How Derek Vickers Built a Value Add Manufactured Housing Fund
In this episode of Lifetime Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing, Derek Vickers shares how he scaled from single deals into building a focused value add manufactured housing fund targeting high growth Sun Belt markets. For high income professionals and experienced investors looking to diversify beyond traditional multifamily apartments, this conversation offers a clear roadmap for entering a niche asset class with strong cash flow characteristics and long term demand drivers.
Derek explains why manufactured housing communities present a compelling opportunity in today’s market cycle. With affordable housing in critically short supply and development barriers limiting new inventory, existing communities offer durable demand. By acquiring underperforming or mismanaged parks and implementing structured operational improvements, his team drives net operating income growth while maintaining affordability for residents.
The Mechanics of a Value Add Manufactured Housing Fund
A central theme of the discussion is how a value add manufactured housing fund creates scale and efficiency for both operators and investors. Rather than raising capital deal by deal, the fund model allows sponsors to:
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Move quickly on acquisitions in competitive markets
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Diversify investor capital across multiple communities
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Implement consistent asset management systems
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Negotiate better financing and vendor terms through scale
Derek emphasizes disciplined underwriting, conservative rent projections, and infrastructure assessments as critical components of risk mitigation. He also highlights the importance of aligning incentives with investors through meaningful co investment and transparent reporting.
Why Manufactured Housing Appeals to Wealthy Professionals
For business owners and high earning professionals, a value add manufactured housing fund can offer predictable cash flow, tax advantages, and exposure to a resilient segment of the housing market. Derek outlines how long term tenant stability, lower turnover compared to traditional apartments, and limited new supply create favorable operating dynamics.
He also discusses capital raising best practices, including building investor trust through education, consistent communication, and a clearly defined business plan. In a higher interest rate environment, clarity around debt structure, expense controls, and exit strategies becomes even more important.
Lessons in Scaling and Fund Management
Beyond the asset class itself, Derek shares insights into leadership, team building, and operational systems required to manage a growing portfolio. He stresses that scaling a value add manufactured housing fund is not just about acquisitions but about building repeatable processes, maintaining lender relationships, and staying disciplined when markets shift.
His approach reflects a balance between aggressive growth and capital preservation, a philosophy that resonates strongly with sophisticated investors seeking both upside and downside protection.
About Derek Vickers
Derek Vickers is the Managing Partner of Vicktory Capital and Fund Manager of VC Equity Fund I, a value add manufactured housing fund focused on high growth Sun Belt markets. He oversees investment strategy, capital formation, and portfolio execution, with ownership in dozens of manufactured housing communities totaling thousands of lots. His expertise centers on acquiring mismanaged communities and implementing structured value add programs that increase operational efficiency and long term asset value.
If you want to hear the full conversation and detailed insights, watch the podcast video or read the complete transcript below.
Value Add Manufactured Housing Funds FAQ
What is a value add manufactured housing fund?
A value add manufactured housing fund is an investment vehicle that pools capital from multiple investors to acquire and improve underperforming manufactured housing communities. The strategy focuses on increasing net operating income through operational efficiencies, infrastructure upgrades, improved management, and strategic rent adjustments. By enhancing performance across multiple properties, the fund aims to create both strong cash flow and long term equity growth for investors.
How does a value add manufactured housing fund generate returns?
Returns are typically generated through a combination of cash flow distributions and appreciation at sale or refinance. As the sponsor improves occupancy, reduces expenses, and optimizes lot rents, the property’s net operating income increases. Because commercial real estate values are driven by income, higher NOI often leads to increased asset valuation, creating potential upside for investors when the asset is refinanced or sold.
Why are value add manufactured housing funds attractive in 2025?
In 2025, housing affordability remains a major issue, and manufactured housing communities provide one of the most affordable forms of unsubsidized housing in the United States. Limited new supply, zoning restrictions, and high development costs create strong demand for existing communities. A value add manufactured housing fund allows investors to capitalize on these market dynamics while benefiting from diversification across multiple assets.
What improvements are typically made in a value add manufactured housing fund strategy?
Common improvements include professional property management, better billing and collections, infrastructure repairs, utility optimization, and filling vacant lots. Some funds also implement rent to own programs or bring in new homes to increase occupancy. The goal is to stabilize operations and create sustainable income growth without displacing residents or relying on unrealistic rent increases.
How does a value add manufactured housing fund differ from traditional multifamily investing?
Unlike apartment buildings where the operator owns the units, manufactured housing communities often involve residents owning their homes and paying lot rent. This structure can result in lower turnover, reduced maintenance costs, and more stable occupancy. A value add manufactured housing fund focuses primarily on managing the land and infrastructure, which can produce attractive margins and operational efficiencies compared to traditional multifamily properties.
Who should consider investing in a value add manufactured housing fund?
High income professionals, business owners, and experienced real estate investors often find these funds appealing. They provide access to institutional quality assets without requiring hands on management. Investors benefit from passive income, potential tax advantages, and portfolio diversification while relying on an experienced sponsor to execute the value add strategy.
What are the risks of investing in a value add manufactured housing fund?
Risks can include infrastructure surprises, regulatory changes, economic downturns, and execution risk if the sponsor fails to implement the business plan effectively. Interest rate volatility and financing terms can also impact projected returns. Thorough due diligence, conservative underwriting, and experienced asset management are critical to mitigating these risks.
How are investors typically compensated in a value add manufactured housing fund?
Most funds offer a preferred return to investors before the sponsor participates in profit sharing. After the preferred return is met, profits are split according to a predetermined structure outlined in the operating agreement. Investors may also receive periodic cash distributions throughout the hold period and a larger payout upon refinance or sale of the properties.
Disclaimer: This summary was written with the help of AI and reviewed by Rod’s Team.
01:20:07:26 – 01:20:23:24
Rod Khleif
Welcome back to life time cash flow through real estate investing. I’m Rod Khleif and I’m thrilled you’re here. And I know you’re going to get tremendous value from the gentleman I’m interviewing today. His name is Derek Vickers, and Derek, is in the mobile home park business in a big way or manufactured housing community is the proper way to say it.
01:20:23:27 – 01:20:29:07
Rod Khleif
No, you mess with me. You mess with the whole trailer park. Is really what it is. But, Anyway, welcome to the show, brother.
01:20:29:11 – 01:20:30:14
Derek Vickers
Hey, thanks for having me.
01:20:30:14 – 01:20:49:12
Rod Khleif
Yeah. Of course. So, Yeah. So you’re in 2400 lots, 50, 50 communities. That’s very impressive. Why don’t you give us a little backstory, you know? Where’d you come from? What did you do before real estate? Why? Mobile home parks. I mean, just give us, give us an overview, and then let’s dig in. Let’s have some fun.
01:20:49:13 – 01:20:57:22
Derek Vickers
Yeah. For sure. So I grew up in a small town in Virginia. So it was, you know, you can go shoot your gun off the back porch kind of deal.
01:20:57:22 – 01:20:58:10
Rod Khleif
I know it, right?
01:20:58:10 – 01:21:20:07
Derek Vickers
And the neighbors, like, oh, man, did you. Would you get mad at something like. Like, you can’t do that here, right? So super small town. And, my family is a very blue collar family. Like, their definition of hard work was like grabbing a shovel and digging a ditch. So my, my grandmother, when I was doing sales, she was like, Derek, you don’t have a real job.
01:21:20:10 – 01:21:43:25
Derek Vickers
Really? My real job. Right? So that’s the kind of, nobody in my family is really wealthy or was really entrepreneurial. I had an uncle that had, has. Well, he sold his insurance business, but not really an entrepreneurial family generally. And, you know, when I went to college, you know, I got screwed up partying and drugs and doing all that and went down the wrong path.
