The Mobile Home Park
A mobile-home park is the rare real-estate asset where you own the land and rent the dirt, while the tenants own their own homes. That land-lease structure is why turnover and operating costs are low and the NOI margin is high. You are not a building landlord; you are the owner of the ground beneath a neighborhood of homes that almost never move.
Read the launch plan: every step from deciding to opening, free →The Snapshot
Is this worth your attention?
Cited sources Typical bands for this kind of business, compiled from the public sources listed under Sources and method; they are a synthesis, not figures copied from any one source. Estimates, not forecasts; a specific business varies with its location, lease, equipment and owner. Last reviewed 2026-10-27. smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice.
A fit if you...
- Think like an investor in NOI, cap rates, and value creation
- Want a low-labor, semi-absentee real-estate cash flow
- Can underwrite a site, its utilities, and a lease-up or infill plan
- Have or can finance significant capital
- Are patient enough to raise below-market lot rents over years, not weeks
Probably not if you...
- Need a low-capital start or fast cash flow
- Want a hands-on operating business with daily customers
- Cannot stomach a private water or sewer system you now own
- Read the high NOI margin as net profit and ignore the mortgage
Step Inside the Layout
A live look at one tool inside
This is the actual 3D floor from the full model. Drag to explore it. Inside, you configure the space yourself and watch the economics move with every choice.
Sources and method10 public sources, with the year and a link where the source gives one. The benchmark bands are smbnest's synthesis of these sources, not figures copied from them.
Sources & Method
Figures are compiled from the public sources below; the bands are a synthesis of them, not copies
How these numbers were built: the NOI margin and the expense ratio come from a 2026 county assessor income model for parks (Kitsap County, Washington) and lender underwriting guidance for stabilized parks; lot rent, occupancy, price per site and cap rates come from Northmarq’s 2025 manufactured housing market data; loan terms come from Fannie Mae’s manufactured housing term sheet; management wages come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (SOC 11-9141); establishment counts come from the Census Bureau (NAICS 531190); and the opening kit is priced line by line from current fee schedules, cost guides and dealer pages. The margin in the model is NOI: lot rent minus operating costs, including a paid manager, before the loan and before your own pay. Your plan takes the loan payment out of NOI separately, so the high margin is never read as profit after the mortgage. These are starting assumptions; the moment you enter a real park’s lot rent, pad count, occupancy, and expenses, your numbers should replace ours. Figures are current as of 2025 to 2026 and refreshed as the sources update.
The NOI margin band and the expense ratio come from a 2026 county assessor income model for parks (expenses of 35% to 40% of income) and lender guidance that normalizes stabilized parks at 35% to 45%; occupancy, lot rent and cap rates come from Northmarq’s 2025 park market data and lender guidance. The default park (90 pads at $420 lot rent) is a smaller, lower-rent park than the larger communities in national surveys, which average about $772 a month.
This is just the surface
The full model is the complete, interactive deep-dive, and every business here is built to the same standard: a live economics simulator you tune to your own numbers, an interactive 3D walkthrough, a location scorecard, an owner-fit assessment, a buy-versus-build comparison, and the full breakdown of how it makes money and what quietly kills margin.
then $29 a month
Time to choose and start, then month to month.
$99 today for your first 3 months, then $29 a month until you cancel.
about $17 a month
The best price: a year to decide, open and run it.
$199 today, then $199 each year until you cancel.
Renews until you cancel. Cancel any time from your account; you keep access to the end of the period you paid for, and your saved plans stay in your account. What membership opens
smbnest is a self-assessment tool. It does not give individualized financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Figures are estimates and benchmarks, not forecasts. Speak with a qualified financial adviser and a licensed attorney before you start, buy, finance or sign anything.