Mobile Homes, The Next Airbnb Model: Imagine you want to visit West Virginia, and just see the mountains. The closest hotel is miles away and has a poor rating. However, there is an Airbnb available. This Airbnb allows you to stay in mobile home, not exactly a trailer, but looks a lot more attractive. It has decent space, it’s well equipped with gorgeous furniture, the bathrooms are amazing as well as the kitchen. Best of all, the view from the outside gives you what you always dreamed of! In places like West Virginia you get to see the great mountains, go hiking with your family and go camping.
Location
The location of the mobile home must be one of the main drivers. Ask yourself before making the large investment, would YOU want to stay at this spot for a few days? Is it in the middle of nowhere with nothing to appease the digital nomad?
Digital Nomads need a good selling point to want to lease your mobile home temporarily. What is around the area? Is it close to a great mountain view? Is it down the street from a famous cave? It is an entrance to a great hike? Will they be able to go camping or fishing in this area? These are all key drivers.
If this area is more than an hour or two from any local shopping centers, Airbnb tenants or ‘digital nomads’, may not feel comfortable in leasing this space.
Utilities
Before you purchase the land, you have to do your due diligence and see if it’s possible to get electricity set up as well as water and gas. Depending on the zoning and how the land is set up, it may not be possible to setup utilities. If the land is in a flood zone, the county may not allow you to do much with the property. You always have to do your homework. After you go under contract, you’re also granted a feasibility period. If your realtor does not do his or her due diligence while purchasing the land during the feasibility period, they aren’t doing a good job.
Another test that is usually done is the soil test. The soil test will tell you if the property has any environmental concerns.
Without utilities, there is no way you will be able to lease it to Airbnb tenants. By having the appropriate utilities, tenants can have a place to sleep while going hiking. In this digital age, you also want to be able to have Wi-Fi access. If the surrounding areas do not pick up great Wi-Fi or don’t have excellent cell phone reception, this can also be a weakness.
Outliers
What makes your Mobile home and your spot an outlier? Why should Airbnb tenants or Digital Nomads spend hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars to stay there for a week or two?
Here are some key factors that can make it stand out:
- Altitude Levels. If you own a piece of property that has great views of the surrounding areas this is it. This will help upsell your Airbnb rate and attract many more tenants.
- Weather Factors: Is the land and mobile home in a humid area where tenants must deal with ridiculous heat? Or can they experience Los Angeles weather with no humidity year-round
- Nearby Attractions: Are there any casinos schools, or any major events happening within a 30-mile radius? Believe it or not, a good number of tourists would rather stay in a mobile home at a cheaper rate rather than go to the closest hotel to the attraction.
- Cost: The amount to buy a mobile home in comparison to normal residential properties is not even comparable. You can save hundreds of thousands of dollars investing in mobile homes and leasing on Airbnb instead of purchasing a single-family house.
Prefabricated Houses
Another new trend is purchasing prefabricated houses. They are a bit smaller and pricier, but digital nomads always prefer quality over quantity, any day! By having a prefabricated house, it’s Airbnb-ready Imagine you have a 5-acre lot and it can hold tons of these pre-fabricated houses. Albeit they’re mobile homes, you would be building a great community.
Elon Musk has lived in one of the prefabricated houses and has gone as far as throwing birthday parties in some of these houses.
Overall Budget Flow
Let’s say you purchase a piece of land for $20,000. Then purchase two mobile homes for $40,000 each, bringing the total to $100,000.
Each house brings an average of $1,400 per month just by Airbnb income. That has the total for the year between the two properties at $34,000. Within three years, you will already have gained back the Return on your Investment.
Before ever investing in mobile homes using the Airbnb method, there are some key things that investors must look at:
- Traffic Rate: How many tourists visit the general area? Is it worth an Airbnb Investment?
- Overall Expenses: How much do you have to pay monthly, semi-annually, or annually? What’s your overall budget? Can you expect to generate enough in revenues to cover these expenses and make all of the Investment back within an expected set time?
- Long-Term Returns: Even if something may seem great for the short term, how are things looking in the long term? Weather always impacts real estate investments and insurance policies are influenced by that.
Mobile homes are a new trend on Airbnb. If you do the proper due diligence and generate great reviews, you can easily have a great set of mobile homes that can generate monthly cash flow for you.