01:21:43:27 – 01:21:44:26
Derek Vickers
I was worried about.
01:21:44:26 – 01:21:47:27
Rod Khleif
I got I got that memo as well, by the way. Just. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:21:47:28 – 01:21:49:13
Derek Vickers
So we would have probably party together.
01:21:49:13 – 01:21:50:13
Rod Khleif
Right, right, right.
01:21:50:13 – 01:21:55:10
Derek Vickers
And at a party and and girls like, what was it going to be that night. Right. Probably a mixture but.
01:21:55:11 – 01:21:56:02
Rod Khleif
Yeah, exactly.
01:21:56:02 – 01:22:11:29
Derek Vickers
And that was what I was focused on. And then, I moved back to Virginia because I didn’t finish college and started hanging out with the same kind of people and deadbeats. And, I got a call one day. I was like, I had a friend of mine I went to college with was like, hey, I got a place in Florida.
01:22:12:01 – 01:22:19:14
Derek Vickers
You can move down here with me. You don’t get to pay me rent until you find a job for a month or two. So I moved down to Florida. I had a tax return of.
01:22:19:14 – 01:22:20:18
Rod Khleif
A where in Florida?
01:22:20:20 – 01:22:34:26
Derek Vickers
Orlando. Okay, so I had a tax return of about, about 300 bucks. Oh, yeah. So I had a ton of money, a ton of money, and, moved to Florida and decided to get a job selling insurance, door to door commission only.
01:22:35:03 – 01:22:38:08
Rod Khleif
Wow. Wow. So you’re good at rejection?
01:22:38:08 – 01:22:39:05
Derek Vickers
Was fucking rough.
01:22:39:05 – 01:22:51:15
Rod Khleif
Yeah, that’s the thing. You you got to be good at rejection for that. Especially insurance of all things. Good God. Oh, you’d have been better off selling, encyclopedias or pots and pans, but. Wow. So how long do you do that?
01:22:51:15 – 01:22:53:25
Derek Vickers
So I, I did that for nine years.
01:22:53:25 – 01:22:58:27
Rod Khleif
Holy shit. Commercial insurance for nine years. Going door to door.
01:22:58:28 – 01:23:16:04
Derek Vickers
Like nine years. Going door to door. I was so when I started. Right. I would like, think about this unconfident guy who’s was getting off of drugs at that point, drinking, trying to go talk to a guy like you to get me to talk to their employees and sell them insurance like it was.
01:23:16:06 – 01:23:35:22
Rod Khleif
Oh, so you going B2B? Okay, so you’re doing business as well. That’s a little less painful than door to door. Okay. You said door to door. I thought you meant residential. But I’m going to tell you, you know, and just as an aside, those of you listening, if you can do a sales job successfully, even not successfully, the sales training is invaluable for every aspect of your life.
01:23:35:22 – 01:23:36:09
Rod Khleif
Would you agree?
01:23:36:13 – 01:23:37:28
Derek Vickers
1,000%. Right.
01:23:38:05 – 01:24:00:25
Rod Khleif
And and so, you know, whatever it is, like my boy sells what sells roofing. He’s going to get some roofing business at some point. He’s getting licensed. But but that’s, that’s a, that’s that’s an example. It doesn’t matter what you sell but that that experience influencing people and discovering personality types and how you influence certain personality types and, you know, negotiation strategies.
01:24:00:25 – 01:24:06:23
Rod Khleif
Yeah. So so anyway, nine years. Okay. So why’d you stop? You’re probably doing okay. I did if that, you know. Right. Yeah.
01:24:06:23 – 01:24:24:11
Derek Vickers
I built up a team. I had over 100 salespeople. Wow. Was a big jump from making 13 grand my first year and making 20 the second year. Wow. And so, you know, Covid had happened and our revenue dropped and I had always wanted to get in real estate. I’d been looking at multifamily deals since like 2015.
01:24:24:18 – 01:24:30:00
Rod Khleif
So you you’re real estate’s fairly recent in. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. When do you start what year?
01:24:30:03 – 01:24:31:02
Derek Vickers
20, 20.
01:24:31:03 – 01:24:36:04
Rod Khleif
20. Okay. So you’ve been at it just about six years. Okay. Wow. Good for.
01:24:36:04 – 01:24:38:04
Derek Vickers
You. Yeah. Okay. And, so.
01:24:38:10 – 01:24:45:11
Rod Khleif
Talk about why. I mean, what what made you think about real estate initially? And then how did you get into mobile home parks?
01:24:45:14 – 01:24:51:15
Derek Vickers
Well, real estate initially, because I, I’m like, man, you know, I’d like to create wealth for myself. And I thought.
01:24:51:16 – 01:24:52:22
Rod Khleif
Well, you married at that time.
01:24:52:22 – 01:24:55:13
Derek Vickers
I wasn’t okay. I had a girlfriend who is now my wife.
01:24:55:13 – 01:24:56:02
Rod Khleif
Okay, good.
01:24:56:03 – 01:25:14:29
Derek Vickers
Yeah. So, I thought the guy who was worth $100 million got a paycheck. And the W-2 that said $100 million. I didn’t know anything about building wealth, buying businesses, real estate or anything like that. Right. So I learned I learned about real estate and I’m like, wow, that’s simple. People pay you rent. People need a place to live.
01:25:14:29 – 01:25:23:20
Derek Vickers
So I started underwriting multifamily deals, and just started learning how the back of the napkin deals, you know, back in 2015, all the way up to 2000 and well.
01:25:23:25 – 01:25:28:02
Rod Khleif
Being in the insurance sales business, you’ve got an analytical component.
01:25:28:04 – 01:25:28:29
Derek Vickers
Yeah, I would say so.
01:25:28:29 – 01:25:45:06
Rod Khleif
Well, you have to I would tend to sell insurance. And so so you’re an anomaly actually because you’re very outgoing and and typically people that are analytical can be very introverted for the most part. So you’ve got the best of both worlds there. So and that sales training really forced you to would you say you’re an introvert or an extrovert?
01:25:45:07 – 01:25:49:11
Derek Vickers
I, I’m very you you know, people don’t believe me when I say this, but I’m an introvert. Yeah.
01:25:49:11 – 01:25:51:08
Rod Khleif
So you get energy from being alone?
01:25:51:10 – 01:25:53:01
Derek Vickers
Yeah, absolutely. I love being.
01:25:53:01 – 01:26:10:01
Rod Khleif
Alone. Yeah. See, see, you’ve pushed yourself though because of all that sales training and all that stuff to to I tell you. So my most successful students in my warrior program are the ones that come in. They’re shy, they’re introverted, they never do a damn thing. And then, I’m sorry, let me rephrase that. They’re shy. They’ve never done anything in the past.
01:26:10:07 – 01:26:27:10
Rod Khleif
But then I push them and I kick them, and they go, and they get out of their shell. And I have them on stage sometimes now. So, But, so you started evaluating, you see, because that that that’s why I asked the question, because you were doing the analysis part, you know, the underwriting piece, which is what an analytical person would do.
01:26:27:17 – 01:26:31:12
Rod Khleif
Okay. So you started analyzing mobile home parks or all multifamily.
01:26:31:14 – 01:26:33:13
Derek Vickers
Well, it was just multifamily, like apartment building.
01:26:33:14 – 01:26:34:10
Rod Khleif
Oh, gotcha. Gotcha.
