Interview with Steve Case - an OG of MHP Investing

The Mobile Home Park Broker's Tips & Tricks To Investing

In this episode of The MHP Broker’s Tips and Tricks podcast, Maxwell Baker, president of The Mobile Home Park Broker, interviewed park owner Steve Case about his industry experience and involvement with SECO.

This and every Tips and Tricks podcast episode is brought to you by The MHP Broker’s’ proprietary Community Price Maximizer. Use this four-step system to get the highest price possible for your mobile home park or RV community when you sell it through The MHP Broker. Guaranteed. Ask Max for details.

Here Are the Show Highlights:

- Steve Case has conducted numerous mobile home park transactions, and was a co-founder of the innovative and highly influential Mobile Home University series of educational programs. (Max, 1:10)

- Steve started investing in mobile home parks while he was still an active-duty Air Force pilot planning his eventual retirement. In 1999 he became interested in the industry and started by networking with, and picking the brains of, legendary industry mentors Lonnie Scruggs and Lonnie Too. Steve bought his first park in 2000, after reading and studying Lonnie’s book on the topic, and later ran a few deals with Lonnie. (Steve, 1:54)

- Along with partner Corey Donaldson, Steve started Mobile Home Park University in 2004 as a prime industry educational resource. By the time he retired from the Air Force in 2006, Steve owned six or seven mobile home parks and about as many self-storage facilities, all of them in the Southeast. Through Mobile Home Park University, he brought in such industry heavy hitters as Lonnie, Dike Spottiford, Dave Reynolds and Frank Rolf to speak. They also ran boot camps for more in-depth industry training. (Dave, 2:50)

- By 2008, Steve’s commitments to a growing family led to him taking a backseat in the educational program. Eventually, he and Corey sold mobilehomeuniversity.com to Frank Rolf and Dave Reynolds. (Steve, 3:50)

- In potentially running deals with their students, Frank and Dave run the program a little differently than Steve and his partner had, but it’s just as informative and innovative. (Steve, 4:27)

- One of the first things Max did after becoming a mobile home park broker was to take Frank and Dave’s home study course. He found it to be very valuable. (Max, 5:22)

- More recently, Steve was also a co-founder of the Southeast Community Owners (SECO), a very influential industry association and annual trade show to this day. The specific audience for SECO includes mom-and-pop mobile home park owners, rather than big corporate entities. SECO is a non-profit, and virtually every penny is raises goes to help support U.S. military veterans who are park residents in financial need. (Max, 6:16)

- Steve had met Spencer Rohn, a fellow board member, when asked to join the board of the Georgia Manufactured Housing Association. He and Spencer discussed the need for establishing an organization that would address the education and networking needs of those who owned parks, as well as those who were considering buying or selling parks, or were otherwise interested in joining or growing their place in the industry. They founded SECO in around 2008, initially with as few as eight or ten participants, and it’s steadily grown since as an important annual event. (Steve, 7:11)

- Today, the name is misleading since the organization isn’t exclusive to community owners in the Southeast U.S. anymore. They come from all over the country. In addition to park owners, attendees have included manufacturers, brokers, vendors and others even peripherally connected to the industry. While Steve went largely inactive by around 2018, Spencer asked him to take on the educational element of the program this year. In response, Steve put together a program of twelve educational sessions with park operators. (Steve, 8:03)

- Speakers involved with this year’s program, which will take place September 10-13 in Atlanta, include Ben Braband, Cole Phillips and Jefferson Lilly, among others. Whether you’re a rookie or have been in the industry for years, there’s something for all. One of the popular topics, for instance, is the importance of due diligence and how to do it right. (Steve, 9:08)

- There will also be a series of round-tables which might include 700 to 800 participants this year. There will be two industry-expert hosts at each table, and participants can ask questions and get answers directly from the pros. (Steve, 10:04)

- In addition to being a great networking and granular educational resource, SECO performs a valuable service to military vets in need. That’s a no-brainers since so many of the people in the industry and involved with SECO are themselves military vets. That includes Max (U.S. Marines), Steve (U.S. Air Force), Dave Reynolds (Army), and Spencer Rohn (Navy), among others. (Max, 13:06)

- A recent example of where SECO donations went is a vet in need of air conditioning in his home who wa helped through the referral of park owner David Roden. This year, since the event will take place over 9/11, the speakers will include two high-ranking military officers who are now involved in the industry. These are retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann, and retired Marine Major Scott Using. Both have written highly respected books on the industry. (Steve, 13:30)

- Scott Mann is routinely on Fox News and he spearheaded Operation Pineapple Express, which got people out of Afghanistan before it fell. (Steve, 14:45)

- There will be no selling during the course of SECO. That’s not its purpose. (Steve, 15:18)

- This lack of promotion is what makes this show different than entrepreneurial events led by the likes of Tony Robbins,and Grant Carbone. While those shows are great in their own way, the ultimate purpose is to upsell additional information or activities. That’s not how SECO operates. (Max, 15:34)

- While it might be too late to attend this year’s show (unless you happen to live in or near Atlanta), you can join SECO at any time so you can be sure you’re in attendance next year and beyond. Just go to the website at secoconference.com to learn more and to join. (Steve, 19:45)

- You can also reach out directly to Max and he’ll tell you how to join SECO and answer all of your questions. (Max, 20:12)

Thinking of joining SECO? You should be if you’re currently involved in the mobile home industry in any way, or plan to be. You can call Max atThe Mobile Home Park Broker, learn more about SECO and our innovative Community Price Maximizer platform to optimize your park value and sale price. Just drop Max Baker a line at [e-mail] or give him a call at [phone].

Power Quotes in This Episode:

(About Mobile Home University) “And we just had a blast teaching people about the industry that were new to it, maybe coming from the multifamily or office space, and we did a few boot camps along the way and it was a great time.” (Steve, 2:50)

“...that was the very first thing I did when I jumped into mobile home park brokerage. I bought (new Mobile Home University owners) Frank and Dave's home study course. I mean, it's a great course, man, and if they were able to absorb the stuff that you were doing and during that time, man, the course has been pretty amazing over the years, and it's gotten better and better.” (Max, 5:22)

“We came up with an idea, Spencer, myself and another operator up in the northern part of Georgia, to get together just for a day, get as many community owners as we could to get together and talk about how we could help each other out with different tips, techniques, things that we were experiencing. I think at that first meeting there was eight or ten of us. I think it was in 2007, it could have been 2008. After that we did this annual thing that kept growing and growing.” (Steve, 7:11)

“Spencer has done a phenomenal job in expounding upon it, bringing in manufacturers, bringing in vendors like yourself, the brokers, the different lenders, service agencies, those sorts of things, putting them all into what we call a convention.” (Steve, 8:30)

“So I think this year is going to be the best educational platform we've ever had.” (Steve, 10:04)