Mobile Home Parks 101.ORG
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Private utilities and Municipal Utilities when considering Mobile Home parks for sale. When purchasing a mobile home community there are advantages and disadvantages to both Private utilities and Municipal Utilities when it comes to drinking water and dealing with waste. First lets talk about the facts of life here. Mobile Home Parks for sale which have city water and city sewer are in higher demand than a community which operates on private utilities such as a well water system to supply water and a septic system or sewage treatment plant to handle the communities waste. There is more risk in the private systems because laws continually change to insure public safety. For example the part per billion of arsenic found in drinking water at one point in time, was 50 parts per billion. In the united states the level has been lowered to 20 parts per billion (PPB) Arsenic in drinking water. It was lowered again to 10 parts per billion and is anticipated to go lower as the time that this article has been written Canada has reduced their acceptable levels of arsenic in drinking water to 5 PPB. This is simply something you will not have to worry yourself with if you consider a mobile home park for sale with city water. There are other issues to consider as well. As a Management company who operates both types of communities, we see the ups and downs of operating the two different types of communities. Coli form bacteria, and water pressure are other issues to consider. The big bonus for the private water systems in parks has been the lower rates to operate these systems. Even when you consider a certified well operator and the vicissitudes of having a private well water system which serves the public, the costs associated with supplying water is far less than city water costs as public water costs are on the rise everywhere. Individual meters are used to pass the expense of rising water rates on to the tenants. This is fine as it is one less expense the community incurs however, if you have a community with well water next door to an identical community with city water and individual meters, the community with well water can typically charge less for lot rent and be just as profitable or more profitable as the tenant and the park owner win in terms of monthly cost savings. With city water you never have to worry about firm capacity pressure in your wells. You never have to worry about pumps that don't work in bad weather. With city water you never have to worry about well running dry or deteriorating to the point where the force themselves out of compliance. Communities have been closed down due to poor water quality and this is and can be a reality.
Lets talk about private waste systems. Septic systems and Sewer Treatment Plants do a wonderful job at naturally treating waste and there is nothing wrong with buying a mobile home park for sale with private waste systems. The same applies however for these private waste systems. they require certified operators and can break down like anything else. The average life of a septic field is 20 years. When you have alternating fields you can increase the life time substantially if operated properly. Keep in mind again, with city sewers you need no certified operator, you have no concern of field failure or any problems with systems backing up in heavy rains and down pours. The cost of city sewers is also on the rise and is almost always a much larger cost than city water. Going back to the first time buyer or the passive investor and the less risk coupled with the higher demand type property we are back in the same boat. the safer bet is with the city utilities the majority of the time.
There are some cases where municipalities have imposed excruciating fees onto the end user in the form of a special user tax or other named fee. This is passed on the to community in the form of an actual tax assessment and sometimes this fee is imposed to each individual unit as a base flat fee which is assessed up and above the normal or standard base fee and the usage fees that apply. This has made numbers go sideways in many mobile home parks for sale deals. When considering due diligence understanding the age and condition of the city's public water supply system and the waste water system is just as important in the due diligence stage of purchasing a community as is all other aspects of that inspection period of the offer to purchase. In the end public systems are the preference of the majority and private systems are a careful consideration.
We hope you have a better understanding when it comes to mobile home parks for sale and considering Private Utilities VS Municipal Utilities.
Should you have any questions about this site or any site within the Gorial Realty Family of web sites feel free to call upon us for answers.
-Samer N. Gorial, and John P. Gorial of Gorial Realty LLC (866) 66 PARKS