Building a small vertically integrated team

Welcome back to The Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, hosted by Andrew Keel! In this episode, Andrew Keel sits down with Kyle Grimm, a full-time real estate investor based in Quincy, Illinois.

Kyle Grimm’s journey began in high school when he made his first investment—a house he purchased for just $5,000! Fast forward to today, and Kyle Grimm has built an impressive portfolio spanning single-family homes, small multifamily properties, self-storage facilities, mobile home parks, and even an RV campground. Currently, Kyle Grimm owns 330 mobile home park lots, with 95 more units under contract.

Kyle Grimm shares hard-earned lessons from his investing career, including his first mobile home park deal, the importance of vertical integration within mobile home park investing, and how to build a successful trailer park investment strategy.

Kyle Grimm and Andrew Keel also tackle mobile home park industry challenges like rent control regulations, cash flow management, and the stigma surrounding mobile home parks.

Listen in for real-world insights, actionable investing tips, and lessons from Kyle Grimm’s journey!

Andrew Keel is the owner of Keel Team, LLC, a Top 44 Owner of Manufactured Housing Communities with over 3,250 lots under management. His team currently manages over 40 manufactured housing communities across more than 15 states. His expertise is in turning around under-managed manufactured housing communities by utilizing proven systems to maximize the occupancy while reducing operating costs. He specializes in bringing in homes to fill vacant lots, implementing utility bill back programs, and improving overall management and operating efficiencies, all of which significantly boost the asset value and net operating income of the communities. Check out keelteam.com to learn more.

Check out Andrew Keel’s FREE e-book, “The Top 20 Things You Need to Know Before You Start Investing in MHPs” which you can also find on our website,  https://keelteam.com/

Andrew has been featured on some of the Top Podcasts in the manufactured housing space, click here to listen to his most recent interviews: https://www.keelteam.com/podcast-links. To successfully implement his management strategy, Andrew’s team usually moves on location during the first several months of ownership. Find out more about Andrew’s story at AndrewKeel.com.

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Would you like to see mobile home park projects in progress? If so, follow us on Instagram: @passivemhpinvesting for photos and awesome videos from our recent mobile home park acquisitions.

Talking Points:

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

02:51 - How Kevin Bupp’s influence shaped Kyle Grimm’s approach to Mobile Home Park investing

05:50 - The Top 20 Things You Need to Know Before You Start Investing in Mobile Home Parks

06:30 - Lessons from Kyle’s first mobile home park deal and the due diligence process

14:00 - Why real estate investing isn’t for everyone and common misconceptions

15:00 - Overcoming the stigma of manufactured housing community investing

19:37 - Vertical integration within mobile home park investing: learning to trust and delegate property management

26:19 - The danger of relying too much on cash flow for capex and infill

35:39 - Why having a great mobile home park operator makes all the difference

39:30 - What are Direct Billed trailer parks and how do they fit into Kyle Grimm's strategy?

45:00 - Rent control regulations and how they impact mobile home park owners

51:20 - Reaching out to Kyle Grimm

00:00 - Closing thoughts and final takeaways

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

Links & Mentions from This Episode:

Kyle Grimm’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-grimm-1aa207132/

Kyle Grimm’s website: https://thekylegrimm.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:

“At some point, you have to swing the bat.” - Kyle Grimm

“It’s not for everyone, I will say that. Especially something like mobile home parks.” - Kyle Grimm

“Once the (mobile home park) deal flow hits a certain threshold, then it was like, okay. I’m gonna have to turn away good deals if I don’t have the money to take ‘em down.” - Andrew Keel

“Park-owned (Mobile) homes are always more expensive than you think.” - Andrew Keel