Ian Noble on Mobile Home Parks & Passive Income

Ian Noble | Runsteady (00:00)
The whole thing of this business with passive investing, people don’t at the end of the day care about the asset. They care about what it gives them and the destination. And that destination is time freedom.

So it’s great to make money and have the time freedom and not stack more on your plate. So because I’ve been in their shoes and that was my past life running a small business, I know what it’s like to want to grow, grow, grow and make more money, but not have any time. And so this is the solution that solves that problem.

Michelle Kesil (02:00)
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. And today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Ian Noble, who is the founder of Run Study Investments, helping people passively invest in real estate with mobile home parks and private lending funds. So excited to have you here today, Ian.

Ian Noble | Runsteady (02:22)
Thanks for having me, Michelle.

Michelle Kesil (02:23)
Awesome. So let’s dive in. First off for those not familiar with you and your work yet. Can you share what your main focus is these days?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (02:32)
It’s bringing passive income opportunities through real estate to business owners and investors. I’m looking for risk adverse people to co-invest alongside me. And we have a group that does it as a team and we go find good opportunities and hopefully make some money for everybody.

Michelle Kesil (02:49)
Yeah, amazing. And what do these type of opportunities look like that you’re seeking?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (02:56)
So you mentioned it in the intro about private lending and mobile home parks. Those are the two lanes I like to stick to. One of them on the private lending, kind of use that like a parking garage. And we always have that to where while we’re waiting for the next deal, we can use that to earn higher interest on our money. And then the other opportunities in mobile home parks. These are mobile home parks that are in existence and cash flowing from day one that we are looking to get in, improve.

and have all the ownership benefits of owning real estate. However, we want ourselves and our team to remain passive. So all of the day-to-day headaches, the investors don’t have to worry about.

Michelle Kesil (03:37)
Awesome. And do you operate in specific markets or nationwide?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (03:42)
I’d like to say nationwide, but it is more focused in the Southeast and the Midwest. This is particularly with the private lending fund is Southeast, South Carolina, North Carolina focused and the mobile home parks. We’re looking for landlord friendly States, but just good opportunity. So we’re not restricted to not operating in any States, but there tends to be a focus towards Southeast and the Midwest at times.

Michelle Kesil (04:07)
Awesome. And so what do you feel have been some of the main keys that have allowed your business to be able to grow and run smoothly?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (04:15)
One of the big benefits of this business is I got into the capital raising business as an investor. So I was an investor myself. I have a ⁓ small business background. was an entrepreneur in Austin. And when I got into this space, it was all about making low risk investment decisions. So what I do now and how we operate is making sure that we’re looking at every opportunity through the lens of number one, opportunity cost. But secondly, ⁓

focusing on low risk, safe, stable investments. And the thing that I enjoy most about this business is bringing people in that may not necessarily be real estate people. And we get to do it as a team and co-invest as a team with myself being the first investor and everyone else coming alongside. So it’s been a fun journey, not without learning. There’s lots of ups and downs in this industry. We talked a little bit off air, but.

A lot of it comes down to the partnerships and who you’re working with. I’m not operating the day to day of these deals, so I put a lot of stress and emphasis on making sure that we’re working with top notch people that have good character and will stand up when times are tough because it happens in real estate. It’s cycle. It’s on a constant cycle, but ultimately it’s a people business. And so my job centers around making sure we’re working with good people.

