Interview with Steve Edel & Justin Gonzales from Due Diligence Partners

Passive Mobile Home Park Investing

Welcome back to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, hosted by Andrew Keel. In this episode of the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast our host Andrew Keel interviews Steve Edel and Justin Gonzales from Due Diligence Partners.

Due diligence plays a pivotal role in every mobile home park acquisition, whether you're on the buying side or selling side, of a trailer park investing transaction. However, navigating this process can often feel overwhelming, with numerous boxes to check and paperwork to organize before making a final decision. Fortunately, this is where Justin Gonzales and Steve Edel step in from DueDiligencePartners.com.

As the founders of Due Diligence Partners, Justin and Steve, offer a comprehensive national due diligence service tailored specifically for manufactured housing communities. Managing partner Justin Gonzales, a Navy veteran, entrepreneur and an active real estate investor with over 14 years of experience, has overseen well over a hundred mobile home park due diligence acquisitions. His partner Steve Edel, transitioned from the information technology (IT) field to become an active investor in the mobile home park asset class. Together, they recognized a critical gap in the mobile home park investment industry: the lack of proper and professional due diligence services.

In this episode, Andrew Keel sits down with Justin Gonzales and Steve Edel to dive into the complexities of evaluating and completing due diligence on mobile home parks. They explore key questions investors should pose to general partners (GPs) before committing capital to a mobile home park syndication, they dive into essential due diligence documentation that should be required, they outline the minimum requirements for a thorough mobile home park due diligence process, and they shed light on the costly mistakes often made by mobile home park operators during due diligence.

Join the conversation as Justin Gonzales and Steve Edel (also known as Stathis Edel on LinkedIn) from Due Diligence Partners share their extensive knowledge and recount some eye-opening due diligence anecdotes, offering invaluable insights into this essential aspect of mobile home park investing.

***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 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.

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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

02:05 - Two different worlds: Steve Edel’s transition from IT to the mobile home park asset class

05:18 - Getting over “analysis paralysis” in 2009

07:32 - Steve’s mobile home park portfolio

08:20 - Justin Gonzales’ “yadda, yadda” (journey into mobile home park investing)

10:52 - What Due Diligence Partners can do for your mobile home park due diligence

16:00 - The difficulty of due diligence experienced in Mobile Home Parks

18:50 - Mobile Home Park due diligence eye opening stories

28:35 - The top questions they would ask a GP(General Partner) before investing with them in a mobile home park fund or syndication

35:30 - Essential mobile home park due diligence documents needed

39:31 - What Justin Gonzales and Steve Edel consider the bare minimum for mobile home park due diligence documentation from a seller

45:45 - The most costly items that mobile home park operators omit when performing due diligence

50:00 - What Justin and Steve consider in a perfect mobile home park

53:15 - Getting in touch with Steve Edel and Justin Gonzales

53:22 - Figuring out what your definition of “passive” mobile home park investing is

54:39 - Conclusion to mobile home park investing due diligence

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Links & Mentions from This Episode:

Due Diligence Partners: https://www.duediligencepartners.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:

“We were very apprehensive about our first (mobile home park) deal. Not having a freaking clue that it was a fantastic deal. At that time, I didn't have the ability to easily look ahead and say, ‘Of course, this is a guaranteed slam dunk.’” - Steve Edel

“It does take hard work, but it is attainable.” - Justin Gonzales

“If you don’t know what to ask, it just doesn’t happen.” - Steve Edel, about due diligence on mobile home parks

“Your infrastructure is half of the value of the property.” - Steve Edel