01:26:34:14 – 01:26:52:07
Derek Vickers
Okay, then, and then it was around 2020. I was like, man, I have to quit jacking around. Like I need to start going to buy some real estate because, like, I can’t do this like the insurance business, like you’re a glorified entrepreneur. It’s still a hamster wheel. It’s commission base. Like you can build some residuals and whatnot, but you still.
01:26:52:07 – 01:26:55:01
Rod Khleif
So did you do the underwriting for a while then? Is that what you say they did.
01:26:55:02 – 01:26:56:13
Derek Vickers
Underwriting for like five years?
01:26:56:13 – 01:27:12:28
Rod Khleif
Okay. There you go. That’s okay. So that’s definitely an introvert. Dynamic. An analytical dynamic. And you have to check off every single box before you make a move. Right? Okay. So you find that enough is enough, you got some leverage or some, some, some discussed or whatever it was that got you to, to actually take action.
01:27:12:29 – 01:27:14:23
Rod Khleif
Correct. So what was the first thing you did?
01:27:14:23 – 01:27:20:00
Derek Vickers
So I basically I looked for a, I started doing research on, on
01:27:20:02 – 01:27:21:12
Rod Khleif
More research, okay.
01:27:21:12 – 01:27:31:29
Derek Vickers
More research. So of course, but then I found the list. Right then I found a list of all the mobile home parks in Florida. Okay. And with my ability to cold call and take rejection because had done that for for nine years.
01:27:31:29 – 01:27:32:24
Rod Khleif
You called owners.
01:27:32:24 – 01:27:45:17
Derek Vickers
I said bang, bang, bang. I’m calling owners in between my recruiting meetings or any of my insurance meetings, I would just bang the phones, okay? And, you know, I got good of drumming shit up right? Yeah. From the insurance.
01:27:45:21 – 01:27:46:24
Rod Khleif
Sure, sure.
01:27:46:26 – 01:27:47:19
Derek Vickers
And the other event.
01:27:47:22 – 01:27:52:03
Rod Khleif
There’s there’s what we were just talking about. There’s the value you got from frickin selling. Yeah. Go.
01:27:52:03 – 01:28:00:14
Derek Vickers
Right. Absolutely. Okay. And the other advantage I had, rod, is that I live in Florida, so I could go see these guys. Right. You know, on, on the weekends.
01:28:00:14 – 01:28:02:21
Rod Khleif
So you’d focused on Florida assets.
01:28:02:24 – 01:28:04:04
Derek Vickers
Focus on Florida assets.
01:28:04:04 – 01:28:06:11
Rod Khleif
I was quite a few mobile home parks down here.
01:28:06:13 – 01:28:08:18
Derek Vickers
There’s a lot. There’s 5500.
01:28:08:18 – 01:28:15:09
Rod Khleif
Believe it or no kidding. Yeah. Wow. So, so you started calling and you found one?
01:28:15:11 – 01:28:32:27
Derek Vickers
Yeah, I found a couple and got some stupid offers. Got cursed at, like, missed on some stuff. Okay, but then I had been talking to a guy who was had bought some mobile home parks before, and he was sort of like looking at my underwriting and saying, hey, you should tweak this or tweak this, or this is a good deal or this is not.
01:28:33:00 – 01:28:39:28
Derek Vickers
He called me one day and he’s like, hey, I got a deal. My operating partner backed out. Do you want it?
01:28:39:28 – 01:28:50:28
Rod Khleif
So you partnered with him, partner with. So you did your first deal in a partner. First deal, was it? So describe the deal. Was it a syndication or what? Did you guys did you put money in the. He put money in what joint venture. What kind of deal was.
01:28:50:28 – 01:28:54:06
Derek Vickers
It was a joint venture. He put the money in. I just did the sweat equity.
01:28:54:06 – 01:29:10:03
Rod Khleif
Okay. Good deal for you. Yeah. Okay. And, guys, you can do that. Okay. I’ve got tons of students I keep bringing up students, but not by design. But I’ve got tons of students have done just that. They find a deal. They do the freaking work. Someone else puts up the money I did in my 20s. I did tens of millions of dollars worth of stuff like that.
01:29:10:10 – 01:29:20:06
Rod Khleif
My partners put up all the money, signed on the debt. I did all the work and we split them. So fantastic. So that great way to get started. So do you never had any formal training on this?
01:29:20:09 – 01:29:21:27
Derek Vickers
Not really. I mean, I, I.
01:29:21:28 – 01:29:27:11
Rod Khleif
Was I told you I did Franken days mobile home course back in the day. You know what I’m talking about right. Yeah. Okay.
01:29:27:11 – 01:29:37:25
Derek Vickers
Yeah. And I did that. Oh you did that. I did that during Covid when they had it. It was it was virtual. Oh okay. So you could go in person. So it was to have a super valuable. Oh sure. Like the basics.
01:29:37:27 – 01:29:53:26
Rod Khleif
I had I had Frank here on that couch, like, I don’t know how long ago, six months ago. Mats pay. Not paying attention. Never mind. It’s probably been about six months. And, it was it was kind of a treat, because I actually, when I went to his course. I’m sorry. Did I digress here for a minute?
01:29:53:26 – 01:30:09:04
Rod Khleif
But I went to his event and I’m like, dude, just remember me because I’m going to I’m going to do something here, and I didn’t. I thought I was going to be a mobile home. Parks ended up being in multifamily. Yeah. But it was, it was, kind of a cool, kind of a cool first full circle moment to have him here.
01:30:09:06 – 01:30:21:16
Rod Khleif
Nice guy does does a lot. He’s he’s got a big portfolio as well obviously, but yeah. So so you got you. So you studied a lot. You studied under him, you know, and learned. And you have any other mentors to speak of or.
01:30:21:23 – 01:30:25:16
Derek Vickers
Yeah, I mean, I have a mentor that, you know, probably doesn’t want to mention is, oh.
01:30:25:16 – 01:30:26:14
Rod Khleif
You don’t have a name.
01:30:26:17 – 01:30:33:07
Derek Vickers
To here, but, he, he kind of grew up in the private equity space and taught me a lot about doing funds. And so that’s really helpful.
01:30:33:11 – 01:30:33:20
Rod Khleif
Yeah.
01:30:33:20 – 01:30:38:09
Derek Vickers
And structure and how to do that properly. And that’s important.
01:30:38:09 – 01:31:04:15
Rod Khleif
Sure. If you’re going if you’re going to raise money and you’ve got somebody that’s that’s been in that space, it’s incredibly valuable. Yeah. So okay. And so you, you did that first deal with that partner and now you’re in 50 mobile home parks. So let’s do this. Let’s, let’s talk about, some of the differences between regular apartment complexes and mobile home parks.
01:31:04:17 – 01:31:08:28
Rod Khleif
Yeah. Why don’t you know? I know them, but why don’t you enlighten my audience?
01:31:09:01 – 01:31:18:07
Derek Vickers
Yeah. So. So the difference is really, it’s, you know, you’re looking at a, you know, from a tenant perspective, you’re looking at a tenant like they own the home.
01:31:18:09 – 01:31:33:18
Rod Khleif
That’s the that’s. So you’ll find parks that have a lot of park owned homes and they are the, the, the game plan is to convert them all to, correct. Owner, I mean, the resident owned home. So you’re just getting a lot rent, right? And that’s your game plan? Yes.
01:31:33:18 – 01:31:38:28
Derek Vickers
Yeah, yeah, that’s the game because it’s a stickier tenant, right? You don’t have the maintenance on the inside and.
01:31:39:01 – 01:31:42:09
Rod Khleif
Which will kill you on a mobile home. Kill their bill. An old wall sticks.