Michelle Kesil (06:24)
Yeah, absolutely. And what type of investors do you look for when it comes to the ones that you want to partner with?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (06:31)
Looking at our investor base now, most of them are business owners of some sort, but we’re not excluding any groups. These are accredited investors that work with us in these opportunities just because of the structure of how we raise funds and the deals that we’re getting into. honestly, you can target or say that you have one group all you’d like, but

it ends up being people usually specific to my market. I’m in Texas, so a lot of Texas based investors and specifically Austin will work with us. In this industry, it’s about knowing the person that you’re working with. And so these opportunities are everywhere. And all over the US, I just always tell people, make sure you find someone that you like working with and you trust and that has skin in the game with you because there are so many people out there that are either.

chasing deals or raising money for deals. And so you need to make sure that you’re aligned with somebody that is doing it also. And I think that it helps if they’re in your market, someone you can relate to. So we just like good people that we can partner with from both the operator side and the investors. So I’m not in the business. I mentioned being an investor first. So I’m not in the business of, ⁓ you know, working with investors that we that don’t have the same mindset as well. So

It’s been a fun run of finding those investors and working with them and bringing those opportunities so that we can go build more wealth and not have to waste more time on the day-to-day stuff.

Michelle Kesil (07:59)
Yeah, absolutely. So does it work like you find investors that focus on the operations or you find investors and you find operators or those like two separate categories?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (08:10)
Yeah, two separate deals. So half the time spent on operators and making sure that they’re good at what they do. Again, our job for the investors and myself is to remain passive in these deals. So with the operators, you can get a pro forma sent to you and often and always they are wrong. It’s going to be equal, better or worse than what they’ve projected. But we need to

poke holes through due diligence, background check these operators, fly out to the properties, all the things that are crucial on the diligence side to make sure that we’re checking the boxes before we get into alignment. most of my time is spent, that’s a slow process, because generally what I do is if I’m gonna work with someone and we raise capital for a group or an operator, that relationship is slow to develop, so I’ll typically invest in them first, vet these groups.

before ever marketing it or putting it out to my own group of investors. So everything that the network sees and people that are on the Run Steady Investments mailing list are going to be pre-vetted deals where I know these operators, I’ve put my own money in them before, before just sending it out to the masses just for the sake of raising money. So it’s complete opposite of what I do. For that, know.

On that note, it’s going to be a process to where I’m not throwing out 10 deals a year for people to invest in. They’re very curated and selected deals that I feel are low risk and safe because that’s the style investor I am and that’s the group that trust me to find these deals. They typically tend to look for those same safe bets, we’ll call it.

Michelle Kesil (10:24)
Yeah, and what does your process look like to find these deals?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (10:28)
A lot of it’s the relationships. So networking groups and finding operators that are in the space that are excelling, ⁓ constantly looking for those that it’s their full-time job. And, ⁓ although passive investing is what I bring to our investors, we’re working with people that are a 100 % active, ⁓ operators. They’re working hard. They have teams. We’re leveraging their teams to make sure that we, on the backend as investors can remain passive. So, ⁓ the process is really just.

relationship driven, getting to know these people over a long extended period of time. And I’m looking for the people we are not working with huge institutional companies. looking for operators that have a substantial amount of let’s say mobile home parks or lending experience that I can call up the CEO and talk to him and ask a question and not stand in line. We’re very much aligning with them as partners because often these are long term.

partnerships, investments, and we want to make sure that the group as a whole wins.

Michelle Kesil (11:30)
Yeah, absolutely. And what have been some of the biggest challenges that you’ve faced and overcome on your investing journey?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (11:40)
Largest challenge in the investment journey is learning the right questions to ask. When I first got into this space, I’ve been an active real estate investor and owned and managed my own properties for years prior to getting into passive investing and raising capital. That was a big challenge for me getting into the space was that trust factor. And I learned very quickly that there are, you have to dive in very deep to make sure that you are aligned with the person.

and that they are good stewards of your capital. So I had an expensive learning mistake, had invested into an operator early on. Luckily, this was before I was in the business of raising capital, but it was an expensive but beneficial learning lesson, and it has now taught me the foundation for what we look for when we do partner with people. So expensive lesson on my end, but fortunate that it was my money only, and

From there I’ve learned really how to dive in and make sure that no matter what’s being said or what’s being marketed, we’re really getting underneath and peeling back the layers to make sure that all is what it seems.

