100 Ways to Fill a Mobile Home or Lot Contest

100 Ways to Fill a Mobile Home or Lot Contest:

For those of us that currently own a mobile home park or are planning to buy a mobile home park one of the biggest obstacles we have is to rent our vacant lots. Face it, it is tough to rent lots with the lack of financing for new manufactured homes to be put into parks or communities.

Many people think that the goal is to rent all 25 or 50 vacant lots in their park. For example, I own a park of 100 lots with 50 vacant lots and I want to rent those 50 vacant lots. That should not be the goal. Remember the movie “What about Bob” and the concept of “Baby Steps”. That is exactly what we should focus on.

Our goal is much simpler, we need to rent one lot without losing any of the rented lots. Then after that goal is accomplished, we repeat.

How do we accomplish this goal? Of course we can keep on doing what we have always done. Run an ad in the paper, put a sign up at the front of the property, place a listing on the internet, or go out and buy a home and move it in to sell it. However, what we should be doing is looking for additional ways to fill our vacant lots. From the master of No B.S. Marketing, Dan Kennedy, I took away a simple concept that goes something like this:

You should not be doing one thing 100 times but rather you should be doing 100 things one time. And for those 100 things that are working keep on doing them as often as possible. So to accomplish our goal, we should think outside the box and start trying some unconventional marketing strategies.

We are having a contest in which we are looking for you to submit your 10 best ideas to us at dave@mhps.com and then on February 1, for anyone that sends in at least 10 ideas they will be entered into a drawing for a copy of the Mobile Home Park Investing Home Study Course. But the best part is that you will hopefully receive a list of at least 100 ideas to immediately implement to get that next vacant lot rented!

Email your ideas to dave@mhps.com

MobileHomeParkStore.com
MHBay.com

This is great Dave - thank you.

Brad Simmons
Bluegrass Region of our State
Danville, KY
[www.StarHomeUSA.com]

This idea is a little out there ....but here goes. Bring a home to your park that needs work. Do a basic set ( block it up and tie it down) Donate the home to the local high school. Their parents group can fix the home up and sell it for a fundraiser. The park would get foot trafic and free advertising out of the deal. There would be details to iron out ( home can't be sold to anyone with felonies or evictions,etc.) This idea came from a large Catholic High School in Orange County, CA. They had a new stick built home donated to the school every year and they would raffle it off.

Thanks Darrell for sharing this great idea! I support a Christian School with scholarships and this tactic will be a multiplier of my donation.

HA! Dave kind of hit my problem on the head "We need to fill one lot without losing any of the rented lots" everytime I fill a lot I end up with another eviction or abandonment. I'm like a hamster on a wheel


I'm going to have to raise the rent by at least 15 bucks just to cover the fact that I have over 10 % vacancy


This is risky but I'm thinking of sending out the increase letter with a note that says "Your community needs your help. Obviously you have noticed the empty lots. Because of long term vacancies we have to increase the lot rent this year to XXX but if we get the lots all rented by the end of this calendar year. I commit to a rent REDUCTION beginning January 1 2011 of XXX" Please help us find good tenants to fill these lots. Clean up your yards, paint what needs to be painted and get out the word of mouth and help us attract GOOD tenants" I'm going to enclose a gift certificate to a local nursery good for a flat of annual flowers and drop off a bag of grass seed and planting instructions at every yard. I'm also going to have a free mulch pile this year and get a guy who will do lawn work etc at a bulk rate.

I'm putting up fresh signage and doing some landscaping at my entrances as well

that way EVERY tenant has a stake in the improvements financially and otherwise. I want them ALL working for me.

Got this idea from the MOM in Indiana last summer:

I used to give people a free month of lot rent if they referred people but now I give them the equivalent in WalMart gift cards instead. The idea is to make them remember where and why they got the cards every time they spend the cards. Sort of reinforces the reward. I did get a referral (paid all cash) and gave out the cards in December. The reaction to getting something physical surprised me and told me this really works better than just not charging lot rent for a month.

Just thought of a variation on Dawn's idea: I'm thinking of putting out a notice to the residents saying not only will they get the gift cards but I will not increase rents for a year if I get 3 new residents from referrals. I already have one coming in May so that means I would only need 2 more referrals. I'd much rather get 3 more lots filled than a $5 increase.

Rolf
Wheat Hill

I give a $100 reward when a resident refers a new tenant. They love getting the check and tell all their friends. I remind them of the reward in the newsletter and mention the lots and homes available. On occasion I enclose a postcard size flyer of a home for sale. Advertising in the for sale section of the local paper brought few calls but an ad in the for rent section with option to purchase brings calls.

I would like some zinger ideas. Anyone got a good way to reach seniors?

I want to touch on what Rolf and Andy said. A suggestion on gift cards is to buy them from local businesses where you can negotiate a discount.
Any store should be able to sell a $100 gift card for $80. Many restaurants offer buy one get on specials. Entertainment books have restaurants
offering steep discounts. We should be able to buy restaurant gift cards at 25-50% off face value. Get some bang for your buck on your incentives.
There are businesses out there which have monthly services. They will sometimes sell a coupon for for 1-3 months of service for ten cents on the dollar. They do this because they know that some of the people who try their service will "stick" i.e. continue to buy after the coupon is used up.
Examples are gym membership...cable tv....membership to a rifle/pistol range....car wash....local internet company....etc. Maybe instead of $200
we can offer $200 bundle of gifts that we paid $100 for.

To market to Seniors.....sponser a prize at local bingo tounament.( A $25 restaurant certificate that you got for half price or a $500 off a home that's for sale in your park.) Sponser meals on wheels. Advertise at Senior centers. Sponser an activity through the local Parks and Rec. that primarily draws seniors. If your park has a rec. center offer a free tax prep day for Seniors. Get your park's name out there that you are senior friendly and have homes available.

