Some deals just stick with you.
Two years ago, I was hunting hard for a park that checked all the boxes—location, potential, and a story worth turning around. Bayshore hit my radar back then. I was on a road trip through the region, meeting with sellers, shaking hands, trying to source opportunities the old-fashioned way.
One seller I visited took a liking to me and said, “You really want a park to buy? Come with me—I’ll show you one.” We drove a few minutes and pulled into none other than Bayshore.
Wild, right? I remember driving through it thinking, I love this. I want to own this and turn it around.
Turns out, he knew the owner. He wouldn’t give me her contact info, but told me, “It needs work. Might be up your alley.” So I left that day without a phone number and tried to back into her contact info through Google and networking. No luck.
Still, I never forgot about it. I kept Bayshore top of mind for two years.
Then in early 2024, a wholesaler put the deal on my desk. I recognized it instantly. They were kind enough to let me work directly with the seller, with a pre-agreed wholesaler fee built in.
When I finally got her on the phone, she was hesitant. There were multiple calls just trying to build credibility—until I mentioned I knew the other Park Owner. That one relationship was the final push. She said, “If you know him, you must be okay.”
Just like that, two years of chasing turned into a verbal agreement.
But the chase wasn’t over.
We spent almost five months going back and forth on contract terms. Weeks of silence, then flurries of redlines and corrections, then silence again. It was nerve-racking. I was so close to locking in a great deal for our Capital Partner Network.
Then finally, as the holiday season approached, we executed the deal at $1,900,000.
I wired the EMD so fast, I hadn’t seen money leave my account that quickly since I bought my first car.
The Worst Park in the Nicest Area
Let’s talk location. Bayshore sits on lakefront land, tucked into a cove, surrounded by stick-built homes ranging from $300,000 to $500,000. This isn’t your typical rural park on the edge of nowhere—this is a rough park in a prime area.
It’s got a reputation, sure—but that’s exactly why I wanted it. The homes are old and tired, no enforcement of curb appeal. It is hard to force curb appeal on homes you don’t own. As a result, the image today is low-income, low-budget housing with issues. The vision? High-quality, affordable housing for people who want to live near the lake in a clean, safe, professionally managed community.
Why I Moved Fast
I already own two other parks within 30 minutes of Bayshore. That means I can cross-utilize my crew—same rehab teams, same systems, same management. No learning curve, no out-of-town guesswork. This one fits in perfectly with the machine we already built.
The park has some extras too:
- A commercial building with an office
- A storage unit
- Three apartments upstairs
- And again—lake frontage. On a cove.
- Majority of Homes were either Tenant Owned or on a Rent-To-Own Plan, which made it very desirable.
The foundation was there. It just needed someone to move on it.
The Due Diligence
Our contracts are always detailed—we lay out exactly what we expect from the seller. To my surprise, she had just about everything to me within the first week. Nothing over the phone was exaggerated. Her numbers matched the pitch, which is rare in this business.
I spent the next couple of weeks digging through it all while scheduling our on-site inspections. The only catch? She didn’t want anyone knowing the park was for sale.
So I went in as “the insurance inspector.” Not my first rodeo.
We visited the park a few days before Thanksgiving, right as the Arkansas weather turned cold and crisp. It was the perfect time to see the park for what it really was—no lush summertime foliage, no fluff. Just the bare bones. I wanted to see the leaves and pine needles all over the place and get a real sense of what I’d be working with.
I hitched up the RV and stayed for close to a week. The park next door had RV hookups, so I parked there—just a stone’s throw away. That gave me the chance to scout Bayshore during the day, but also at night and early in the morning. I wanted to see how well it was lit. Listen for dogs barking. Catch any late-night parties. See who was really living there and how they operated when no one was watching.
And honestly? We found exactly what we expected.
A few units listed as occupied were vacant again. Some “vacants” were really just tear-downs. But overall, it was the same park I remembered from two years ago. No surprises.
The real bright spot? The commercial building. She had just redone the roof, installed new siding, and paved the entire parking lot. That thing got a facelift. It could easily serve as an on-site office or be leased out to a small business. I liked the flexibility that gave us.