Michelle Kesil (12:50)
Yeah, absolutely. And what are you most focused on solving or scaling to next?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (12:59)
On the solving side, it’s really just helping people along the way get involved in passive investing. I love the game of finance and personal finance specifically and just benefiting everyone that is alongside us in these deals. So whether it’s with me or with somebody else, I’m happy to send people in another direction if they feel that our returns aren’t lucrative enough for them or they’re looking for something that has

Larger upside all of these things investors have different needs and the biggest Challenge but benefit I would say is to be able to tell somebody upfront. Hey this deal is not for you So we talked about saying no to operators earlier It’s also you know telling no to the investors if you guys if we’re not aligned with them and then guiding them to something where they can benefit to what best suits their needs so

mentioned private lending in mobile home parks. And the idea is we are using the private lending because there’s liquidity in that to park funds, hang out there until number one, it could be a permanent thing or it gives our investors the ability to move it over into equity deals when we have them so they can get the tax benefits and ownership that they may be looking for, especially if they have more years on their horizon left. So I’ve noticed

within our group and our demographic of investors, typically ones that are at the end of their career, they’re not looking for equity and ownership and long-term appreciation, they want income. And so the private lending funds, the perfect solution for that. On the flip side, people that are earlier in their career or have time on the horizon, they like the upside and they like the ability to wait it out as these deals take five, seven, 10 years.

So it’s really finding the balance of what makes most sense for that investor and being able to say, yes, here’s a good deal or no, we don’t have any good deals right now. But, you know, putting them in the path of other people that do because I ultimately want to help these people with their personal finance.

The whole thing of this business with passive investing, people don’t at the end of the day care about the asset. They care about what it gives them and the destination. And that destination is time freedom.

So it’s great to make money and have the time freedom and not stack more on your plate. So because I’ve been in their shoes and that was my past life running a small business, I know what it’s like to want to grow, grow, grow and make more money, but not have any time. And so this is the solution that solves that problem.

Michelle Kesil (16:09)
Yeah, absolutely. That’s amazing. And are most of your investors versed in real estate or it’s just like an average person that’s looking to, you know, increase their personal investments?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (16:21)
I’d say they all have an understanding that it’s an important diversification method. Most of the investors aren’t people that are 100 % in the stock market or 401k. These are individuals that understand there’s a lot of wealth that can be built around real estate. So whether they’re in it or not, that’s one thing. I will say that the majority of them are not active real estate investors. And what I mean by that is most of them aren’t landlords or property managers or running their own day to day real estate business.

Most of them are individuals that have a career that is either very demanding or they’re a business owner. They have children and they just don’t have the bandwidth to add real estate, which can be a full-time job. It is a full-time job. If you’re to be successful at it, they don’t have the time. And so this is the solution that bridges that gap of how can I be involved, but not have to worry about tenants vacating and you

collecting rent and all the fun stuff and problems that come along with it. And as much as I love passive investing, still, a landlord as well and I have to deal with all these things. There’s pros and cons to both, but it is so nice to not have to worry about renewals or advertising or filling vacancies, whatever it may be in the space that we’re dealing with day in and day out. It’s fun as an investor. That’s the ultimate win, I think.

to be in the position to say, I’m gonna allocate my money in advance to something that can help me, but I don’t have to deal with it. We’re gonna let someone else handle that day to day.

Michelle Kesil (17:51)
Yeah, definitely that does, I’m sure, sound more appealing to many people.

