Building a Wisconsin Mobile Home Park Portfolio With Dustin Wiskes

Join host Andrew Keel in this episode of The Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast as he interviews special guest Dustin Wiskes, a full-time engineer and accomplished mobile home park investor in the state of Wisconsin.

Dustin Wiskes began his real estate journey in 2021 with a value-add, 28-space mobile home park in western Wisconsin. Just four years later, he now owns 9 mobile home communities with a total of approximately 275 pads, all located in Wisconsin.

Dustin Wiskes shares his inspiring mobile home park investing story of starting small and scaling up while balancing the demands of a full-time career. From navigating his first mobile home park deal to overcoming challenges like mobile home park utility infrastructure issues and market evaluation, Dustin Wiskes offers invaluable insights for investors at every stage of their journey.

Key Topics Covered in This Episode:

• Dustin Wikes’ First Deal: Lessons learned from purchasing and managing a value-add mobile home park.
• The Importance of Due Diligence: How proper research can prevent costly mistakes.
• Submetered Mobile Home Parks: The advantages and potential challenges of submetering water and sewer.
• Balancing a Full-Time Career and Real Estate: Tips for managing nine mobile home parks while working as an engineer.
• Public Utilities vs. Septic Systems: Insights into infrastructure decisions and their impact on mobile home park operations.
• Market Research: Evaluating Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) to identify lucrative opportunities.
• Scaling a Portfolio: Strategies for growing your mobile home park investments while maintaining work-life balance.
• Building Trust with General Partners (GPs): Establishing successful partnerships in real estate.
• Overcoming Mobile Home Park Utility Infrastructure Challenges: Real-world examples of dealing with outdated systems and unengaged owners.

Whether you’re a seasoned mobile home park investor or just beginning to explore passive real estate investing, this episode is filled with actionable strategies and valuable lessons to help you grow your portfolio and achieve financial freedom.

Andrew Keel is the owner of Keel Team, LLC, a Top 50 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.

Are you getting value out of this show? If so, please head over to iTunes and leave the show a quick review. I have a goal of hitting over 500 total 5-star reviews, and it would mean the absolute world to me if you could help contribute to that. Thanks ahead of time for making my day with your review of the show.

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

04:00 - Dustin’s first mobile home park: lessons learned and key takeaways

08:00 - The importance of thorough mobile home park due diligence

10:45 - Advantages and challenges of submetered water and sewer in mobile home parks

13:30 - Managing nine mobile home parks while working full-time (feat. RentButter insights)

18:20 - Public utilities vs. septic tanks: what to know

20:00 - Acquiring used homes for mobile home parks

24:00 - Market research and evaluating bad infrastructure in mobile home parks

33:00 - Trusting and partnering with GP’s

37:00 - Managing the ups and downs of owning multiple mobile home parks

45:22 - Out-of-touch mobile home park owners: handling common challenges

47:00 -  Researching MSAs and their importance

50:00 - Scaling your mobile home park portfolio while maintaining work-life balance

56:07 - How to connect with Dustin Wiskes

57:00 - Closing thoughts

SUBSCRIBE TO PASSIVE MOBILE HOME PARK INVESTING PODCAST YOUTUBE CHANNEL https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy9uI3KGQmFgABsr9lUtRTQ

Links & Mentions from This Episode:

Dustin Wiskes’ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dustinwiskes/

RentButter: https://www.rentbutter.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:

“I didn’t go through the due diligence handbook probably as well as I should have. I mean, I tried to do the main ones…And hindsight, I probably should have got a more proper survey done.” - Dustin Wiskes

“Clearly markets matter.” - Dustin Wiskes

“Other than the market, I would be wary of really bad (mobile home park) infrastructure.” - Dustin Wiskes

“That’d be fun if you want to go down a dirty (mobile home park) sewer line. Who doesn’t want to do that?” - Andrew Keel