01:31:42:09 – 01:31:54:23
Derek Vickers
Yeah, yeah. So that that’s huge. And I think one of the main differences that I love about the business is that the supply is constrained naturally. Like, you can’t we can’t go develop one in Tampa or Orlando like.
01:31:54:23 – 01:32:00:08
Rod Khleif
Nobody wants nobody wants a mobile home park in their backyard. It’s almost impossible to get them approved. Yeah. So yeah.
01:32:00:11 – 01:32:04:29
Derek Vickers
Yeah. So so I think that and that’s really like the main reason I.
01:32:04:29 – 01:32:17:21
Rod Khleif
Like there’s another one too. And that is those people that are in those homes, you know, it’s expensive to move a frickin home. Yeah. Okay. So they’re, they’re fairly land like, what does it cost these days? I it’s been a long time since I looked so.
01:32:17:21 – 01:32:26:12
Derek Vickers
Well. It depends on who you ask. And you can do it the right way or the wrong way. If you do the right way and you get permits and everything, it’s a 10,000 bucks. Ten, 30, 500 bucks.
01:32:26:13 – 01:32:29:20
Rod Khleif
No kidding. Wow. Right. And the wrong way. It’s still probably 4 or 5.
01:32:29:25 – 01:32:35:07
Derek Vickers
Yeah. I mean, you can still do it like that, but, like, once you’re a big operator, you can’t do that anymore.
01:32:35:07 – 01:32:43:06
Rod Khleif
Well, no, you can’t, but, but, you know, you’re not going to have a mass exodus of homes from your communities, correct? Because it’s so freakin expensive.
01:32:43:09 – 01:32:43:22
Derek Vickers
Yes.
01:32:43:22 – 01:33:03:15
Rod Khleif
Right. So they’re kind of locked. Yeah. You know, even if you bump the rents, they’re kind of locked. Yeah. Now, I know, not to digress, but I know here in Florida there’s some rules around, I mean, there’s some rules around rent bumps, I think, aren’t there, where where they, you have to get sign off or they have the, or tell me about that.
01:33:03:15 – 01:33:06:12
Rod Khleif
Talk about that for a minute, because it’s unusual. Florida’s got an unusual. Yeah.
01:33:06:12 – 01:33:08:16
Derek Vickers
So yeah, Florida has all.
01:33:08:16 – 01:33:09:25
Rod Khleif
Your assets here, by the way, in Florida,
01:33:10:00 – 01:33:29:29
Derek Vickers
Most of them, okay. A large majority of them. So Florida has something what’s called chapter 723, which is the law that, that that basically dictates a mobile home, that a resident owns a residential home. So they have essentially a bill of rights and things you have to do. So when you raise the rent, you have to give a 90 day notice and the, notice has to be compliant.
01:33:29:29 – 01:33:44:27
Derek Vickers
There’s not necessarily a cap on on how much you can do. Okay. But the residents can, you know, argue that and say, hey, we want to have a meeting at the park and we want you guys to explain, you know, why the rent is going up by X amount.
01:33:44:29 – 01:33:50:27
Rod Khleif
Interesting. They can can they pull a group together and do something I just vaguely remember that was yeah.
01:33:50:27 – 01:34:01:01
Derek Vickers
So that so there’s like if it gets taken that far I mean they can get a group together and it can, it can be fought. But again the, the law is the law really.
01:34:01:03 – 01:34:01:15
Rod Khleif
Okay.
01:34:01:20 – 01:34:05:20
Derek Vickers
Right. But you know, when you, when you raise rents in a park like when we.
01:34:05:20 – 01:34:06:24
Rod Khleif
We, we don’t go crazy.
01:34:07:00 – 01:34:23:05
Derek Vickers
Yeah. Well we, we go in and two we’re all obviously giving value. We’re paving the roads. We’re putting lights up. Most of these parks, you can’t even see. And you know, you’re putting their face to face it. Like how safe is that. New mailboxes we’re getting you know the the bad people out that are ruining the and.
01:34:23:05 – 01:34:24:10
Rod Khleif
They’re always there. Right.
01:34:24:17 – 01:34:27:29
Derek Vickers
We’re picking up the damn phone when you call. We put cameras in the park.
01:34:28:02 – 01:34:28:10
Rod Khleif
Right.
01:34:28:10 – 01:34:38:13
Derek Vickers
So we increase the security. We increase the quality of life. Nice. So it’s not just hey we’re going in and there’s still, you know, potholes in the road or any shit like that. Like we go in and fix that.
01:34:38:13 – 01:34:48:16
Rod Khleif
So, so, so back to the differences between apartments and mobile home communities. There are others. Do you want to you want to keep keep going with that? Yeah.
01:34:48:21 – 01:34:49:21
Derek Vickers
Which ones that we talked about.
01:34:49:21 – 01:35:08:23
Rod Khleif
We talked well, you talked about you know, the fact that that it’s ten it own homes. You want them to if they’re if you buy a park that has park owned homes, you want to convert them. You want them, you want to offer the resident the ability to buy that home. And it could be you could finance it for them, right where they’re paying your lot rent plus a plus a a monthly amount towards that home to end up buying that home.
01:35:08:25 – 01:35:23:13
Rod Khleif
But the goal is to is to have them own it, because then they take care of the maintenance. But when you’re evaluating a park, what I’m going towards systems here. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, you you may have, well and septic.
01:35:23:16 – 01:35:24:03
Derek Vickers
Yeah.
01:35:24:06 – 01:35:47:04
Rod Khleif
And, and, you know, one thing I know about parks is you can have a single point of failure. And if, like, your well goes out, you’re fucked. Basically, if you don’t, if you don’t have a, you know, like a, a CapEx reserve to bring in public water or something like that. So you have you had anything catastrophic happen at one of your parks, like a septic system went out, a water system went out.
01:35:47:04 – 01:35:50:02
Rod Khleif
Or maybe you do have sewer plants in in here? Yeah, yeah.
01:35:50:02 – 01:35:51:01
Derek Vickers
Got all the above.
01:35:51:02 – 01:35:51:20
Rod Khleif
Yeah.
01:35:51:23 – 01:35:52:25
Derek Vickers
Which story do you want.
01:35:52:29 – 01:36:09:28
Rod Khleif
Yeah. So you got them all okay. All right. So so so what do you do to protect yourself. Because guys, what you’ll do is you’ll get into one of these parks. And like I said, you could have one. Well, or it could just have 3 or 4 wells. But if the well gets contaminated or something happens, you better have another solution, because otherwise they can’t live.
01:36:10:00 – 01:36:20:11
Rod Khleif
You know, have you had any dated like, electrical systems or things like that? The what? Park wide. Where, where like you have electrical issues, aluminum wiring, things of that nature.
01:36:20:16 – 01:36:36:03
Derek Vickers
So you really don’t have that in Florida, like, okay, look at some parks in Arizona. They have these master metered electrics. Right? Okay. Run into that exact thing. Okay. You know, the biggest thing I would tell people is like, if you’re buying these parks, these value add parks, you have to you need to have the CapEx money aside.
01:36:36:04 – 01:36:47:24
Derek Vickers
Right? I need to know what something is going to cost to fix it, because I couldn’t tell you how many messages I’ve got on Facebook. Derek, you know, I bought this park and there’s a there’s a $75,000 electrical issue. I didn’t bring the money what I did.
01:36:47:28 – 01:36:58:03
Rod Khleif
Yeah, well, you’re screwed. So so so. Yeah. And and so you need to look at, you know, some of these sewer plants can cost. I mean, how high can that go?
