Mobile home park underwriting calculator and worked example
Screen your own deal with the calculator below, free and without an account. Above it is a full worked example on Crescent Pine MHC, a fictional 80-pad manufactured housing community: the year-one operating statement, what each line means per pad per month, and where the returns come from under a stated set of assumptions. Every figure describes the fictional deal. None of it is real market data, a benchmark, an appraisal, or a recommendation.
Want to check your own deal instead? Skip to the screening calculator. Or start a step earlier and reconcile the documents this case was built from, where the memo, the T-12, and the rent roll disagree.
The fictional deal
Pads
80
Asking price
$3,250,000
Price per pad
$40,625
Cap at asking
6.76%
On NOI after reserves
Crescent Pine MHC is a fictional Texas community. The 80 pads, the $420 average lot rent, and every expense line are made up to illustrate the statement, not drawn from any real property or market.
Operating statement (year one)
The per-pad column is the same figure divided by 80 pads and by 12 months, which is how MHC operators usually compare a line against another community.
| Line item | Annual | Per pad/mo |
|---|---|---|
| Gross potential lot rent | $403,200 | $420 |
| Less vacancy and credit loss7% economic vacancy assumption | ($28,224) | ($29) |
| Other incomeUtility reimbursement, fees, storage | $22,000 | $23 |
| Effective gross income | $396,976 | $414 |
| Real estate taxes | ($34,000) | ($35) |
| Insurance | ($14,000) | ($15) |
| Utilities | ($42,000) | ($44) |
| Repairs and maintenance | ($28,000) | ($29) |
| Management fee | ($24,000) | ($25) |
| Payroll and on-site labor | ($20,000) | ($21) |
| General and administrative | ($9,000) | ($9) |
| Total operating expenses | ($171,000) | ($178) |
| Net operating incomeBefore replacement reserves | $225,976 | $235 |
| Less replacement reserves | ($6,400) | ($7) |
| NOI after reservesThe basis used for capitalization, coverage, and the projection below | $219,576 | $229 |
Expense ratio
43.08%
Of EGI, excluding reserves
EGI per pad
$414/mo
Expenses per pad
$178/mo
NOI per pad
$229/mo
After reserves
Replacement reserves sit below the NOI line here because they are a capital allowance rather than an operating cost. A cap rate can be quoted on either basis, so every figure below states which one it uses. Check which basis any figure you are given was quoted on.
Entry and financing assumptions
These are inputs, not findings. Change any one of them and everything downstream moves.
- Purchase price
- $3,250,000
- Assumed loan amount
- $2,437,500
- Loan to value
- 75%
- Interest rate
- 7.00%
- Amortization
- 30 years
- Hold period
- 5 years
- Income growth
- 3.0%
- Expense growth
- 3.0%
- Exit cap
- 7.00%
- Economic vacancy
- 7%
Purchase and funding (simplified)
This fictional case is funded against the purchase price alone. A real acquisition also funds closing costs, loan fees, third-party reports, and an operating reserve, which raise the equity required and lower every return below. They are left out rather than invented, because the projection was not run with them.
Uses
- Purchase price
- $3,250,000
- Total uses
- $3,250,000
Sources
- Senior loan (75% LTV)
- $2,437,500
- Equity
- $812,500
- Total sources
- $3,250,000
This fictional case is modelled on the purchase price alone. A real acquisition also funds closing costs, loan fees, third-party reports, and an operating reserve, which raise the equity required and lower the returns shown below. They are left out here rather than invented, because the projection was not run with them.
Direct capitalization (illustrative)
Capitalized amount
$3,378,092
At the 6.50% cap assumption
Asking price
$3,250,000
Asking-implied cap
6.76%
What the price implies
GRM
8.06x
Gross rent multiplier
Capitalizing the $219,576 after-reserve figure at a chosen 6.50% cap. The cap rate is an input, not a market quote and not a price we are recommending. Change it and the indicated value moves with it.
