It’s one of the most common calls I get from investors who are new to mobile home parks:

“Andrew, I just closed on a 75-lot park. Everything looked good on paper. Then we discovered the water lines are original galvanized from 1968. We got a quote to replace them. It’s $180,000.”

My answer is always the same: “Did you camera the sewer lines? Did you pressure-test the water mains? Did you pull the electrical permits?”

The answer is almost always no. And that’s the problem.

After acquiring and operating dozens of mobile home park communities across the Southeast and Midwest, I can tell you with confidence: the single biggest value destroyer in MHP acquisitions isn’t bad tenants, bad management, or bad markets. It’s infrastructure you didn’t know about until after you closed.

Why General Commercial Inspectors Fail MHP Buyers

The standard commercial real estate inspection process was designed for office buildings, retail centers, and apartment complexes. It works reasonably well for properties where the infrastructure is visible, documented, and relatively modern.

Mobile home parks are different in almost every material way. The majority of parks currently on the market were built between the 1940s and the 1980s. Their infrastructure reflects that era: galvanized steel water mains, Orangeburg or clay composite sewer lines, 30-amp electrical pedestals, and in rural areas, private septic systems and lagoons.

A general commercial inspector who hasn’t specifically worked on MHP properties will walk the property, see homes, see a road, see an office — and completely miss the deteriorating infrastructure that’s 3 feet underground or inside an aging electrical pedestal. This isn’t a knock on inspectors. It’s a structural gap in how MHP due diligence is typically performed.

The Infrastructure Time Bombs You’re Not Looking For

Galvanized Steel Water Lines

Parks built before 1970 commonly used galvanized steel piping for water distribution. Galvanized pipes corrode from the inside out. By the time you see low water pressure or rust-colored water, the pipes are already compromised. Replacement runs $1,000–$3,000 per lot installed, meaning a 100-lot park with galvanized infrastructure represents $100K–$300K in unfunded capital expenditure that isn’t showing up in the seller’s pro forma.

How to catch it: Pressure-test the water mains. Check water loss ratios — more than 15% unaccounted water loss is a red flag. Get a licensed plumber with MHP experience to assess the material and condition of distribution lines.

Orangeburg and Clay Sewer Lines

Orangeburg pipe — a tar-paper composite used widely from the 1940s through the 1970s — has a design life of around 50 years. Most of it is now 60–80 years old. It doesn’t fail gradually. It collapses. Clay pipe has its own failure mode: root intrusion.

How to catch it: Camera every sewer main in the park. A CCTV sewer scope costs $500–$2,000 for a whole park and will tell you exactly what’s down there. This is non-negotiable on any park built before 1985. Do not close without it.

Aging Electrical Infrastructure

Many parks built before 1990 have 30-amp or 50-amp electrical pedestals. Modern double-wide homes require 200-amp service. If residents are running modern HVAC systems and appliances on 30-amp pedestals, you’re looking at tripped breakers, overloaded systems, and fire risk. Insurance carriers are increasingly scrutinizing electrical infrastructure in MHPs, and some are declining coverage on parks with outdated pedestals.

How to catch it: Pull the electrical permits on the park. Test amperage at a sample of pedestals. Hire a licensed electrician to assess the park’s full electrical system.

Private Septic, Lagoons, and Wastewater Treatment Plants

Parks with private wastewater infrastructure rather than municipal sewer hookup carry serious operational and regulatory risk. EPA violations can result in fines up to $10,000 per day. Decommissioning a failing lagoon system can run $200K–$500K.

My policy: avoid parks with private wastewater unless there’s a clear, permitted municipal sewer connection in the near-term pipeline. The operational complexity and regulatory exposure aren’t worth it for the deals we do.

The Due Diligence Protocol That Actually Works

Here’s the framework we use at Keel Team for every acquisition:

Phase 1 — Pre-LOI: Request utility bills, water loss data, and any existing inspection reports. Review county permit records for infrastructure upgrades. Ask the seller directly: when were the water lines, sewer lines, and electrical pedestals last replaced or assessed? The answers — and the evasions — are informative.

Phase 2 — Under Contract: Commission an MHP-specific infrastructure inspection. A licensed plumber for water/sewer, a licensed electrician for the electrical system, and a civil engineer if there’s any question about roads, grading, or drainage. CCTV scope every sewer main. Pressure-test the water distribution system.

Phase 3 — Pricing: Model every identified deficiency into your pro forma with actual contractor estimates. If you can’t get an estimate before closing, use $1,500/lot as a conservative budget item. Negotiate seller credits or price reductions for identified deficiencies, or structure an escrow holdback.

The Counter-Intuitive Opportunity

Here’s what might surprise you: some of our best acquisitions have been parks with known infrastructure problems.

When a park has a documented infrastructure issue, most buyers walk away. The competition disappears. The seller — often a mom-and-pop operator who doesn’t have the capital or expertise to fix the problem — becomes motivated. You can negotiate a price that reflects the known repair cost plus a meaningful discount for risk and operational complexity.

If you have contractor relationships, construction management experience, and the capital reserves to execute the repair, you can create equity that wasn’t there before. This is one of the structural advantages that smaller, operationally sophisticated operators have over institutional capital. We can handle complexity that makes larger buyers flinch.

The Bottom Line

Mobile home park investing is a phenomenal asset class — resilient cash flow, near-zero new supply, strong demand fundamentals driven by the affordable housing crisis. But this isn’t a passive investment. It rewards operators who do the unglamorous work of genuinely understanding what they’re buying before they buy it.

Skipping infrastructure due diligence to save $2,000 in inspection costs and close faster is how you inherit a $180,000 problem. Take the time. Do it right.

For a complete due diligence system used on 50+ acquisitions, check out the MHP Due Diligence Playbook.

Andrew Keel is the founder of Keel Team Real Estate Investments, one of the most active private operators of affordable manufactured housing communities in the Southeast and Midwest.