Nichole Briscoe runs group homes in mobile home parks, renting individual rooms to tenants. She sources furniture from discount stores and thrift outlets, screens tenants with RentRedi, and prices rooms by comparing local motel rates. She uses 30-day occupancy agreements instead of leases to manage turnover.
Questions this video answers
RentRedi (RentRedi.com)
$750 per month (initially listed at $850, which performed worse)
$650 per month
Cheapest observed about $900; highest observed about $1,200 per month
Due by the 5th of the month (payment window: 1st–5th)
One of the tenants was like, hey, glad you here. I wanted to show you this tv. Can you come mount this on the wall? Oh, and by the way, I don't want these white blinds, I want some black blinds. Mobile home lobby. Welcome back everybody. Listen, I get a lot of questions of Nicole, how do you rent rooms or have a group home in a mobile home park? Nicole, how do they pass background checks? Nicole, how are you able to house a felon? How do you know how to determine the price of the rooms that you're going to rent out? Well, guess what? I'm going to answer all those questions in this video now. Currently I am in the state of town Tennessee helping one of my students. He was my first six figure earner. He lives in California, but we're in the state of Tennessee and he's in the process of opening up four group homes, transitional housing inside of a mobile home park. The first question I want to answer is how were you able to do this one? You have to have a relationship with the park manager or the park owner. We don't do any type of deals in any park without letting proper the authority know and also making sure that they're okay with it. Second thing, our mobile homes are fully furnished. For our tenants that are coming in, our mobile homes are fully furnished. Normal stores that I go to, I like to stop at, shop at discount stores. So for example, Ollie's Roses, Big lots, any type of big liquidation stores. Those are the type of stores that I like to shop to get discount housing material. And you're going to see me continue to unpack stuff. That's where I went shopping today. And then when it comes to things like dishware, pots and pans, Habitat for Humanity and Goodwill, let me tell you why this pot top was $1.99 seems cheap, right? It was also 75% off. I want to make sure that I'm providing my potential housemates the best quality. But that's not going to hurt my budget. I like to set a budget for each mobile home that I'm going into before I go in and start the purchasing. Okay. Another common question is how do I run approvals or background checks? Well, I prefer to use RentReady. That's RentRedi.com is a platform that's amazing. It runs the background checks, the credit checks. It's also a way for me to collect payments for for my tenants. That's how I collect payments for my tenants. Another question that I get is how do I do my screening process? Honestly, I use good judgment And I like to interview my people. I want to know, hey, how long are you looking to stay? How long are you looking to stay? And what are your goals for transitioning out of this home? Just to have general conversation, everybody comes in with different reason, different timelines. So those are some of the questions that I like to ask my tenant. I also ask if they have, you know, any felonies on their record. Me personally, the park that I'm in, they trust me doing the background and credit check. So I make sure that my tenants are approved. So with that being said, I wouldn't house a felon that has anything related to children because there are several children that live in their park. So a lot of people ask me, well, how do you know how much to rent these rooms out? What is your determining factor in figuring out how much each room is going to cost? And this is the easiest breakdown I can give you. So what I use to compare is motels in the area. So motels in my area, which is the state of North Carolina, normally rent for about $1,200 a month. Each motel is different. So I always want to beat my competitor by making sure that I'm offering a cheaper price. The cheapest motel that I seen is about 900. And the highest one I seen is, which was a hotel, was about $1,200 a month. So I like to beat my competitor. Now, I keep in mind that these people, excuse me, individuals, are renting out space, one bedroom, and they're sharing the kitchen, the dining room, etc. When it comes to the bathrooms, the master bedroom, I charge more for that room because they have a private bath. And then the other two bedrooms, they share bathrooms. So that is one unit. So for a three bedroom, two bath, Going back to how I am pricing it, if I know that the cheapest motel room is $900 a month, I wanted to play with my pricing. Okay, it is $900 a month. But they're able to have their own space and not have any roommates. Well, if I'm renting out a room, I said, let me test the market. So my bedroom that is a private room is $750. That price point is working very well for me now. When I first put it on the market, I posted it for 850. That price point did not do well at all. But the 750 price point got a great response. And those tenants that have been paying the 750 price have been there for six plus months. That is how I determine how much I'm going to charge per room. I will always advise that you don't get greedy. Right. Try