a great place to network, explore, learn, and share ideas about the manufactured housing industry. 

Steve Case’s mission is to help educate and inform all involved within the mobile home park investing community. Today Steve Case shares his tips, stories, and advice with us all on this value-packed episode on the Passive mobile home park investing podcast.

***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 2,500 lots under management. His team currently manages over 40 manufactured housing communities across more than 10 states. 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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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

01:41 - Steve Case’s origin story and journey into Mobile Home Park Investing

05:25 - Steve’s love for educating and the story behind SECO

08:05 - Military traits that transfer over to investing in mobile home parks

09:45 - The difference between a turn-around mobile home park and a turnkey trailer park

14:00 - The difficulties faced in turn around value-add mobile home parks

16:00 - Mixtures of tenant-owned homes and park-owned homes

18:23 - The importance of taking your time to understand the market

24:48 - People, promises, and places

29:02 - Steve’s perfect mobile home park looks like this

31:00 - The need for affordable housing and the evolution of the mobile home park asset class

34:45 - How bad investors mess with the manufactured housing community industry

40:31 - Getting hold of Steve Case and/or SECO conference

42:10 - Aligning yourself with the right group of people

44:40 - Conclusion

Links & Mentions from This Episode: 

SECO Conference: https://secoconference.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: 

“A lot of folks, they want to get into this industry, but they've got to understand what is the difference between a turnaround park and a turnkey.” - Steve Case

“I've done it twice, where I thought I did good due diligence on the market, on the area, but I didn't go deep enough.” - Steve Case

“Who are the people [passive investors are] investing with or what person or group of people are they investing with? What's their track record? Can you take a look at a little bit of their personal life?” - Steve Case

“Align yourself with the right group of people that do the right things, that care about the tenants, that care about the community.” - Steve Case