A few days ago I chatted with the local radio station. I had no idea how cheap their ads are. Granted we're out in the sticks....but 60 thirty second spots in a month for $100. There's maybe 5,000-10,000 people who can hear this station. The station manger said that if I joined the local business assocition I could get a $500 advertising certificate. I have to use the $500 in one month. I will get 10 spots a day for a month. The cost of join the local biz assoc..........Twenty five dollars. I did join last Wed. and plan a 60 day radio blitz..... "Got Tax Return ? Get a home ! I tried to barter with the station but they didn't need any mobile home park related stuff. I'm thinking about asking a local dealer to help w/ $$ and I'll feed him leads on prospects who can qualify for a new home

I'm hoping that we as a an online community can come up with some ideas which are a paradigm shift in how to fill a park. Some real outside the box thinking.

Probably too late for the contest but I know a little Dan Kennedy myself so I'll bite:
1. Calculate the lifetime value of a tenant. How much do you net per month, times how many months does the average tenant stay (their lifetime value as a client) now decide how much of this are you willing to pay up front to buy such an average customer. Is it 10% 20% whatever you decide. Would you pay $500 now to get $3000 per year for the next 5 years?
This number is probably higher than what your competition is willing to spend so you can outmarket them.

2. Stop advertising for MH for rent or sale and advertise for a free report. "How to afford your own home in today's economy without bank loans, even if you have mediocre credit" or something like that. Instead of trying to catch qualified buyers in your net in one fell swoop, make it a goal to create a list of prospects with maybe 100 names on it. Then whenever you have a vacancy or special offer you can send your whole list a postcard or e mail, and offer them a finders fee if they don't want it but send a friend.

3. Advertise in non traditional media where your target customer will read, Pennysavers, retirement magazines, Church bulletins, Veterans clubs, Square dancing clubs, local restaurants, mechanic shops use your imagination but think like your customer

4. Pay your referral fee in increments. $100 gift for first referral then $120 or $140 gift for subsequent referrals by same source. Consider giving $50 bonus if the referred tenant is still there after the second year.

5 Most reputable people sign up with a Church when they move into town. Contact the closest 15 churches and offer to rent them a unit at reduced fee for their own use for new people getting settled in town or offer to reimburse the church in cash one months rent for a good referral. Same applies to local charities and social organizations, they know people who are looking for a house.
6. Create customized "reward for referral" systems for local school teachers, policemen, mailmen landscapers, shopkeepers and all the mom and pop businesses around. etc.Offer to let them give you a card or coupon that you will put in your tenants welcome package (Free advertising for them) Once a year send all your referral sources a little gift.

7.Craigslist ITS FREE but use a headline that will be attractive to your target audience and refresh it often

8.Leave a card at all the FSBO houses you see around town, pretty soon they are going to be looking for a new place

9. Call the other guy that advertises in your newspaper for buyer/tenants and tell him you will give a fee for his buyers list if he has extra people that responded that he cannot accommodate

10. Contact all the rehabbers"I buy houses guys"in your town and ask them to give you their buyers who could not qualify at the bank.

11.Create a USP(Unique selling Proposition) something that they WON'T get at the other parks that is unique and customized for your park so you can stimulate "word of mouth" what if your tenants are the only ones that get a kids meal free at Denny's or a discount at the movies or the bowling alley. What if you pay for one load of laundry a week, what about firewood for BBQ, Create a library or book exchange, have games they can borrow on a rainy day, What if each unit gets a steak from the butcher once a month for barbecue- use your imagination It does not take much to impress people with a little kindness and make them feel part of an exclusive community.

How's that?

Will you publish some of the other suggestions for us to see?

Jobolanger,

Thanks for the great post. I will add your posts to the ones that have come in via email and send you a copy. On this contest to encourage participation I am only emailing this out to people that participate and you will get a copy. I am drawing for the first course tomorrow and may have a follow up drawing.

Everyone else, make sure to email your top 10 list to dave@mhps.com and you will get a copy of the entire list.

Thanks,

Dave

The Contest is over and congratulations to Brad Simmons who won the drawing. However, if you would like a copy of the list all you need to do is email your top 10 ideas to me... dave@mhps.com and I will add them to the list and send it out to you.

Brad if you would like to post your videos and pictures here that would be great. Good stuff.

Dave

Thank you Dave and followers.

We do many marketing things. We do very well with these videos - here are a couple for you to look at.

When you go there, if you don't mind, would you please rate and comment on the video?

If you have any professional feedback, please post it here and we can discuss amongst ourselves.

[www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]

Enjoy!

Brad Simmons
Bluegrass Region of our State
Danville, KY
[www.StarHomeUSA.com]

It's over? Ahh, heck. I came up with something that is at least making the phone ring.

Congrats to you, Brad, and thanks for sharing the videos.

Here is what I'm doing in case anyone else can benefit from it: I took a map and drew a 20 mile circle around my community. Then I looked for every park that fell within the circle but I only wanted to locate the rundown ones. Found 5 parks and about 400 spaces. Visited them all and they are really dumps yet you see well-kept homes/lots and even some newer (shingle/vinyl) homes. Then I started doing a mailing extolling the virtues of my place. The phone has been ringing ever since and the callers have all been obviously older people.

I plan to do post card mailers for 6 months in a row and I'm offering $2,500 towards moving costs. Going to have to screen like crazy to make sure I don't get someone else's headache but all I need is 1% of those I contacted to actually move. At first I felt bad about poaching residents but, hey, if the operators of these parks are too cheap to maintain them, then they deserve to lose residents.

Don't know if this will actually get me residents but at least the phone is ringing and my community is on people's radar.

Rolf
Wheat Hill