Interview with Craig Schneider from RYZE Communities

Feb 21, 2023

Craig Schneider, managing partner at RYZE Communities who revitalizes underperforming mobile home, RV, and multifamily parks. He discusses why park-owned homes work at scale. He explains the importance of a strong maintenance team and local relationships. He talks about focusing geographically, financing choices, and why mobile homes hold up in down markets.

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ADVICE

Build A Strong Team To Manage People

Do build a strong, multidisciplinary team to manage mobile home parks.
Craig Schneider says success depends on managing contractors, attorneys, financing and on-site staff well.

ANECDOTE

Acquire Parks Through Longterm Relationship Building

Craig describes a 12–24 month relationship-driven acquisition cadence for parks.
He routinely meets sellers multiple times a year, visits local owners, and waits for owners to decide to sell before contracting.

INSIGHT

Park Owned Homes Work When You Have Local Scale

Park-owned homes can outperform tenant-owned models when you have geographic scale and in-house crews.
With concentrated parks in Northeast Florida, Craig runs full-time construction and maintenance teams to turn homes quickly and capture higher street-rent revenue.

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Welcome back to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, hosted by Andrew Keel. On this episode of the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, Andrew talks with Craig Schneider from RYZE Communities. Craig and Andrew discuss why park-owned homes can work when you have scale in a specific geographic area, they also discuss how a good team is all the difference with park-owned home maintenance and why building relationships with nearby owners of other mobile home communities is important. Craig and Andrew also discuss lifestyle changes and why mobile home parks might not be as affected by a down economy like other asset classes will be.

Craig Schneider is the managing partner at RYZE communities and RYZE focuses on value-add opportunities in the mobile home park, RV park and multi-family real estate space. Their team focuses on revitalizing under-performing assets and partnering with local leaders and communities to improve neighborhoods throughout the country.

***Andrew Keel and Keel Team Real Estate Investments (Keel Team, LLC) do not endorse any interviewee. This interview is for informational purposes only and should not be depended upon for investment purposes. ***

Andrew Keel is the owner of Keel Team, LLC, a Top 100 Owner of Manufactured Housing Communities with over 2,000 lots under management. His team currently manages over 30 manufactured housing communities across more than 10 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.

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. In order 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.

Book a 1 on 1 consultation with Andrew Keel to discuss:

A deal review
Due diligence questions
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Mistakes to avoid, and more!

Click Here: https://intro.co/AndrewKeel

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Talking Points:

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

00:46 - Craig Schneider’s introduction

01:14 - Craig Schneider’s background

02:10 - Craig’s history as a commercial real estate appraiser

03:30 - Toughest hurdles to overcome in mobile home park investing and ownership

05:37 - Why it can take so long to close a deal

07:11 - Craig’s target market

08:00 - Craig’s first park and current real estate portfolio

10:28 - Park-owned mobile home models

17:26 - Craig’s mobile home park investing strategy and how it has changed

20:00 - Best strategy for mobile home park investing in the current market

21:36 - Mistakes that we can learn from

23:05 - How Craig educated himself in the industry

24:32 - The most important thing a passive investor needs to look out for

26:10 - Craig’s perfect mobile home park

27:55 - The future of mobile home parks

32:43 - Getting a hold of Craig Schneider

33:15 - Conclusion

Links & Mentions from This Episode:

Craig Schneider’s email: craig@RYZEcommunities.com

Craig Schneider’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-schneider-cpm-b7b81911

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:

“And when I first encountered manufactured housing, I said, this is actually a very affordable and great way to live.” - Craig Schneider

“[Appraisal] is about evaluating property and looking at it from all different angles.” - Craig Schneider

“I don’t think people understand the way that they’re constructed. It’s a different kind of repair. They shift over time.” - Craig Schneider

“The toughest hurdle is managing people, in any business.” - Craig Schneider