Returns and debt service (illustrative, 5-year hold)
Unlevered IRR
8.8%
Property-level
Levered IRR
13.2%
At 75% LTV
Equity multiple
1.80x
Cash-on-cash
3.1%
Yr 1, 4.7% avg
Annual debt service
$194,601
Year-1 DSCR
1.13x
Rises to 1.27x by yr 5
Exit value
$3,636,411
At 7.00% exit cap
Net sale proceeds
$1,269,225
After 2% selling costs and loan payoff
Unlevered and levered returns are kept separate rather than blended. DSCR is measured on the after-reserve figure, the more conservative of the two bases. The loan here is an assumed 75% of the purchase price at 7.00% over 30 years, and it is not sized to any coverage requirement. Coverage runs from 1.13x in year 1 to 1.27x in year 5, so it is thin for most of the hold.
Five-year projection (illustrative)
Year 1
- NOI after reserves
- $219,576
- Debt service
- $194,601
- Cash flow
- $24,975
- DSCR
- 1.13x
Year 2
- NOI after reserves
- $226,163
- Debt service
- $194,601
- Cash flow
- $31,562
- DSCR
- 1.16x
Year 3
- NOI after reserves
- $232,948
- Debt service
- $194,601
- Cash flow
- $38,347
- DSCR
- 1.20x
Year 4
- NOI after reserves
- $239,937
- Debt service
- $194,601
- Cash flow
- $45,336
- DSCR
- 1.23x
Year 5
- NOI after reserves
- $247,135
- Debt service
- $194,601
- Cash flow
- $52,534
- DSCR
- 1.27x
Check your own deal
Free, no account, nothing leaves your browser.
Run your own numbers
Showing the fictional case above. Replace any figure with your own deal.
Every pad that can be rented. Vacancy comes off below.
Utility reimbursement, fees, storage
Excluding replacement reserves
Year-1 screening result
- Gross potential lot rent
- $403,200
- Less vacancy and credit loss
- ($28,224)
- Other income
- $22,000
- Effective gross income
- $396,976
- Less operating expenses
- ($171,000)
- Net operating incomeBefore replacement reserves
- $225,976
- Less replacement reserves
- ($6,400)
- NOI after reserves
- $219,576
Expense ratio
43.08%
Of EGI, excluding reserves
Cap rate at asking
6.76%
On NOI after reserves
Price per pad
$40,625
This does not update the fictional projection above. The returns, debt service, and five-year figures higher up the page describe Crescent Pine MHC and do not change when you edit these fields. This is the year-one screening layer only, it stays in your browser, and it is not an appraisal, a valuation opinion, or a recommendation.
What to verify before you trust any of this
A statement is only as good as the rent roll and the T-12 behind it. These are the checks that most often move the numbers on an MHC.
- Pad count and real occupancy. Confirm occupied pads against the rent roll rather than the pad count, and check how long the vacant ones have been vacant.
- Tenant-owned versus park-owned homes. Park-owned home rent is not lot rent. It carries repair and turnover cost that lot rent does not, and buyers usually capitalize it differently or not at all.
- Water, sewer, and billing. Private well and septic versus municipal changes both the expense line and the capital risk. Confirm whether utilities are billed back and what share is actually collected.
- Financing coverage. Year-one coverage here is a thin 1.13x and improves over the hold. Confirm the coverage a lender will actually underwrite to before relying on this structure.
- Reassessment on sale. This projection grows the in-place tax line at the 3.0% expense-growth assumption. It does not model a post-sale reassessment or a cap or reset sunset, either of which can move the tax line far more than growth does.
- Permits, zoning, and expansion. Confirm the legal pad count, any nonconforming use, and whether vacant land can actually be filled before paying for the upside.
Build this from your own documents.
Upload an offering memo, T-12, or rent roll and CREscope structures an editable case with the periods, the diligence library, and the Excel export. Your first deal is free.
Analyze your first deal freeNot there yet? Try the document reconciliation walkthrough, the quick evaluation sheet, or the diligence checklist.
This page illustrates the preliminary screening analysis CREscope produces, using a fictional property. It is not an analysis of any real asset, and it is not an appraisal, broker price opinion, or investment recommendation. It has not been prepared in accordance with USPAP or any professional valuation standard. The figures are illustrative and are not market data or benchmarks. Verify every number independently before making any investment decision.