The Business Plan (And Why It’s Simpler Than Most)
Here’s what we’re walking into:
- 73 total lots
- 62 occupied
- 19 vacant homes
- 11 vacant lots (4 need demo = 15 homes total to fill)
- 43 occupied homes (22 RTO, 21 TOH)
This isn’t some “50% vacant lot park with unknown infrastructure” type of play. The systems are already working. The roads are in good shape. Water/sewer is city, and has updated PVC lines.
What it needs is:
- Rehabbed homes- a quick way to turn around and increase revenue.
- Smart leasing and better RTO contracts- flexibility to restructure RTO contracts with buyouts , shorter terms and buy downs.
- New rules, increase curb appeal to warrant higher rents from incoming residents.
- Market-aligned rents, slowly raise rents on existing tenants while going to market on the vacant homes.
- Rebranding and professional management
It’s heavy on administrative cleanup and tenant quality improvement, not a major construction or development lift. That’s where we thrive.
The Numbers That Made It Worth It
Current rent collection including utility bill back: ~$23,000/month
Projected stabilized revenue: ~$63,000/month
Lot rents today average around $335, but comps in the area show $450+ is achievable.
RTO payments and home rents today? $500–$750, but the market is at $700–$950.
This isn’t theoretical upside. It’s measurable, achievable, and already in motion.
📈 Revenue Growth Plan
Year 1:
- Rehab 5 vacant homes
- Demo 4 units, prep lots
- Remove non-conforming residents
- Restructure RTO agreements & offer buy-outs
- Lease-up + start rent increases
- Begin marketing and rebranding
- Install signage, clean up community image
Year 2–5:
- Complete remaining home rehabs
- Hire Community Manager
- Fill remaining vacant lots
- Increase bill back for services, i.e. water,sewer, trash, lawn.
- Normalize all lease agreements as they come due
- Continue rent raise and lease up strategy
The timeline is clean, the execution is straightforward, and the crews are already in place from our nearby parks.
The Raise
When buying a park like this, we prefer to syndicate it. That means we’ll be raising capital to cover both the down payment and the capital improvement budget.
We’re purchasing the property for $1.9 million, but with approximately a $500k deposit, capital improvement reserve, plus a healthy operating reserve, closing costs, and fees to pay the brokers and wholesalers involved, the total raise is roughly $2 million.
All-in, this brings the total capitalization to $3.275 million.
The targeted end valuation—based on stabilized lot rent and park-owned home value—is projected to land just north of $7 million in a 5 year time table.
We like the syndication model because it gives each of our Capital Partners the opportunity to decide deal by deal whether they like the structure and return profile. They can match each opportunity to their own risk tolerance and timeline.
It also gives the Partners more control over where their money is going, and more transparent reporting on that specific deal’s performance—compared to when capital is pooled across multiple communities inside a fund.
💰 Return Profile (Deal-Level)
- Annual CoC returns average 12.57% pre-split
- 2.14x Deal Equity Multiple
- 22% Deal AAR
- After investor pref + GP catch-up, limited partners are projected to receive:
- 7–9% average cash-on-cash during the hold
- 17% Deal AAR
- 14–17% IRR over 5 years
- 1.87x Deal equity multiple
- Full capital return through a Year 5 refinance
- Ongoing 50/50 distributions after refi
This deal is structured with three tiers of preferred return:
- A-1: 7% for investments under $100k
- A-2: 8% for investments between $100-$300k
- A-3: 9% for investments over $300k
Equity is split 70/30 until the refinance. After that, it moves to 50/50. And of course, investors get paid first.
The Long View
The goal here is simple: turn the worst park in a high-end area into a clean, quiet, well-run affordable community. Fix the tenant base. Improve the homes. Increase pride of ownership. And create a community that matches the lakefront neighborhood it sits in.
This is the kind of project we can point back to in a few years and say: “We told you what we’d do—and we did it.”
Let’s see how it plays out.
LOCK N’ LOAD
-The MHP Operator
Disclaimer:
This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Any investment opportunity will be made only through official offering documents provided by Realovative Asset Management LLC in accordance with applicable securities laws.I’m not a financial advisor, CPA, or attorney. Everything shared here is based on my personal experience and opinions. You should always do your own due diligence and speak with licensed professionals before making any investment decisions
