If your prospective park has cleared the first hurdles regarding population, next we will typically look at the economic factors in the area of the park.
Wal-Mart Nearby – Typically we prefer within fifteen to twenty minutes or so. A Lowes or Home Depot nearby is nice as well. These large companies perform much research before moving into an area; their presence is generally positive signs for an area. Additionally, they often serve as anchor stores, bringing in several smaller stores and businesses around them.
Jobs - diversity of employment promotes economic stability. Education, health care and government jobs are traditionally considered stable sources of employment. Places to avoid are where one large employer or industry employs a disproportionately large number of your population. While there is no hard and fast rule concerning this, ask yourself what would happen if the largest employer left, a specific industry was disrupted with new technology or legislation? To be cliché, make sure all your eggs are not in one basket.
Crime - online searches will yield information about crime as well as crime maps; often with breakdown of violent vs non-violent; as well as comparison to the national averages. In consideration to crime, we simply asked ourselves if we would feel safe and responsible asking a loved one to hold an open house showing in this area?
Median Home Price - average home price for a typical single-family stick built home above $100,000. This typically ensures enough spread between the cost of a mobile home and the cost of a single-family stick-built home that you are not competing to sell your mobile homes with stick built single-family homes.
Apartment Rent - apartment rent above $700, as a rough rule. Much like the median home price in the prior point, this ensures enough cost differential that there will be interest to rent a lot or mobile home and lot rather than an apartment. Again, $700 is a rough number and can adjust based on lot rent in your market.
Median Household Income - this ensures again, that on average, people living in your chosen market will have enough income to pay rent. Usually around $35,000 will provide a reasonable income to cover rents, varying some due to cost of living in different markets.
Hopefully the above list provides some ideas for you to build your own criteria in evaluating your potential parks based on your personality and investing goals. Next time, we will look at utilities within the park.