About Me

www.Trailerparkriches.com holds a wealth of knowledge and ideas for you.  Whether you just follow along in the forums and blogs, or purchase my full course, your time here will be time well spent.

In order to help give you a better perspective on the information I have here, it is important for you to know a little bit about me.
I was born in Ohio, but grew up in Tampa, Florida. I had a relatively normal childhood, but had an entrepreneurial desire from an early age.
My first business was a lawn service. It quickly grew from mowing a few of the neighbors' lawns to covering a wide area with large commercial equipment and a number of commercial accounts.

Besides my desire to run my own business I also have always had a desire to help people. This was first shown in my involvement in HAM radio and providing communications in emergencies and coordinating communications for many community events such as fundraising bike rides, etc. It was through HAM radio I became involved in The American Red Cross.

When I was in my early twenties I worked as a Paramedic Firefighter, but soon left to take a paid position with The American Red Cross. I was transferred to Stuart, Florida where my son Andrew was born. I came to Jacksonville, Florida through another transfer with The American Red Cross.

My career in the Fire Service / Emergency Medical Field and Red Cross gave me the opportunity to develop some great skills which I still use today. These include the ability to manage time and people, plan and evaluate, make decisions in high pressure environments, speak publically and deal with people from all walks of life. I have also found that my time working in the Fire Service and EMS and being "on the streets" has led me be a very good judge of character and know when someone is telling me the truth. It has also helped me to know how to be alert and safe in all types of neighborhoods.
After all of the planning and preparations with The American Red Cross for the "Y2K" disaster, that never happened, I knew it was time for a change. I realized that one downside of working for a "non-profit" meant that I would never make a profit either.
I left the Red Cross to do some consulting work in the IT field, which had always been a hobby of mine. I soon crossed paths with a company that provided the "processing" for ATM machines. I spent three years there, rising to the position of Director of Operations. While doing this, I still did some IT consulting on the side. This side work led me to meet two guys that would end up being partners in a new company we formed.
In 2003 my two partners and I formed a company called Teramedia. Teramedia was a internet based data and marketing company. We worked with all of the major ad agencies and many fortune 500 companies. We would provide marketing databases, database services and internet marketing services.

Teramedia is where my entrepreneurial spirit really took off. Within Teramedia I was able to take a leadership role as Chief Operations Officer and Chief Information Officer. I was able to participate in the starting and growing of what ended up being a multimillion dollar company.

In September of 2007, my partners and I sold Teramedia for a sizable cash price. I worked for the new owners for a few months, quickly realizing that the entrepreneur in me was like a genie that had been let out of the bottle and could not be put back in. I could never work for anyone and be happy. I had to be my own boss. be the guy who I would pat on the back with each success and have to face in the mirror with each failure.

So there I was, the end of 2007 with a lot of money in the bank, a job I could not stand, with no future. It was time for a change. I saw other people making money in real estate and wanted to get involved.

I researched a number of aspects of real estate investing. I knew while I wanted to tell people I was "retired", I did not really want to just sit on the porch all day. I was not looking for passive income, nor did I think the income from a passive investment could support my lifestyle. I wanted to be hands on, to build something, and help it grow.

So, you may be asking, is that how I got into investing in mobile homes? The answer is simple, but may surprise you.. NO

The plan I came up with was to purchase homes at below market value in areas with good rental history, rehab them to rental standards and rent them out. My goal was to achieve a 20% annual return on my investment.

Over several months I purchased numerous houses, performed the work that needed to be done with the help of a handyman and rented them out. Everything was going as planned. While I did not use a home inspector, my own inspection seemed to be adequate as no major surprises were found. The homes were all quickly rented and in almost every case I exceeded the 20% rate of return goal.

So how did you get involved in mobile homes? I am sure that is the question you are asking since this program is about investing in mobile homes. The answer is an interesting one, and like so many great opportunities, it was one that was about being in the right place, at the right time and MOST importantly being aware enough to SEE the opportunity.

I have heard many times people talking about opportunity knocking. as if it will come to you and announce itself. I do not believe that. I believe opportunity is always out there, you just have to prepare yourself to see it and grab a hold of it. Opportunities do not happen. we MAKE opportunity happen, it is all up to us.

So what was this opportunity? Well I could only dedicate so many pages of this program to the discussion of me and who I am, so there is a lot of stuff I did not tell you about. One of those things is that I love motorcycles and always wanted one. While at Teramedia, one of the things I did to "reward" myself for my hard work and success was the decision to get a motorcycle. I always wanted a big Harley, but in talking to people I learned that for someone who has never ridden a street bike, to jump on a huge bike and take off was a near death sentence. So I decided to take the prudent route and I bought a used Honda Shadow for $4000.00. It was a very nice bike, but smaller and a better bike to learn to ride a street bike on. I had a ball with this bike, rode it over 1500 miles the first month I got it, finding any excuse to go for a ride. After a few months I felt comfortable in moving up to a bigger bike. I bought a 1998 Harley Davidson Heritage Springer Classic.

This left me in a predicament. I had my dream bike and loved it, but also had this other bike, a very nice bike, but one that just sat there. I tried to sell the bike for what I paid for it, but had no luck. I was discouraged and could not bring myself to let the bike go for the two grand I probably could have sold it for.

That is when opportunity did not knock, but I did see it peeking around the corner. I saw a posting on Craigslist (more on Craigslist later on) from a guy who had an old double wide mobile home that he was selling for $5k or would be willing to swap for a bike. I called him, we met, made an even swap.. And the rest as they say is History.

So there it is. in a long and roundabout way, a little history of me and how I got into investing in mobile homes.

Want to know more?  check out the forums, library and other features.  If you have a question for me, just fill in the feedback form to the left.

Thank you for your time and good luck on your road to Trailer Park Riches.


Mike
The Trailer Park King