Here is a list of the top 50 questions to ask a Mobile Home Park General Partner when evaluating a mobile home park investment as a limited partner or passive investor. The list of questions are divided into the following sub-categories: general questions, deal level questions, legal/ insurance & tax questions and about the team questions. 

GENERAL QUESTIONS

• Have you ever lost your own money on a Mobile Home Park deal? 
  
• How about other people’s money? 
  
• How do you balance risk mitigation with returns to investors?
   
• What’s the most difficult challenge you’ve overcome in mobile home park investing?
  
• What makes you different from other mobile home park operators, syndicators, deal sponsors?
  
• Can I speak with some of your past investors who have invested in mobile home park deals with you MULTIPLE times?
  
• Have you been through any market cycles while owning mobile home park investments?
  
• How many mobile home park deals have you gone full cycle on?
  
• What has been your worst mobile home park syndication deal?
  
• Have you ever called capital on a previous mobile home park deal, if so why?
   
• How are your current mobile home park deals performing compared to projections?
  
• What is your liquid net worth?
  
• Have you ever oversubscribed a mobile home park deal?
  
• How often do you provide property updates to your investors?
  
• Can I see an example of how you communicate bad news?
  
• What gaps do you have on your team that you need to outsource?

DEAL LEVEL QUESTIONS

• Can I see your underwriting for this mobile home park project?
  
• Have you conducted stress tests on your analysis?
  
• Is your “skin in the game” coming from your acquisition fee?
  
• What type of financing are you securing for this mobile home park deal and why?
  
• Why did you choose this market?
  
• What is your plan for capital reserves for the mobile home park deal?
  
• How long until I start seeing distributions and what’s the cadence? 
  
• What restrictions are there on GP compensation or clawbacks if the project underperforms?
  
• What happens to my ownership interest on a refinance?
  
• What’s your promote structure? Fee Structure? 
  
• How detailed of reporting are you willing to share on this mobile home park deal? 
  
• What are your worst case scenarios in this manufactured housing community deal?
  
• What does your management or acquisition fee cover?
  
• If the property over-performs are the LP’s capped or do they participate in that overage? 
  
• Are you sourcing capital anywhere but from retail investors? 
  
• If so, what control rights do your equity partners have? 
  
• What’s the yield-on-cost at stabilization? 

Download my free eBook on the “Top 20 Things I’ve Learned from Investing in Mobile Home Parks”

By Andrew Keel

LEGAL, INSURANCE & TAX QUESTIONS

• How do you stay compliant with SEC broker/dealer laws with your capital partners?  
  
• What is your track record on producing K1’s each tax year at a reasonable time?
  
• How do you determine the total insurable value?  
  
• Full value or loss limit?
  
• Do you purchase a D&O insurance policy?  E&O insurance policy?

ABOUT THE TEAM QUESTIONS

• What is your contingency plan if one of the general partners falls ill or passes away?
  
• What’s your role on your team and who else is involved as a GP?
  
• Who is the asset manager and what’s their experience?
  
• Who are your most crucial team members? 
  
• Is your property management in house or outsourced? 
  
• If outsourced, how do you manage your Property management company?  
  
• Have you worked with the Property management company on past acquisitions?
  
• Who are the active operating General Partners? What is their experience?

I hope you get value out of this list of the 50 top questions to ask a mobile home park general partner before investing passively with them as a limited partner (LP). The goal with many of these questions is to ask open-ended questions that allow you to feel out the manufactured housing community syndicator or deal sponsor based on their candid responses. In my experience, mobile home park operators that have a proven track record and have admittedly made mistakes that they’ve learned from, are the type of mobile home park operators that I want to invest with. 

Keel Team Mobile Home Park Investments invests in fixer-upper, value-add, mom-and-pop owned mobile home parks throughout the mid-west. Visit Keelteam.com to learn more.

Disclaimer

The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice, nor a guarantee of any kind. There are no guarantees of profitability, and all investment decisions should be made based on individual research and consultation with registered financial and legal professionals. We are not registered financial or legal professionals and do not provide personalized investment recommendations.