And so why do you choose mobile home parks as like your asset class that you mostly invest in?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (18:03)
That question comes up a lot. Mobile home parks have a bad rep. A lot of people think, and there’s a stigma around it, that they’re trailer parks or they’re junkie. And while yes, those do exist as they do with any asset class, mobile home parks, I believe have a unique advantage over the others because there’s limited supply. You won’t see new mobile home parks popping up around in your area. People often confuse them with RV parks. So an RV can be hooked to the back of a truck and towed away in an hour.

but that’s not what a mobile home park is. They’re expensive to move. is ⁓ basically, I’ll call it a block from cities wanting to allow new development. So you have this asset that provides affordable housing, which I do believe we’re in affordable housing crisis. Things are getting more expensive and there is a huge population in this nation that needs ⁓ lower cost of living. So it has the

It has the demand. It has the ability for protection on the investor so that you know that there’s not going to be a brand new one next door. This happens a lot. In the last few years, there was a lot of development in the apartment industry. All these apartments came to be. And so now if you drive by in your local area, if you live in a larger city, you’re gonna see all these apartments that popped up and they’re offering all sorts of rent concessions and free month here, reduced rents.

This is a challenge for that industry and in the mobile home park space, you don’t necessarily see that. ⁓ Tenants can actually own their homes, which is an amazing way to provide, number one, pride of ownership for the people that live in these parks, these communities. And secondly, if they ever do decide to leave, they can sell their property, their ⁓ manufactured house that is in your mobile home park.

And as an investor or a property owner, when they do that, they’re essentially finding a new tenant for you without you having to do so. So a lot of the efforts are pushing towards finding these communities that, you know, you can maybe increase rents a little bit, but you’re ultimately providing a good living space for them. And I like mobile home parks for that reason. They’re they’re all over the U.S. and they’re helping good people. And we look for we look for these communities to when I drive through them.

You want to see children out running around soccer fields. The stigma of these run down trailer parks, yes, it’s out there, but that’s not what we are looking at as a group.

Michelle Kesil (20:38)
Yeah, amazing. And is it difficult to find mobile home parks to invest in?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (20:44)
As an individual, yes. You have ⁓ a scale of, you could go find a mobile home park, probably in your community, and if you’re to purchase that park, get ready for a job. And then you have these large institutions that are coming in and they’re trying to buy up the parks that have hundreds of lots, they call it, or spaces where these manufactured houses can sit.

Michelle Kesil (20:46)
Yeah.

Ian Noble | Runsteady (21:08)
So the sweet spot is that there are a lot of mom and pops that still own these parks. A lot of them don’t have the infrastructure or the system set in place to run a legitimate business. I say legitimate, not because they’re doing anything wrong, but there are opportunities for them. And that’s all they know. It’s their soul and maybe their family business has gone into this place. And so there’s a lot of opportunity for groups.

that have in-house property management and systems in place to come in and really improve the communities for the people that are living there, but also to the benefit of the investors that come along with them. So I’d say as an individual, a lot of times people would be buying themselves another job, which they don’t want. So the sweet spot is to find these larger, ⁓ larger, but not too large of ⁓ pockets or communities that can be run with efficiency and scale, and then do it passively.

That’s the mistake in this industry is that the management is easy because sometimes tenants can own their homes. It’s still a lot of hard work. The expense ratio is lower, but as a whole, it’s difficult to just go in and tackle it yourself. It’s a beast of its own.

Michelle Kesil (22:17)
Yeah, absolutely. That makes sense. Thanks for sharing that.

And before we begin to wrap up here, someone wants to reach out, connect and learn more, where can people find you and connect with you?

Ian Noble | Runsteady (22:28)
For the listeners of this show, we put together a cheat sheet. It’s essentially what I wish I would have known five years ago, 10 years ago as a business owner. So it’s the right questions to ask if you’re curious about passive investing, especially with all the noise that’s out there on the internet. So we’ll have that in the show notes. You guys can download the link and it’s a short little document on what to ask if you’re curious on getting involved. You can also find me on my website is runsteadyinvestments.com.

Michelle Kesil (22:53)
Perfect. Well, appreciate your time and your story. Thank you for being here.

Ian Noble | Runsteady (22:57)
Thanks, thanks for having me.

Michelle Kesil (22:58)
Yeah, of course. And for those tuning in, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Ian who are building real businesses and we’ll see you on the next episode.