01:36:58:05 – 01:37:14:27
Derek Vickers
Well, I mean, if you have to redo, if you want to replace it. Yeah. The sewer plant, the biggest thing like that, because we’ve had a lot of issues with sewer plants, I’ve learned the systems pretty well. If you have to expand the capacity of the system, that is where it gets expensive, because you have to expand the whole system.
01:37:14:27 – 01:37:17:11
Derek Vickers
And it’s like a it’s a concrete molded like.
01:37:17:11 – 01:37:19:13
Rod Khleif
Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
01:37:19:13 – 01:37:37:03
Derek Vickers
And the munis at some of the parks are were were built in the 60s and whatnot. So there’s, there’s no room to expand it. Right. So what do you do. Oh city water. It’s actually not out there either. Oh it’s not. So what do you do. Well, there’s some other options that you can do, but you just have to, you know, do your proper inspections on that stuff when you go in.
01:37:37:03 – 01:37:38:27
Rod Khleif
And have enough money in case.
01:37:38:27 – 01:37:51:17
Derek Vickers
Correct. And if you go in, the inspection company says, hey, you know, the, you know, whatever is is efficient, it’s inefficient. Right? It could cost you 100 grand down the road to fix it. Well, you better bring that 100 grand, right.
01:37:51:22 – 01:38:03:20
Rod Khleif
You better raise that or bring it when you buy the frickin property. Correct. So, so water and sewer is a really big deal. Big deal. And and you’ve never even read it, but never bought a lagoon, I take it.
01:38:03:20 – 01:38:05:01
Derek Vickers
No, no. Okay.
01:38:05:04 – 01:38:30:19
Rod Khleif
They’re guys. They actually have these frickin lakes filled with sewage called a lagoon. And, oh, God. Yeah. I don’t know if any of them still exist, but they they did one when I was looking at this, because I was going to get into mobile home parks, I was just telling Derek before we started recording, I spent a lot of time and money preparing to get into mobile home parks, and I kind of regret that I didn’t, honestly, because I, I think it’s a great asset class.
01:38:30:19 – 01:39:01:13
Rod Khleif
So let’s talk about besides the tenant retention capability, which is definitely there, besides the fact that it’s probably the most affordable, residential type real estate you can buy, you know, I mean, you got a lower demographic economically and sometimes problematically, but, but the returns are great. I know the returns are great. There’s that whole component where, you know, no, you’re not going to you’re not going to have absorption issues like we do.
01:39:01:13 – 01:39:20:26
Rod Khleif
And what, like I’ve got assets in San Antonio and they built a bunch of apartments there. And it’s a bit of a pain. Our rates have dropped temporarily. And you’re not going to have that with mobile home parks. Right. So, do you so I here’s a question. Let’s so we talked about issues. When you buy what you’re looking for, are you looking at infrastructure?
01:39:20:28 – 01:39:26:21
Rod Khleif
And, let’s talk about management for a minute. So do you self-manage?
01:39:26:26 – 01:39:28:07
Derek Vickers
Yeah, you do my company.
01:39:28:08 – 01:39:46:01
Rod Khleif
Okay. So you have your own management company. Fantastic. And, talk about your team. So do you have partners? You certainly of employees. Just give me an idea of what you have to manage. You know, 50 mobile home communities.
01:39:46:01 – 01:39:59:05
Derek Vickers
Yeah. So, so basically we have, like, I have a CFO who’s my partner in the business. He oversees and runs operations. But then we have regional property managers that manage like a cluster of communities in an area.
01:39:59:07 – 01:40:06:11
Rod Khleif
So they hire the onsite manager, they manage the on site manager, they handle problems. So your phone’s not ringing until it’s something serious.
01:40:06:11 – 01:40:11:01
Derek Vickers
Well yeah, but typically we don’t have the on site manager. So the regional manager sort of oversees.
01:40:11:04 – 01:40:12:17
Rod Khleif
Oh really? Oh that’s.
01:40:12:19 – 01:40:23:11
Derek Vickers
A property. But we have corporate employees that basically, you know, handle home sales handle, you know, lease up, handle the local.
01:40:23:13 – 01:40:26:20
Rod Khleif
So you call them corporate employees, but they’re they’re on site.
01:40:26:24 – 01:40:27:29
Derek Vickers
They’re not on. Oh they’re.
01:40:27:29 – 01:40:28:10
Rod Khleif
Not.
01:40:28:10 – 01:40:32:20
Derek Vickers
Yeah. They’re they’re corporate. Right. They don’t go on site. Right. They don’t go on.
01:40:32:20 – 01:40:33:29
Rod Khleif
So that’s all done remotely.
01:40:34:06 – 01:40:35:01
Derek Vickers
Yeah.
01:40:35:04 – 01:40:37:16
Rod Khleif
But who’s keeping an eye on the property.
01:40:37:18 – 01:40:43:05
Derek Vickers
Well the regional property manager and we have cameras there. So it’s.
01:40:43:07 – 01:40:43:28
Rod Khleif
Interesting.
01:40:43:28 – 01:41:07:21
Derek Vickers
Once once we get our tenants in there. Right. The problems there’s really not that many problems. Interesting. Right. And most of the problems you would have in a park, someone, you know, some people fighting outside. Oh, that’s a police issue. Call the police. Can’t do anything about that. Someone is vandalizing something. Call the police. Like, most of the problems you’re going to have are police issues, right?
01:41:07:24 – 01:41:11:16
Derek Vickers
You may have some. Like if you have a vacant homes, you may have homeless issues.
01:41:11:16 – 01:41:11:21
Rod Khleif
Or.
01:41:11:21 – 01:41:13:07
Derek Vickers
People doing drugs and the.
01:41:13:07 – 01:41:14:09
Rod Khleif
For instance, stuff. Right?
01:41:14:09 – 01:41:29:26
Derek Vickers
Yeah. And so maybe the regional manager has to spend a little bit more time there to kind of run those people out interested. And after you sell the homes and like a lot of times like we have this in properties in Arizona, the old owners didn’t they didn’t give a shit like, let’s just be honest.
01:41:29:27 – 01:41:31:02
Rod Khleif
Well, you’ll find that a lot.
01:41:31:06 – 01:41:32:24
Derek Vickers
Yeah. They don’t give a shit, right? No matter what.
01:41:32:24 – 01:41:36:22
Rod Khleif
Asset class. Right. Exactly. That’s what I almost said. Yeah, yeah.
01:41:36:24 – 01:41:52:18
Derek Vickers
And so like, once they, we put cameras in, we go in and we’re like, we kick out the, the idiots, they’re doing illegal stuff, and then we kick out the people that aren’t paying rent, right? We start putting our foot down. People see that, like, okay, they’re not screwing around anymore. So a lot of that stuff stops when you put lights in the park.
01:41:52:21 – 01:42:01:12
Derek Vickers
Cameras, cameras, like you don’t get the the, the homeless people running through anymore and people aren’t going to come do drugs in your park anymore because it’s not dark.
01:42:01:15 – 01:42:03:17
Rod Khleif
Interesting. Interesting.
01:42:03:23 – 01:42:12:06
Derek Vickers
Maybe there’s some things that that, you know, as far as clean up and getting someone to get their, pool out of their front yard faster if someone was there.
01:42:12:06 – 01:42:19:26
Rod Khleif
So what do you do for that? The regional handles, all that regional handles. So they drive the park? A certain number of times a week, once a week, once a.
01:42:19:26 – 01:42:22:13
Derek Vickers
Week in the parks for them, or close enough that they can do that.
01:42:22:15 – 01:42:23:00
Rod Khleif
Gotcha.
01:42:23:00 – 01:42:23:28
Derek Vickers
So we don’t have I’ve never heard.
