Interview with Michael O'Connor of mPark Partners LLC

Welcome back to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, hosted by Andrew Keel. In this episode of the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast our host Andrew Keel interviews Michael O’Conner, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of mPark Partners.

Michael O'Connor, an accomplished entrepreneur and investor, brings a wealth of experience garnered from consulting with Fortune 500 companies and large government entities. He holds a Master's degree in Business Administration, specializing in Finance, Strategy, and Operations from Carnegie Mellon University, complemented by an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

In his role at mPark Partners, Michael has spearheaded the acquisition of eight manufactured housing communities across the United States. He has orchestrated the establishment of on-site management teams to manage these mobile home park communities and off-site teams to provide essential administrative support. Additionally, Michael oversees an affiliated mobile home dealership operating in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio.

In this episode, Andrew Keel and Michael O’Connor discuss Michael’s Mobile Home Park Investing journey.  Michael shares tips on the best ways to get educated on Mobile Home Park Investing and the asset class as a whole. He also discusses his due diligence checklist and how they do a deep dive into septic tank sewer systems before purchasing private sewer mobile home parks.

Join us on this episode as Michael O’Connor shares his valuable knowledge with us from his time in the Mobile Home Park Investing space.

***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 3,000 lots under management. His team currently manages over 40 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. Check out KeelTeam.com to learn more.

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.

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Would you like to see value-add 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

01:45 - Michael O’Connor’s early success from passively investing in Mobile Home Parks

04:52 - Getting educated: reading, jumping into podcasts, the Frank and Dave MHU Bootcamp

07:20 - The most important items on Michael O’Connor’s and mPark Partners Mobile Home Park Investing due diligence checklist

11:00 - Mobile Home Park Septic system due diligence specifics

13:05 - Rehabbing and maintaining the park owned mobile homes is the biggest thing

18:16 - Mobile Home park Value-add deals and Michael’s ideal conditions

21:26 - Dealing with troublesome contractors

23:20 - Mobile Home Park Management: remote and overseas workers, and roving on site managers

32:00 - Michael’s definition of a “nice market”

34:53 - One of the great perks about the Mobile Home Park investing market

37:20 - The worst things to do with a Mobile Home Park investment

44:27 - Reaching out to Michael O’Connor and mPark Partners LLC

44:50 - Mobile Home Parks CAN BE a very stable segment to invest in

45:30 - Conclusion

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Links & Mentions from This Episode:

MPark Partners: https://www.mparkpartners.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:

“If you're in a market that's charging $150 a month, I don't know if that's enough money for us to really pay our expenses and do very well.” - Michael O'Connor

“The one thing that's nice about this business is I could probably go away for a year and do nothing and come back and the business would be relatively intact.” - Michael O'Connor

“If you let the (Mobile Home Park) tenant base [become] such a low quality that people don't have jobs or have a reliable income (source), that could be a problem.” - Michael O'Connor

“We like to buy brand new homes (Mobile Homes). It's just so much more reliable. They're so much easier to infill than it is to manage and remodel projects.” - Michael O'Connor