Lessons from the First Deal That Failed

Welcome back to The Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, hosted by Andrew Keel.

In this episode, Andrew Keel sits down with Brad Johnson, Managing Partner at Vintage Capital, to discuss what it really takes to build lasting success in mobile home park investing.

With over 20 years of experience and $3.3 billion in real estate acquisitions, Brad Johnson has seen the mobile home park investing business from both sides — first as a mobile home park owner-operator, and now as a trailer park investment capital allocator. He also co-hosts The Alternative Investor Podcast, where he shares insights on tax-efficient and alternative real estate investing.

Andrew Keel sits down with Brad Johnson to discuss mobile home park investing from both the operator and investor perspective. They cover Brad’s journey from mobile home park operator to mobile home park capital allocator, key lessons learned, how to identify strong deals, which regions and infrastructure types are performing best, and common mobile home park investing myths.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Brad’s journey from mobile home park operator to capital allocator
  
• Evaluating mobile home park operators and deals effectively
  
• Why investing in top mobile home park management talent matters
  
• Types of mobile home park investors and operators today
  
• High-performing regions and mobile home park infrastructure types (septic, wastewater treatment plants, lagoons)
  
• Common mobile home park investing myths

If you want to understand mobile home park investing from both the operational and investment perspectives, this conversation is full of valuable takeaways.

About Andrew Keel
Andrew Keel is the owner of Keel Team, LLC, a Top 50 Owner of Manufactured Housing Communities with over 3,250 lots under management. His team currently manages more than 50 manufactured housing communities across 15+ states.

Andrew specializes in turning around under-managed manufactured housing communities by implementing proven systems to maximize occupancy while reducing operating costs. His expertise includes:

• Bringing in mobile homes to fill vacant lots.
  
• Implementing utility bill-back programs.
  
• Improving overall management and operating efficiencies in mobile home parks.
  

These strategies significantly boost both asset value and net operating income. Learn more at keelteam.com

Check out Andrew’s FREE e-book: “The Top 20 Things You Need to Know Before You Start Investing in MHPs” — available on our website: https://keelteam.com/top-20-things-learned-from-mobile-home-park-investing/

Andrew has been featured on some of the top podcasts in the manufactured housing space. Listen to his most recent interviews here: keelteam.com/podcast-links.

To successfully implement his management strategy, Andrew’s team often relocates on-site during the first several months of ownership. Find out more about Andrew’s story at andrewkeel.com

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Want to see mobile home park projects in progress? Follow us on Instagram: @passivemhpinvesting for photos and videos from our latest acquisitions.

Talking Points:

00:21 - Welcome to The Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast

01:16 - Brad Johnson’s journey from mobile home park operator to capital allocator

04:11 - Why paying up for talent early makes sense

07:26 - The mobile home park deal that got away

13:24 - The different types of mobile home park operators and investors

17:15 - Brad Johnson’s best and worst mobile home park investments

27:15 - Partnering with mobile home park operators with proven track records

29:00 - Regions with the best success rates

31:30 - Comparing septic, wastewater treatment plants, and lagoon systems in mobile home parks

34:30 - Lightning Round: Markets, myths, and profit pitfalls

40:53 - How to connect with Brad Johnson of Vintage Capital

41:32 - Conclusion

SUBSCRIBE TO PASSIVE MOBILE HOME PARK INVESTING PODCAST YOUTUBE CHANNEL https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy9uI3KGQmFgABsr9lUtRTQ

Links & Mentions from This Episode:

Vintage Capital: https://vintage-funds.com/

Keel Team’s official website: https://www.keelteam.com/ 

Andrew Keel’s official website: https://www.andrewkeel.com/  

Andrew Keel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkeel 

Andrew Keel Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PassiveMHPinvestingPodcast

Andrew Keel Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/passivemhpinvesting/

Twitter: @MHPinvestors

Quotes:

“I think it’s easy to fall in love with the (mobile home park) model.” – Brad Johnson

“The management is one of the toughest parts of owning mobile home parks.” – Andrew Keel

“If you invest in mobile home parks in a diversified way, it’s really hard to lose money.” – Brad Johnson