As a mobile home park owner, you know the value of properly marketing your mobile home park to attract new residents and retain current ones. There are many ways to market your mobile home park, but some methods are more effective than others. This is The MHP Expert’s top 4 ways to market your mobile home park.
Sales Models
Make no mistake about it, it is very rare that a tenant is going to bring their current manufactured home into your park. Moving a home is often too costly for a tenant. So, most of the time they sell or vacate their previous home to go and find a new or used one already set up at a community. That being said, in most cases the park owner needs to have inventory on site for a would-be tenant to see. Whether you are selling or renting new or used homes, it is important to have a model home set up and furnished so tenants can get an idea of what they are moving into. Much like at apartment rental communities, or at a new single family home development, it is extremely beneficial to have the would-be tenant experience the home and imagine themselves living there.
We recommend you bring in a brand new home and put it on a vacant lot. This will become your sales model. As a sales model, this is available to tour at any time during operating business hours. These models are a great opportunity to interact with potential residents. They would simply come in and view the space and if interested then apply.
Referral Incentives
While we have mentioned many ways to attract residents to your park in previous blogs; two of our favorite ways are print ads (as mentioned in How to Attract New Residents to Your MHP) and resident referrals. One of the best ways to create a great community is through resident referrals. If you have vetted all of your tenants properly and they are good residents, their friends and families will usually be the same way. Renters that have their friends and family nearby, creates a happier, and a friendlier community. Never under-estimate the power of word-of-mouth marketing.
Resident referrals are a great way to get new renters in at a fast rate. Increase your chances with referral incentives if you can. By providing incentives, you are encouraging your residents to be invested in the success of the property which can lead to less turnover and save you time and money.
In today’s day and age, it feels like you can’t go anywhere without being on social media. While you may not think about it when marketing your mobile home park, some social media platforms can be used as an effective tool. We recommend sticking with Facebook. It does not have to be a very fancy Facebook page. Look at it as almost a second website. Create a page, take some nice pictures of your park and post occasionally. Facebook can be a great resource for attracting new residents. Having a resident Facebook page can allow for communication between your current residents. This creates an interactive space where current tenants can discuss issues or plan events. It sounds daunting, but social media can be a useful tool for your mobile home park.
Local Industry
Often, there are multiple factories or packaging plants nearby that have lower paying jobs and the employees often travel far to go to work. These underpaid commuters can be great tenants. Going to the human resource department for that employer and introducing your park as a housing alternatives for their employees can be a win/win for everyone.
Bonus: Application Friction & Tenant Screening
Okay, so we said Top 4, and this isn’t really a way to market for tenants, but it needs to be said. If the would-be tenant is ready to say yes, they will need to fill out an application for tenancy. It is imperative to make the application process as easy as possible so you can approve the tenant for residency. However, it is critical that you screen your tenants thoroughly. One bad apple can be costly on its own but worse it can spoil your good apples. To avoid this costly mistake we recommend using a tenant qualifying tool like RentButter.com. Oftentimes there can be a friction layer between a potential tenant wanting to move in and the application process. The moment they leave the park waiting for an approval they will keep looking at other parks until they get approved.
So it is in your immediate interest to approve them as fast as possible without foregoing the necessary background checks. Additionally, some renters will have credit scores that are lower, but still could be a good tenant. By using a platform like Rent Butter, a potential renter can simply scan their drivers license and grant access to their bank account, and 30 seconds later you know everything you would need to know about this potential tenant including credit score, debt, employment verification, criminal history, spending behavior, verify multiple income streams, etc. Rent Butter eliminates the long, tedious, multiple day process into just a couple seconds, helping you attract and approve renters WAY faster.
