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Posts Tagged ‘SingleFamily’

Just about anybody who watches late night TV, or receives email, or reads, knows that there are hundreds of people promoting concepts to make money in single family homes. “Buy foreclosures”, “profit from short sales”, “wholesale houses” – there are at least 1,000 different concepts. Unfortunately, the only people who actually make money in many of these ideas are the promoters. There are so many people chasing after single-family homes to invest in that the market is beyond saturated, and any profitability has been extinguished.

How about looking at something that few people are involved in and that actually generates money for the investor – not just the promoter? That real estate niche is mobile home parks. And they have offered superior returns to the lucky few who comprehend them for several decades.

It’s all about the cap rate

Single family homes suffer from low, or often negative, “cap rates”. A “cap rate” is the actual return on the debt and equity of the investment. A typical single family home investment of a $100,000 home normally rents for $900 per month. However, before you think that it’s a $900 per month return on your $100,000 investment (which is about a 10% “cap rate”), remember that you have to take out property tax (about $200 per month), insurance of about $100 per month, and repair and maintenance of another $200 per month (I’m speaking about those big-dollar fixes like roofs, etc. averaged over time, too). So your net income is only $400 per month, which is a 5% cap rate.

Mobile home parks make at least double that amount. Good mobile home parks have a 10% cap rate or better.

So right off the bat, mobile home parks make about 100% more per year than single-family investments.

It’s hard to near rents in single family homes

Single-family homes are plentiful. Your local newspaper is bursting with homes for understanding or rent. As a result, it is very hard to increase rents – in fact, the norm these days is to decrease rents with single-family homes. In many markets, there is a terrible spiral down in rents as investors effectively bid against apiece other to attract tenants.

Mobile home parks are in very limited supply, by comparison. In most cities, you can't obtain permits to build mobile home parks – and you have not been healthy to for decades. As a result, the supply is limited, and there are few competitive forces to contend with.

It’s another important point to note that it costs $3,000 to move a mobile home from point A to point B. That’s why 95% of mobile homes only move one time – from works to mobile home park – in their entire lives. As a result, you can raise your rent level 5% to 10% per year and not lose a single tenant. Few tenants are willing, or able, to spend $3,000 to move their mobile home over a $20 per month rent increase.

Single-family home investors know too much

Your average single-family home seller is pretty sophisticated. They’ve purchased and sold several homes, and know pretty accurately what the correct price should be. And they normally have debt on the house.

Mobile home park sellers are typically “mom and pop” owners, who are very unsophisticated. They often price their park for a fraction of what it’s actually worth. And they rarely have any debt. As a result they can often carry the financing themselves – at below market rates and with non-recourse.

Conclusion

There is a lot more money in mobile home park investing than in single-family home investing. That might be why there are five publicly-traded mobile home park real estate investment trusts (also known as REITs) and there are zero in single-family homes. That might also explain why Sam Zell, one of the top real estate investors in the U. S. , is one of the largest owners of mobile home parks in USA – and not a single family home speculator.

If making money is your goal, you should look into mobile home parks, and not single family homes.

The community of Clairemont (sometimes called Clairemont Mesa) is located in central San Diego County, California. The community is located off Interstate 5 at Balboa Ave and is within the 92117 Zip code.

The real estate and homes for understanding in Clairemont start into the moderate-income category for San Diego County. The number of homes sold in a particular year is relatively high. For example, during the period from Jan through July 2006, approximately 183 single-family homes sold. Approximately 226 homes sold for the same period in 2005.

One method to examine pricing trends for a particular community is to evaluate the median and average price of homes for a particular month, and compare that data against the same period last year. What follows is a comparison of the median price and average price of homes for the past seven months (January through July 2006), compared against the data for the corresponding time period in 2005.

The median price of homes represents the point at which half the homes are above a particular price point, and half the homes are below a particular price point. The average price of homes is calculated by adding up the income price of all homes sold in a particular month, and dividing that value by the number of homes sold.

The median price of homes in July 2006 was $560,000, compared to $562,500 in July 2005, which represents a 0. 9% drop. The average price of homes in July 2006 was $575,114, compared to $585,602 in July 2005, which represents a 2. 4% drop. Approximately 21 homes sold in July 2006 and 26 in July 2005. The data provides evidence that there was a downward price trend in July 2006 compared to the same period last year.

The median price of homes in June 2006 was $555,000, compared to $570,000 in June 2005, which represents a 2. 6% drop. The average price of homes in June 2006 was $586,758, compared to $584,415 in June 2005, which represents a 0. 4% increase. Approximately 30 homes sold in June 2006 and 34 in June 2005. The data for June 2006 was mixed, as median prices declined and average prices rose slightly from the same period last year.

The median price of homes in Might 2006 was $550,000, compared to $562,000 in Might 2005, which represents a 2. 3% drop. The average price of homes in Might 2006 was $584,012, compared to $582,000 in Might 2005, which represents a 0. 3% increase. Approximately 33 homes sold in Might 2006 and 37 in Might 2005. The data was blended in June 2006, as median prices declined and average prices rose slightly from the same period last year.

The median price of homes in April 2006 was $564,000, compared to $565,000 in April 2005, which represents a 0. 20% drop. The average price of homes in April 2006 was $584,722, compared to $612,897 in April 2005, which represents a 4. 6% drop. Approximately 32 homes sold in April 2006 and 36 in April 2005. The data provides evidence that there was a downward price trend in April 2006 compared to the same period last year.

The median price of homes in March 2006 was $558,000, compared to $545,000 in March 2005, which represents a 1. 5% increase. The average price of homes in March 2006 was $589,161, compared to $576,227 in March 2005, which represents a 3. 60% increase. Approximately 29 homes sold in March 2006 and 39 in March 2005. The data provides evidence that there was an upward price trend in March 2006 compared to the same period last year.

The median price of homes in February 2006 was $560,000, compared to $525,000 in February 2005, which represents a 7. 4% increase. The average price of homes in February 2006 was $582,435, compared to $571,708 in February 2005, which represents a 2. 50% increase. Approximately 17 home sold in February 2006 and 29 in February 2005. The data provides evidence that there was an upward price trend in February 2006 compared to the same period last year.

The median price of homes was $585,000 in Jan 2006, compared to $525,000 in Jan 2005, which represents a 10% increase. The average price of homes in Jan 2006 was $634,524, compared to $542,708 in Jan 2005, which represents a 16. 9% increase. Approximately 21 homes sold in Jan 2006 and 25 in Jan 2005. The data provides evidence that there was an upward price trend in Jan 2006 compared to the same period last year.

So what does the above data tell us? Overall, there was a 19% decline in the number of homes sold during this period from 2006 to 2005. The pricing trends primeval in the year (January, February and March) were in the upward direction for both median and average prices, which showed increases year-over-year ranging from 1. 5% to 16. 9%. However, since then, the pricing trend has been downward or blended depending on the month. For example, April and July demonstrated downward median and average prices ranging from around half a percent up to 5%. For Might and June, the median price was down around 2% from the previous year, and the average price was slightly up around half a percent. These findings recommend that at best, prices have leveled off, and at worst, are starting to decline. Continued monitoring of understanding data in subsequent months is needed to refer enduring market trends.

Be sure to consult your Realtor on other factors that influence home pricing before buying or selling real estate in Clairemont.