Every time we underwrite a mobile home park acquisition, we look at one number before anything else.

Not the cap rate. Not the lot rent. Not the debt service coverage ratio.

We look at occupancy. Specifically, we look at the gap between current occupancy and economic occupancy — and we think hard about what it will actually take to close that gap. Because in our experience operating 50+ parks across multiple states, vacant lots are the most dangerous thing in this business. Not because they’re flashy or dramatic. Because they’re quiet. They sit there losing you money every single month while everything else looks fine on paper.

The Real Cost of a Vacant Lot

Let’s put a number on this.

In most of our markets, a lot with an occupied home generates $450–$600/month in lot rent. That’s $5,400–$7,200/year per lot. A park with 20 vacant lots is leaving $108,000–$144,000 per year on the table — every year — while paying the same property taxes, same insurance, same management costs as a full park.

At a 7% cap rate, those 20 lots represent $1.5–$2 million in lost asset value.

Now do you see why we take this seriously?

Why Filling Lots Is Harder Than It Looks

When investors first look at a park with 20% vacancy, the instinct is: “Great — value-add opportunity. I’ll fill those lots and watch the NOI climb.” Then reality sets in.

The Home Supply Chain Is Broken

New manufactured homes cost an average of $109,400 in 2024. That’s before transport, setup, permits, and site prep. Total cost to bring a new home onto a lot: $130,000–$160,000+. Most park operators can’t or won’t invest that per lot. So they look for used homes.

Used home inventory is fragmented across dozens of sources: manufactured home dealers (a shrinking species), chattel lender repossessions, estate sales, private listings. There’s no centralized market. Finding a decent used home in your target market, in the right size, with a clear title, that can be moved for a reasonable cost, is a part-time job on its own.

Qualified Residents Are Hard to Finance

76% of new manufactured homes are titled as personal property — “chattel” — not real estate. That means residents can’t use a conventional Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage to buy them. They’re stuck with chattel lenders like 21st Mortgage or Triad Financial, which typically charge 7–10%+ interest rates and have tightened their geographic and credit criteria significantly since 2023.

Many prospective residents who would qualify for a conventional mortgage on a stick-built home can’t get approved for a manufactured home chattel loan. The financing gap is real and it’s getting wider in rural markets.

Nobody Has a System

The biggest problem is also the most fixable: most MHP operators are trying to fill lots with no organized system. No CRM for prospects. No dealer relationship program. No documented process for sourcing, moving, and financing homes. They’re improvising, one lot at a time, and wondering why it takes three years to move from 72% to 80% occupancy.

What Actually Works: The Lot Fill Playbook

After filling hundreds of lots across our portfolio, here’s what we’ve learned moves the needle:

1. Map Your Dealer Network

Every manufactured home dealer within 75 miles of your park is a potential partner. Most park operators have zero formal relationships with dealers. Visit them. Bring a simple one-page overview of your park: lot rent, resident qualifications, and what setup assistance you’ll provide. Offer a referral fee for every move-in they send you. Even one relationship that produces 2–3 residents per year is worth the investment.

2. Build a Used Home Pipeline

Start with the lenders. 21st Mortgage and Triad Financial both have repossessed home inventories they’d love to offload. Homes in this channel are typically priced at $10,000–$25,000 — far below retail. You’ll need to budget $8,000–$15,000 for rehab and $5,000–$15,000 for transport and setup, but the total cost per occupied lot is often $35,000–$55,000 versus $150,000+ for a new home program.

3. Offer Owner Financing

This is the unlock that most operators miss. If a resident can’t get chattel financing, they can’t buy a home and move into your park — even if they’d be a great resident.

But you can make it happen. You own the home outright (you bought it for $20K cash). You can sell it on contract: $5,000 down, $550/month payment for 10 years on a $55,000 selling price. They pay that plus lot rent. You’re now collecting $1,000–$1,200/month per lot instead of $0.

The legal structure matters — consult a real estate attorney in your state — but owner-financed home sales are a proven strategy used by large operators and small park owners alike.

4. Create a Systematic Resident Pipeline

Post your available homes everywhere: Facebook Marketplace, MHVillage, Craigslist, local apartment waitlists. Partner with local employers, nonprofits, and workforce housing programs. Have a simple application process and a clear timeline for how quickly you can get someone approved and moved in. Speed wins. If someone has to wait 6 weeks to find out if they qualify, they’ve already moved somewhere else.

The Acquisition Lens: Underwriting Vacancy Correctly

If you’re evaluating a park with significant vacancy, model the lot fill process honestly. Ask yourself:

• What’s the home supply situation in this market?
• Are there active chattel lenders lending in this county?
• Is there a used home pipeline I can realistically access?
• What will it cost per lot to source, move, and set up a home?
• What’s a realistic fill timeline — not the best case, but the realistic case?

The operators who get hurt on value-add plays are almost always the ones who modeled 18-month fill timelines in markets where 36–48 months was more honest. Build your vacancy fill costs and timeline conservatively into every deal.

The Bottom Line

Vacant lots are expensive. Filling them is work — but it’s learnable, systematizable work. The operators who win in this business are the ones who treat lot fill like a marketing and operations discipline, not an afterthought.

Every lot filled at Keel Team is a family in an affordable home and improved returns for our portfolio. We take both seriously.

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, a manufactured housing community investment firm with parks across the Southeast and Midwest.