Interview with Steven Blank of Blank Family Communities

Welcome back to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, hosted by Andrew Keel. On this episode of the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, Andrew talks with Steven Blank of Blank Family Communities. Steven shares his perspective on the future of the mobile home park industry, and the lessons he has learned through growing up in the mobile home park industry. Steven and Andrew have a great discussion on mobile home parks and how to be successful as a passive investor in the space.

Steven started in the mobile home park industry at the age of 15, working on a maintenance crew at Franklin Companies. In 2011, Steven stepped into the corporate side and learned the ins and outs of the mobile home park industry from his family’s mobile home park portfolio. He then proceeded to help grow two of the fastest growing MHP operators in the country and was involved in over 80 mobile home communities’ acquisitions and sales. He founded Blank Family Communities in 2019.

***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 2,000 lots under management. His team currently manages over 30 manufactured housing communities across more than ten 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.

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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Talking Points:

00:21 - Welcome to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast 01:21 - Steven’s story 03:43 - The toughest hurdle 05:24 - Managing the infill process 07:25 - Finding Grade-A quality, insured vendors 08:20 - Sourcing new homes 10:41 - Third-party property management for mobile home parks 12:30 - Community size 13:38 - Things that give third parties a bad rep 18:59 - The most important things passive investors need to look out for 22:04 - “[MHP] isn’t recession proof.” 24:22 - Some of the bigger mistakes Steven has seen 26:02 - The future of the MHP business 29:15 - Blank Family Communities 30:35 - One last tip 31:31 - Conclusion

Links & Mentions from This Episode:

Blank Family Communities: https://blankfamilycommunities.com/ Steven Blank, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-blank-66b4a674/ 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:

“The issue that I came into contact with that I think a lot of people do, especially as they're growing their portfolio is, you see a deal that makes sense on its own, so therefore, you want to pursue it.” - Steven Blank 

“Ordering the right house for your market is key because if I over-order a house that the market's not going to support, it's not going to be a profitable venture for me.” - Steven Blank

“We're sourcing more used homes than we used to. Finding just a transport company is extremely difficult because they can still get work wherever they want.” - Steven Blank

“Understand that the business model that you're investing in and then understanding that some of the things that MH is being hailed as are really not true.” - Steven Blank

“When an economy suffers, our tenants suffer first.” - Steven Blank