not to start so high. You don't have to start the lowest. Get a mid range. I said the cheapest motel was $900, so I wanted to start somewhere mid range. I just took it down to 750 because that 850 price point was not working. And then my two rooms where they share a bathroom, that room is $650. Now, let me elaborate a little bit more on the relationships because I have some students and some individuals that's like, oh, I just got started with mobile home investing and on my first mobile home, I want to turn it into a shared living space where I can rent the bedrooms. I wouldn't suggest that you do that. And I'm pretty sure a park may not be for that only because you're building that relationship. I want the park manager, the park owner to trust me and see the value that I bring in. What type of tenant did I bring in? Was the tenant truly qualified? Did they match everything that I promised that they would match? Now, of course, people are human. I can't guarantee or promise everything, but what I can do is try my best to bring in a qualified tenant that matches whatever the park rules are. At the end of the day, it's my name on the line. This video is completely my personal opinion, and that's just the way I view it. Now, once I built a relationship with that park, for example, the first mobile home park that I have my two group homes in, I had boarding over four homes into that park. I had did great work. And even when I pitched the group home to the park owner, he was like, no, thank you. Group homes mean homeless people. Correct. That means there's going to be a whole bunch of strangers. You know, it carries a negative connotation whether you say group home, shared homes, transitional housing, people think drug addicts, people think homeless people. So I had to explain to him, well, listen to me, this is what I've done for your part for so long. Just trust me on this one home. Hey, how about we come up with an agreement this amount of months, give me a chance and I'll pay this amount of lot rent. Normally, when you say you're going to pay more light rent, guess what happened? People are more open, like, oh, let me give it a chance. So I've been doing it for, I want to say, at least eight months now, and it's going pretty well. Has every client that came through my house been perfect? Absolutely not. I have two crazy stories that I could tell you now, but now I found a flow and the type of clientele that I'm looking for. That being said, I 100% will not rent to couples. I can't. I've tried it twice and it was a disturbance each time. I only rent to single individuals. It could be males, it could be females, but I don't rent to couples. They can have a spouse, a boyfriend that can come over and visit, but actually allowing them to both live in the same house, it's not going to happen. That is how. Yeah, that's just one of my group rules. So now let's talk about some household rules. How do I know what rules I want to have established in my house? One, the common areas must be cleaned at all times. You may have one person that is ocd. You may have one person that's a little messy. I make sure that everyone knows when they come into my home. You all have a shared space. Let's make sure the common areas are clean. Number two, I like to do once a week. In the beginning, I did room checks maybe two times a week. Now I'm down to maybe once a week. I just go in, open up the door. Of course I announce myself, let my tenants know that I'm coming over. I do a brief room check where I go in, open the door, make sure there's no holes in the walls. I don't allow smoking in the home. Just to make sure everything is going okay. Another group rule. I do the thermostat, it has to stay the thermostat, it has to stay between a certain temperature. In the wintertime and the summertime. Mobile homes are different. And you all that invest will know when it comes to heating and cooling. So I can't have you cold and you turning it up to 80. And then Samantha is uncomfortable and she wants it down on 70. So to keep it common, they know we have to keep the temperature between a certain degree in the winter and a certain degree in the summertime. That also helps me as an owner because I cover all of the expenses. And we'll get into that in a second. Another rule that I have is making sure that the space is shared in the refrigerator. We have a three bedroom, two bath. That means it's three people sharing one refrigerator. So I make sure that Johnny has this section, Samantha has this section, and Bob has this section. Just making sure it's fair. I always keep an open line of communication open with my clients. I talk to them individually. Hey, how's everything going, Is there anything that you would like to be changed? Is there anything that's bothering you? And the most drastic complaint that I've had is, hey, I just want to let you know the dish rag is supposed to be for the dishes and someone is using a bath cloth to wash the dishes. I'm okay with having those problems right now. That's a simple problem I can fix versus what I had in the beginning. Okay, in the beginning it was terrible because again, I would let couples come in and it was, it was just too much confusion. So you will have minor complaints, but no major headaches. Another rule that I would like to establish. A lot of people ask me, do you have a curfew? No, I do not monitor grown