THE BIG PICTURE
INVESTING STRATEGIES
At the time, the Days On Market (DOM) was longer than 90 days, with an increasing inventory and some drops in the appreciation rate for entry-level houses. The unemployment rate was low, as there had been a couple years’ build- up for hosting the Olympics. But I knew joblessness was going to increase due to the inevitable loss of jobs post-Olympics. I was terrified to think of getting into a property for $200,000, only to see the market shifting before I could get it rehabbed and back on the market. Plus, I wanted more than an 8 percent return, but the rentals in the same area were just offering that amount. I wanted a low-cost investment with a high cash-on-cash return that would generate a nice ongoing income. For me,
IN REAL-LIFE REAL ESTATE INVESTING, IT IS ABOUT WHETHER YOU WIN OR LOSE.
Playing toWin with Mobile Homes
by Dawn Erling
ave you ever played Monopoly and through well-played strategy ended up with expensive, money-making properties? Did you always win the game when you played? I will admit to being competitive when I play games. And I will admit that many of our ideas as adults are proba- bly shaped by childhood games. Yet the properties in which I now invest as an adult are the kind you’ll never see on a Monopoly game board. Who would choose “Trailer Park Way” when you have the option of “Park Place”? It would be nice if someone just handed me cash and said, “Invest this in real es- H
tate for me, please, and keep all the mon- ey and profit for yourself.” In a game, this can happen, but in real life, it does not. Still, that doesn’t mean I can’t win the game. It simply calls for some creativity in your thinking and in your investing. Having taught aspiring real estate in- vestors for more than 14 years, I am often asked, "How did you get started investing in mobile homes?" For me, it was a necessity. When I started investing, the real es- tate market was volatile. I could tell that the local market would change quite a bit in the six months as the 2002 Olympic build-up in Utah finally subsided. (Guess what? I was right!)
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Dawn Erling has been in the real estate industry for 20-plus years, investing in mobile homes for more than 10 years. She is a nationwide professional speaker
and trainer and co-founder of SellThisMobileHome. com, which offers a variety of training programs and tools for anyone interested in investing in mobile homes on leased land, purchased land or entire mobile home parks. For more details, go to www. sellthismobilehome.com/premium.
24 | think realty magazine | may :: june 2016
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