01:42:23:28 – 01:42:46:22
Rod Khleif
Of this model before. That’s very interesting because I know quite a bit about the business. And typically there’s an onsite manager, every park I’ve ever heard of. So that’s a very interesting model that you have. So, have you embraced, I mean, so you’ve been using cameras, using lights. Have you embraced any other tech, like I, for example, to help you in, in operations with these parks?
01:42:46:24 – 01:43:00:29
Derek Vickers
Yeah. I mean, our, our our team, we train a lot on the I just to use it for different things that they may have questions on. We’ve used it for certain documents before we get, you know, legal approval and things like that, but nothing like we have it.
01:43:00:29 – 01:43:04:11
Rod Khleif
Not like taking calls or things like that. Okay. But it’s coming.
01:43:04:11 – 01:43:04:26
Derek Vickers
It’s coming.
01:43:04:26 – 01:43:17:16
Rod Khleif
Yeah. Got it. Yeah. So so let’s talk about the purchase process when you find a park. So where do you how do you find parks. Is it mostly brokers now or you still doing your direct to seller stuff.
01:43:17:19 – 01:43:22:23
Derek Vickers
Yeah. So I have a team that works for me directly. They do direct to seller. We do mailers.
01:43:22:25 – 01:43:24:05
Rod Khleif
Cold calling to mailers.
01:43:24:05 – 01:43:30:04
Derek Vickers
Because a lot of these guys you’re dealing with rather old school guys right. Like they’re not they’re not fucking using I. Right.
01:43:30:06 – 01:43:48:16
Rod Khleif
Right. Well they’re not no they’re not but but you know from what I hear it’s, it’s dog eat dog a little bit now in that business because they’re getting these owners are getting calls from brokers like on a daily basis for sure. And, and people that want to buy on a daily basis. Yeah. So I guess you just got to be there at the right time.
01:43:48:16 – 01:43:49:15
Rod Khleif
Is that would that be right?
01:43:49:18 – 01:44:05:25
Derek Vickers
Yeah. You got to be there at the right time. And like I, I go and see these guys. Oh you do I still do that. Oh and is it a good use of my time. Maybe. Maybe not. Okay I was in Tampa the other week like messing around with two sellers the whole day and like okay, it’s a good use of my time.
01:44:05:27 – 01:44:10:27
Derek Vickers
It’s getting less and less like we probably need a skilled acquisition person that can go handle that.
01:44:10:27 – 01:44:12:27
Rod Khleif
So you’ve pretty much handled all acquisitions.
01:44:12:27 – 01:44:18:11
Derek Vickers
Not all of it, but that stuff, you know, once we you know, just because it’s well, that can.
01:44:18:11 – 01:44:36:21
Rod Khleif
Really pay off. You have a relationship with the seller and you’re communicating with them a lot. And they see that you’re real and you know, and you’ve got integrity and passion and whatever, you know, you’re you’re a nice guy. They can see that. So that can be very valuable for sure. Yeah. But you’re right. But as time value of money, you know, who knows.
01:44:36:23 – 01:44:47:10
Rod Khleif
So talk about, how you, put some of these deals together because you can be creative in this space as well. Yeah. How many of these deals would you say you bought? Seller financing.
01:44:47:10 – 01:44:49:12
Derek Vickers
You know, surprisingly, only two.
01:44:49:13 – 01:44:49:29
Rod Khleif
Only two.
01:44:49:29 – 01:44:56:01
Derek Vickers
Okay, interesting. Because I would tell you like, this is what I would say about seller financing. Like, yes, it’s great and it’s a great tool.
01:44:56:01 – 01:44:56:28
Rod Khleif
If you can get it right.
01:44:57:02 – 01:45:05:11
Derek Vickers
If you can get it. But a lot of times these sellers, when you have multiple people, like making offers, sure. Things like let’s just get a deal done.
01:45:05:17 – 01:45:06:13
Rod Khleif
They just want the cash.
01:45:06:14 – 01:45:16:18
Derek Vickers
Like, let’s just get a deal done, right? Right. Okay. And, you know, if you dick around with seller financing, you’ll lose deals. Especially now if you go in with the seller and say, hey, I only do seller financing.
01:45:16:21 – 01:45:32:25
Rod Khleif
Yeah, I’m going to be like, got it? Forget it. So, so talk about the different financing. That’s available because it’s it has evolved since I first started looking at the business. What sorts of financing do you you is it typically local bank financing that used to buy one of these. Yeah.
01:45:32:26 – 01:45:42:21
Derek Vickers
Local and regional banks. And you want to find banks that are very familiar with the asset class. Right. If they don’t know the business right. The bank’s going to drive by the park and be like, oh it’s a piece of shit, right. Not funding that.
01:45:42:21 – 01:46:01:18
Rod Khleif
Right, right, right. They need to understand the business. Correct? Yeah. And I think they’re more and more banks are becoming. But you’re not going to you don’t do you typically you don’t typically go to the big regionals like BofA, Bank of America, fifth, third Chase. None of them. Right. Yeah. It’s a it’s okay. Have you done any, Fannie or Freddie debt on these parks yet?
01:46:01:18 – 01:46:02:19
Derek Vickers
Not yet. Okay.
01:46:02:19 – 01:46:05:05
Rod Khleif
You’re gonna you’re thinking about maybe refiling at some point.
01:46:05:05 – 01:46:10:04
Derek Vickers
Yeah. Yeah, that’s that’s the target. We’ll refi some of these things. Yeah. And to Fannie and Freddie or HUD.
01:46:10:04 – 01:46:12:10
Rod Khleif
I don’t know if it does or does. Haddam.
01:46:12:12 – 01:46:12:29
Derek Vickers
I’m not sure.
01:46:13:03 – 01:46:30:08
Rod Khleif
Okay. Because HUD debt is fantastic. I mean, 40 year fixed, 30 fixed 40 year debt. I mean, it’s really good debt. Yeah. You don’t have a balloon payment. You don’t have a term. They call it in our business. Be interesting to know if you can get HUD financing on these things, but, but I know Fannie and Freddie does.
01:46:30:08 – 01:46:42:07
Rod Khleif
Dead on. Yeah, yeah. So, know what size park, what’s your investment criteria at this point as far as park size and geographic area?
01:46:42:14 – 01:46:49:03
Derek Vickers
Yeah. Park size we like to do like between like 40 units and up. Okay. I really don’t care about the utility.
01:46:49:05 – 01:46:51:01
Rod Khleif
To what? To what 40 to what?
01:46:51:03 – 01:46:53:21
Derek Vickers
Really 40 to 150. Okay. Sweet spot.
01:46:53:23 – 01:46:59:18
Rod Khleif
Yeah. Yeah, that’s a that’s a you’re not you’re not getting the big institutional players correct. That right. That. Right.
01:46:59:18 – 01:47:14:22
Derek Vickers
Correct. And so that’s where we like to play. There’s still a lot of mom and pop sellers in that area. And we don’t really care about the utilities. We don’t care if it’s all tenant owned or all park owned homes will buy wells and skeptics and treatment plants, because I’ve just dealt with them. So I know what to look for.
01:47:14:24 – 01:47:17:18
Rod Khleif
And how to how to protect yourself in case something goes wrong. Yeah.
01:47:17:19 – 01:47:24:14
Derek Vickers
Correct. Okay. So, and we like to be in the big markets, you know, the Tampa, the Orlando, the Tucson, Phoenix, Dallas.
01:47:24:21 – 01:47:25:28
Rod Khleif
Okay. You’re in Arizona.
01:47:26:01 – 01:47:35:25
Derek Vickers
Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. We like to be we like to be within 30 minutes to 40 minutes from a large MSA. Like, hey, can our tenants work in Dallas?