people. I don't. They're grown. They're just paying me for a room. What I will ask them is, hey, I know you work overnight and you get in at 6am can you make sure when you come in not to slam the door so loud? Because this young man just got off of his night shift job and he's falling asleep by 7am and you coming in and slamming the door, it's causing him a disturbance in his sleep. So making sure that everyone stays courteous. So let's talk about the amenities. So what I'm covering with the rent that they pay me monthly. I'm covering the lot rent, which also includes in this particular park, the water bill. So the lot rent and the water bill is paid. I'm paying the electric bill. My average electric bill, the highest, has been 120 bucks. The cheapest has been 75 bucks. I also provide basic Internet and Netflix, those. Oh, and I have pest control that comes monthly. Once a month, he sprays the both units. That's $40 a month per home. And I have a guy who cuts the grass, and the guy that cuts the grass only charges me $25. So they get maintenance, grounds keeping, they get lawn care, they get pest control, they get Internet, lights. It's a pretty nice package to have your own space and you're just sharing the living room in the kitchen. I don't have an issue with my tenants of who's watching TV in the living room. Everyone has their own TV in their bedrooms as well. When it comes to maintenance requests, I have it set up right now where I have a handyman that handles all my requests. They'll call him and say, hey, there's a leak in the bathroom. I need you to come in, look at it and fix it. My handyman will go out and assess it. And if it's something that needs to be fixed, he'll call me and say, hey, Nicole, there's a leak in the bathroom near the exhaust fan. I'm going to charge you this amount to fix it. Do you want me to fix it? Absolutely, I want you to fix it. I love my handyman. He is the best. And the reason I'm telling you all this, because he runs everything by me first. Therefore, that eliminates all the phone calls that I get. Prime example, my handyman was going out to cool seal the roof of the mobile home right on the outside. And one of the tenants was like, hey, glad you're here. I wanted to show you this tv. Can you come mount this on the wall? Oh, and by the way, I don't want these white blinds. I want some black blinds. And he was like, okay, no problem. Let me call Nicole. My handyman called me and was like, hey, Nicole, this fella wants black blinds and he wants his tv, huh? And as soon as he said it, he bust out laughing. Cause he knew, like, I'm not servicing that request. Tell him, you know, if he would like to change the blinds out, he can do that at his own expense. Let me know and you'll come and take them down. And I prefer that he pays you to hang the blinds. Now, he only charged $15 to change the blinds, but the young man was like, oh, never mind. I just wanted it. So I kind of make sure I let my tenants know this is a clean, safe, and affordable. It's not luxury. Okay? Okay. All right. That being said, I want to talk about rent. So the rent is due by the fifth of the month. You have the first to the fifth to pay. However, in my former life, I'm a social worker, y'. All. So I have had a tenant that said, hey, Nicole, I've only got paid this amount of money. As you know, I was out of work because of this. May I give you half? Absolutely. Remember to be compassionate if you're a social worker or not. If someone is willing to pay you. My rent is 750 and they're willing to pay 375. If you do the 375. Excuse me. If you do the 750 divided by the number of days, that'll tell you how much they're paying per day. And if you want to be technical, you can say, hey, that 375 you paid will last for the first 12 days of the month. Make sure you pay the remaining half by the 13th. So all I want to say is just put a little love in your heart. Seriously, y', all, let's try to show some compassion. Okay, now, last question. I'mma answer. But Nicole, what if he doesn't pay you, how do you evict them? I'm glad you asked, Susan. And let me tell you how I evict them. There is no eviction process because I have contracts in place that lets them know, hey, this is only a 30 day agreement. There's no eviction process. If I was to show up with the police, they have to leave my property the end. So I'm making sure that they understand this isn't a lease agreement. This isn't a term where you get to stay for three months or six months. No, this is a 30 days that you're able to stay here and they pay monthly. So it's no long term agreement. It's only 30 days. So that's how I deal with the removal of tenants. And thank God, so far I haven't had to remove any tenants. If a tenant was leaving, they'll say, hey, Nicole, I'm leaving. I'll be gone in two weeks. I do ask for a two weeks notice. But for an example, I had a young man who had to leave in the middle of July because he had a crisis back home in another state. And he apologizes like, I gotta go. I'm like, no problem, you've been a great tenant. He left. No problem. So listen, y', all, those are some of the common questions that I get when it comes to how do you run a shared living house? Or how do you rent rooms inside of a mobile home park. If you have more questions, drop them down and below because I know I'll be making a part two soon. Until the next video mobile home lobby.
