Interview with Samuel Sells of Wild Mountain Capital

Passive Mobile Home Park Investing

Welcome back to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, hosted by Andrew Keel. On this episode of the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast, Andrew talks with Mr. Samuel Sells of Wild Mountain Capital. Sam shares his unique story of starting out in the military while also flipping houses, surviving and thriving in 2008, and the many lessons he has learned from his time investing in mobile home parks.

Sam Sells has a great mindset when it comes to real estate. He knows what to focus on when it comes to treating people right, but also making money. Those things don’t need to be mutually exclusive after all.

Sam is a retired US Air Force officer and combat veteran who founded Wild Mountain Capital in 2018 with his hero dad. The Wild Mountain team has individually owned, invested in, developed, or rehabbed 75 single and multifamily projects, and have 60+ years of commercial and residential real estate experience. Since 2019, the team has syndicated 20 development /rehab properties, creating equity growth, nearly twice the initial investment in less than two years. Projects include mobile home communities, apartment complexes, and self storage facilities.

***Andrew Keel and Keel Team Real Estate Investments (Keel Team, LLC) do not endorse any interviewee. This interview is for informational purposes only and should not be depended upon for investment purposes. ***

Andrew Keel is the owner of Keel Team, LLC, a Top 100 Owner of Manufactured Housing Communities with over 2,000 lots under management. His team currently manages over 30 manufactured housing communities across more than ten states. His expertise is in turning around under-managed manufactured housing communities by utilizing proven systems to maximize the occupancy while reducing operating costs. He specializes in bringing in homes to fill vacant lots, implementing utility bill back programs, and improving overall management and operating efficiencies, all of which significantly boost the asset value and net operating income of the communities.

Andrew has been featured on some of the Top Podcasts in the manufactured housing space, click here to listen to his most recent interviews: https://www.keelteam.com/podcast-links. In order to successfully implement his management strategy Andrew's team usually moves on location during the first several months of ownership. Find out more about Andrew's story at AndrewKeel.com. Are you getting value out of this show? If so, please head over to iTunes and leave the show a quick five-star review. I have a goal of hitting over 100 total 5-star reviews by the end of 2021, and it would mean the absolute world to me if you could help contribute to that. Thanks ahead of time for making my day with your five-star review of the show.

Would you like to see mobile home park projects in progress? If so, follow us on Instagram: @passivemhpinvesting for photos and awesome videos from our recent mobile home park acquisitions.

Talking Points:

00:21 - Welcome to the Passive Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast

00:47 - Sam’s background and his journey into manufactured housing

08:26 - How Sam stayed out of the red in 2008

11:37 - The toughest hurdles in the mobile home park business

13:00 - What is a deal that works and doesn’t work for Sam

15:00 - Park-owned versus Tenant-owned mobile homes

18:41 - Sam’s management style and company

20:35 - The most important thing passive investors need to know

23:45 - Sam’s perfect mobile home park

25:29 - Mistakes and lessons Sam has learned

28:00 - What makes Wild Mountain Capital different

30:00 - Sam’s portfolio

31:50 - Getting a hold of Sam Sells (contact information)

33:19 - Conclusion

Links & Mentions from This Episode:

Wild Mountain Capital: https://www.wildmountaincapital.com/

Sam’s email: [e-mail]

Keel Team's official website: https://www.keelteam.com/

Andrew Keel's official website: https://www.andrewkeel.com/

Andrew Keel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkeel

Andrew Keel Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PassiveMHPin...

Andrew Keel Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/passivemhpi...

Twitter: @MHPinvestors

Quotes:

“We were doing these different things back then to cut down our closing costs because then you could do 95% loans, then do carpet allowance and so forth. You could really do these no money down loans with the banks.” - Samuel Sells

“You can't really do lease options in Texas very well, so owner-financed is the same kind of thing, or rent-to-own in Texas very well because of the rules and regulations.” - Samuel Sells

“I would say, when you first buy a park, it's great to have park-owned homes. Then if you don't want those ugly homes, sell them to somebody else and move them away, make some return off of that, and then bring in nice brand new homes.” - Samuel Sells

“People forget that mobile homes don't have the same materials that a single family house has. The drywall is a different size, the doors are different sizes, and the windows are special and more expensive.” - Andrew Keel

“You’re not going to get rich off of property management.” - Samuel Sells