01:47:35:25 – 01:47:55:16
Rod Khleif
By the way? MSA means metropolitan statistical area. Like a Dallas. Like a Phoenix, like a Tampa. Sarasota is in Tampa’s MSA, for example. Okay. Interesting. So you’re looking all over now. Okay. What kind of you’re looking in those three markets? Yeah. Texas, Arizona. Florida. Correct. Red states. Yeah.
01:47:55:16 – 01:47:56:14
Derek Vickers
Okay. Yeah. Love it.
01:47:56:21 – 01:47:58:05
Rod Khleif
Same here okay.
01:47:58:11 – 01:48:05:14
Derek Vickers
Yeah. Because we like in one thing I’ll say on that is we like where there’s there’s a massive shortage of affordable housing.
01:48:05:14 – 01:48:09:22
Rod Khleif
Well that’s that’s country that’s all over the United States but but correct.
01:48:09:22 – 01:48:12:15
Derek Vickers
More pronounced and in these areas. And so I.
01:48:12:15 – 01:48:14:11
Rod Khleif
Like definitely doesn’t work pressure.
01:48:14:11 – 01:48:21:18
Derek Vickers
On on our rents and, you know, it’s just, you know, it creates more scarcity for the asset.
01:48:21:21 – 01:48:27:12
Rod Khleif
So you buy an asset, you finance it at a bank, you typically get, what, 75% loan to value?
01:48:27:14 – 01:48:29:00
Derek Vickers
It’s about 7070 now.
01:48:29:00 – 01:48:41:26
Rod Khleif
Okay. You have a five. You have a 30 year ram with a five year term typically. Okay. So that you got a balloon payment five years typically. And so you probably got some terms coming up here since you’ve had it about that time frame. Yeah.
01:48:41:29 – 01:48:43:17
Derek Vickers
Well we’ve already refinanced a lot of.
01:48:43:17 – 01:49:09:12
Rod Khleif
Those have yet. Okay. And and, and so your value add plays, you go in, you pave streets if they need it, you put lighting and cameras in, kick out the trash. Do you ever go. And so let’s say there’s homes in it look like crap that our tenant owned. You have you ever go in and just decide, hey, I’m going to paint a few of these just to make the park look better?
01:49:09:16 – 01:49:10:04
Derek Vickers
Absolutely.
01:49:10:05 – 01:49:23:05
Rod Khleif
Yeah. You do that, right. Okay, I thought so. Put skirting in around the bottom of the home because it looks like crap and they can’t afford to do it. And you don’t want to actually kick them out. So you I mean that that’s certainly breeds goodwill and makes the whole park look better.
01:49:23:05 – 01:49:32:09
Derek Vickers
Yeah. We we do that. And you know, when we come in and there’s park owned homes and we convert them like a part of them buying it, we actually come in and post it up at the house.
01:49:32:11 – 01:49:35:00
Rod Khleif
Yeah. Okay. But but I’m talking about resident owner.
01:49:35:00 – 01:49:35:23
Derek Vickers
Yeah we do that too.
01:49:35:23 – 01:49:41:23
Rod Khleif
Yeah. Just to make the park look better. It’s like, hey, I can leave that shitty place there, but it screws me up on everything else. So yeah.
01:49:41:23 – 01:49:46:06
Derek Vickers
You have to you have to like, you know, if you’re going to do one, you have to do them all.
01:49:46:07 – 01:49:51:26
Rod Khleif
Okay. Yeah. Well that’s true I mean oh, that’s a good point. That’s a very good point. Yeah. I didn’t think about that.
01:49:51:28 – 01:49:52:25
Derek Vickers
Because they’ll let you know.
01:49:53:02 – 01:50:00:01
Rod Khleif
Right. Right, right. So, so you’re, you’re now you’re primarily doing syndications, I take it.
01:50:00:08 – 01:50:04:04
Derek Vickers
Yeah. Well, we were doing syndications. We just were finishing up our first fund.
01:50:04:04 – 01:50:04:23
Rod Khleif
Okay.
01:50:04:26 – 01:50:06:02
Derek Vickers
So we’re moving to that model.
01:50:06:02 – 01:50:29:19
Rod Khleif
Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah. You know, I told you about my buddy Kevin Bopp. I think he’s on, like, his third or fourth fund. He’s he’s a good, really good friend of mine. Has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for my charity. So what suggestions do you have for someone that that’s thinking about getting into the business and maybe considering mobile home parks, maybe considering multifamily, whatever it is, speak to that person that you know, maybe out of fear that of maybe they’re an introvert like you are.
01:50:29:25 – 01:50:35:24
Rod Khleif
They haven’t. Arnold. Super analytical, just haven’t pull the trigger on anything like give them some coaching.
01:50:35:29 – 01:50:49:24
Derek Vickers
Yeah, yeah. I think, you know, the interesting thing is, like I tell people in real estate, you just have to have balls. Like you have to like you’re never going to know anything. You’re not going to know well how the. Yeah. People ask me like, how how am I going to fix the sewer line? Like it doesn’t matter.
01:50:49:24 – 01:50:53:02
Derek Vickers
Like you don’t have a park, like, who cares, right?
01:50:53:04 – 01:50:56:08
Rod Khleif
Well, you get people that ask you that they don’t even own something. Oh, that’s that’s funny.
01:50:56:08 – 01:50:56:12
Derek Vickers
Yeah.
01:50:56:12 – 01:51:07:06
Rod Khleif
So you’re worrying about stuff that, you know, there’s a book called Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff and it’s all small stuff. And that 99% of what you worry about never happens, right? Okay. So that’s funny. Yeah.
01:51:07:06 – 01:51:17:03
Derek Vickers
So like, you just follow the process. Like get the deal under contract, give the earnest money if you don’t have enough for the earnest money, well, at least get the deal under contract. Then you’re going to have a, you’re going to have to figure out there.
01:51:17:03 – 01:51:23:09
Rod Khleif
And if it’s a good enough deal, call rod or call Derek. Yeah, yeah. Okay. For God’s sakes, we’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out. Right? Right.
01:51:23:10 – 01:51:30:29
Derek Vickers
And then you have to go to the bank and go through that process. But my whole point is that you’re never going to know. So at some point you’re going to have to fricking like, go, well.
01:51:30:29 – 01:51:55:20
Rod Khleif
And, and and another piece of that is align with people that have done it like you did on your first deal. Right. All right. You know, and you don’t have to do it alone. This business is a team sport. And so, you know, there’s a there’s enough people out there to go to your local meetup groups, your local real estate investor association meetings, go to, you know, join these groups and go to networking events that did talk about real estate and meet people that are doing this.
01:51:55:20 – 01:52:04:17
Rod Khleif
Or better yet, text the word crush to seven, two, three, 4 or 5. Shameless plug. Join my freaking warrior program. But,
01:52:04:19 – 01:52:19:26
Derek Vickers
And I’ll say two is that that’s never going to stop for you because as you do the first deal and then you want to scale and then like when we started the fund this year, I’m like, oh, I don’t know how to do a fund for nothing before, right. How do we do it? I could have thought about, oh, well, how this legal term is, how is this going to be struck?
01:52:19:29 – 01:52:21:29
Rod Khleif
I could have been caught up in fear about it too.
01:52:21:29 – 01:52:26:03
Derek Vickers
Exactly right. Exactly. That was for a little bit. But I was just like, screw it, let’s go.
