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Frequently Asked Questions

View our most frequently asked questions by investors. Looking for more insight? Tap the button below to see all of our FAQ’s.

What kind of mobile home parks are you targeting for new acquisitions?

Keel Team is targeting C-grade all-age mobile home communities throughout the landlord friendly states primarily in the central United States. We are looking for mobile home parks with 50 or more lots and public utilities. Our ideal purchase is a cash-flowing mobile home park, within an MSA, that is around 70% occupied so we can instantly add value through infilling mobile homes on the vacant lots.

We also really love parks that include water/ sewer and trash in the rent before we buy it because this easy value-add component of installing sub meters and billing back the tenants for their usage results in conserving water and it also reduces our expenses.

How did you get started in this business? How long have you been in the business?

Andrew Keel got his start in real estate investing back in 2014 through flipping single family houses around central Florida. He got into manufactured housing as a “Lonnie dealer” in 2015, flipping individual mobile home trailers around central Florida and then meeting and getting mentored by a mobile home park owner in Ocala, FL.

He got his first MHP deal done through a JV structure with a passive investor he met at the MHU boot camp in Orlando FL. His first MHP deal was a 67-lot park in Edwardsville, IL and we still own it to this day! We closed on it June 30, 2017 and this is a case study on keelteam.com. We refinanced into long term debt through Fannie Mae back in 2019. (Check out the details here: https://www.keelteam.com/case-study)

What is the background and experience of everyone on the GP team?

Andrew Keel has been syndicating MHP deals since 2017 and he has been in the real estate business since 2015. Andrew started flipping and wholesaling single family houses around central Florida while working a full-time W2 job in corporate America. Read Andrew’s Story Here. He got into MHP’s through doing “LONNIE DEALS” where he would buy a mobile home in an existing park and fix it up and then he would sell it on contract to an end buyer that would also pay lot rent to the park. Andrew did 19 of these deals which fully offset his monthly expenses and allowed him to drop the single-family flipping business in 2016 and go into MHP investing full time.

Jon Carcone at 4 Brothers Commercial started in single family real estate investing as well. He grew a HUGE flipping and wholesaling operation based out of the Washington DC/ Arlington, Virginia area. He scaled this business for 9 years (started it in 2009) and then started the 4 Brothers commercial wing in 2018, and subsequently met Andrew Keel shortly thereafter, where they started partnering on all the commercial deals together.

What is your minimum investment amount?
What are your target markets/ locations you look to invest in?

We are chasing yield and cash flow so we aim for secondary markets throughout the Midwest. We look for a steady population – not huge growth markets but not shrinking either. Markets like Des Moines, Iowa or Sioux falls, South Dakota and Indianapolis, Indiana are ideal for our model. There are many mom & pop owned properties in these states.

What are the typical value-add components in a mobile home park deal you purchase? How can you increase the value of the mobile home park after you purchase it?

It all comes down to the income at the end of the day- how can we squeeze more dollars out of the asset compared to the prior owners? We ask ourselves this on every due diligence trip. If the property is a 6 cap property, every recurring monthly dollar of NOI (income) we can create adds $200 to the value of the property. The ‘commercial real estate math’ behind this looks like this:

$1 x 12 months = $12 in Net operating income/ .06 (6 cap value)= $200 in added value to the property when we sell or refinance.

These are some of the value add improvements we make:

  • Billing back for water/ sewer and trash (many mom & pop owned MHP’s include these services with the monthly lot rent that each tenant pays)
  • Raising rents after capital improvements that make the property a better and safer place to live
  • Filling vacant lots/ increasing occupancy with new and used homes that we bring in
  • Rehabbing vacant mobile homes on the property already
  • Implementing a cable/ internet program for the property (this is a win-win as the tenants get a reduced rate due to the bulk pricing and the park owner gets a cut/ commission of those tenants that sign up)
  • Installing LED street lights vs halogen power sucking lights that many MHP’s still have (also creates a more green, environmentally friendly commercial property)
  • Pave the roads (this is a resident favorite)
  • Trim trees and take care of other deferred maintenance left by the prior owners
  • Fix water leaks
  • Install new signage and fencing
  • New website and online profiles with google for more visibility (SEO and ‘google my business’ profiles)
  • Adding storage units/ shed rentals and carport rentals for additional income and a cleaner look
  • Cutting unnecessary expenses like full time on-site managers making $65k+/ year
What happens if a tornado comes through and rips up the entire trailer park?

We carry loss of business income insurance on all of our mobile home park acquisitions so we will likely still be able to cover our liabilities. More than likely in this type of disaster scenario we would be ok but we would definitely be dragged down by the extra operational focus and time on site needed to recover from such an event. However, the monetary risk would be somewhat hedged due to our insurance.

Passive Investor Testimonials

General Testimonials

Keel Team provides unique opportunities for passive investors to enter the mobile home park asset class without having to deal with the headaches of tenants, toilets or trash.

DISCLAIMER:

Contacting us does not entitle you to purchase, or to participate in any current or future offering of, securities by us and/or our affiliates. We are not offering to sell you securities by providing you with an opportunity to contact us. All of our and our affiliates’ securities offerings are done through private placements, and participation in those offerings is restricted to persons with whom we have a prior, established business relationship and who meet applicable investor standards.