01:52:26:03 – 01:52:46:09
Rod Khleif
Well, and the fear was just a lack of, of of knowledge most likely is it’s a competence thing. You know, you got to get the competence first and then you can have the confidence. And so, you know, and everybody started where we did initially at some point, you know, with nothing. And so. Okay, so you just got to do it.
01:52:46:09 – 01:53:02:12
Rod Khleif
So, you know, I call my failure seminars, I, if you know, I lost $50 million in the 0809 crash. It was a big freaking seminar. But I call them seminars. So talk about some of your seminars in the business. Talk about talk about a doozy. You know, you bought a park and you’re like, oh crap, this happened.
01:53:02:17 – 01:53:03:15
Rod Khleif
Give me a good one.
01:53:03:17 – 01:53:04:10
Derek Vickers
A doozy.
01:53:04:10 – 01:53:18:11
Rod Khleif
Oh, yeah. We’ve got I know you got dozens. We all do. But now whenever I’m doing my bootcamps, my on my panelists, I was asked the question, tell us, talk about a seminar. Because I think people learn more from failures in getting their nose bloodied than they do from success.
01:53:18:14 – 01:53:25:25
Derek Vickers
So yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean, we we had an instance where where we found out that we had a property manager that was stealing money from us.
01:53:25:26 – 01:53:26:11
Rod Khleif
Oh, yeah.
01:53:26:14 – 01:53:44:24
Derek Vickers
And, and, different parks. And it wasn’t across like one park. It was multiple assets. Wow. You know, like ten assets. Wow. And, you know, it was on me, so I had to I was literally at the parks every day driving from Orlando to Tampa. Every day they’re cleaning up the frickin mess.
01:53:44:24 – 01:53:49:21
Rod Khleif
Well, and so they said homes were empty and they weren’t. They were collecting rents.
01:53:49:23 – 01:53:50:18
Derek Vickers
That was some of it.
01:53:50:18 – 01:54:00:16
Rod Khleif
Yeah, because I had that happen to me. I had I don’t even fly over Memphis airspace anymore. I feel like my IQ drops if I do. And if you live there, you know what I’m talking about. But but, Yeah.
01:54:00:16 – 01:54:19:25
Derek Vickers
Wow. But yeah, that was some of it. And the other thing was that we were selling these mobile homes. And so, like, he would sell them for 20 grand, have them give him cash, book in our system for like three grand, get a money order for for three grand. Wow. Right. And I oversee like this just, you know, sort of happened and I took responsibility for it.
01:54:19:25 – 01:54:25:23
Derek Vickers
And I had to go there and, you know, I lost a bunch of money. Yeah. Doing doing that. And that’s a good one.
01:54:25:26 – 01:54:26:10
Rod Khleif
That’s a good.
01:54:26:10 – 01:54:28:26
Derek Vickers
One. That was a massive learning experience for me.
01:54:28:27 – 01:54:46:23
Rod Khleif
I lost a hundred grand from this, this bit in Memphis. That and the and the police wouldn’t do. And she even signed a confession. The police wouldn’t do anything with it. Don’t get me started. Oh, yeah. So so as you’re growing in this, in this business that you’re in now, which is this exciting business that you love it.
01:54:46:23 – 01:55:00:23
Rod Khleif
Yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You love it. Yeah. Any moments, any epiphanies where you’re like, okay now I get it. Does it, does that resonate at all? Anything where you’re like at a certain point in something happen, you’re like, okay,
01:55:00:25 – 01:55:24:16
Derek Vickers
Anything coming? But yeah, I think it was you know, it was in the first property that we did. And I realized, like, oh, this is how this business works. I had created, you know, in a matter of months, I had created, you know, a half $1 million in equity. Wow. Just like that. Like that when I was just on the frickin hamster wheel and the insurance was, I’m like, oh, that’s how this shit works, right?
01:55:24:16 – 01:55:28:00
Derek Vickers
So let’s let’s go do this again. This is how you build wealth. This is how you build this.
01:55:28:03 – 01:55:29:14
Rod Khleif
Exciting, exciting moment, isn’t.
01:55:29:14 – 01:55:47:00
Derek Vickers
It? Absolutely. And I’ve recently had that had another moment where I’m like, okay, wow. Like, you know, we built this wealth like we’re doing this fun, like, hey, what if we what if we had a, you know, another half $1 billion of assets under management then, you know, via management fees and things? Yeah.
01:55:47:00 – 01:55:48:03
Rod Khleif
The asset management.
01:55:48:03 – 01:55:58:18
Derek Vickers
Company is now worth $50 million. Yeah. Right. So that enterprise value of that asset management company is now massive, which we it’s exciting. It’s not even on your mind.
01:55:58:18 – 01:56:05:22
Rod Khleif
Yeah it’s exciting. Yeah. No that’s that’s what you get with scale. That’s very exciting. Yeah. So so I know you’re married. You have kids.
01:56:05:26 – 01:56:07:10
Derek Vickers
Yeah, I have three kids. Wow.
01:56:07:10 – 01:56:15:09
Rod Khleif
Okay. Yeah. Well, the question was going to be, where do you get your drive? What’s the why? I assume it’s I assume it’s that is it legacy? What is it? What drives you?
01:56:15:11 – 01:56:34:22
Derek Vickers
Yes. So, you know, I was funny. I was actually talking about this before. Before we we got in here, and it’s like someone asked me, did your kids drive you? Yes, they do drive me. They drive me because I want to set a good example for them. Of course, it’s more about me, like showing them how to work hard and whatnot, but like, I’m more focused on, like, what can I achieve?
01:56:34:22 – 01:56:41:09
Derek Vickers
And, like, how much can I help? Like, if I what what mark can I leave on the world? Like love it? Do I.
01:56:41:12 – 01:56:42:27
Rod Khleif
Like philanthropic or what.
01:56:42:27 – 01:56:51:19
Derek Vickers
Do you. Yeah, like philanthropic. Like, hey, you know, I, you know, whatever you want to believe. I think we might come back, like, after we leave here.
01:56:51:22 – 01:57:04:15
Rod Khleif
I listen. Yeah. So I’m, I’m not going to Pooh Pooh that at all. And, and, you know, I, I do quite a bit myself in that arena. And it’s been really amazing. And it’s, it’s. How old are you?
01:57:04:19 – 01:57:05:26
Derek Vickers
37. Well.
01:57:05:28 – 01:57:21:17
Rod Khleif
I’m impressed that you got the memo already because I had to be 40 to get it, but, it was all about me, me, me, me. But finally got the memo that it’s really about, you know, spreading the wealth and spreading your knowledge and helping other people, you know, succeed.
01:57:21:24 – 01:57:26:17
Derek Vickers
Yeah. Because like, is is the world a better place because, you know.
01:57:26:17 – 01:57:27:03
Rod Khleif
They’re they’re.
01:57:27:05 – 01:57:31:08
Derek Vickers
In it. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And that’s how I want to I want to feel good about that.
01:57:31:09 – 01:57:49:06
Rod Khleif
Love it, love it. Well, I appreciate you coming over, buddy. I know you live nearby, and, and, it was really a pleasure to meet you. And you’ve definitely added some tremendous value today. So, I appreciate it. And, and, circle back to me in a year or two when you’ve got, when you’ve got some enterprise shit going on.
01:57:49:06 – 01:57:53:03
Rod Khleif
Yeah. No. Yeah. You’ve got another few thousand lots. Love it.
01:57:53:08 – 01:57:53:17
Derek Vickers
Yeah.
01:57:53:22 – 01:57:54:28
Rod Khleif
Well, thanks, but it’s a pleasure.
01:57:54:29 – 01:57:56:02
Derek Vickers
Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Rod.
01:57:56:04 – 01:58:09:00
