Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/657319
APRIL 2016 11 THE JOURNAL / CMP COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE B y F r a n k R o l f e 21 Taking Your Property To The Next Level Do you ever drive into certain manufactured home communities and get jealous? You think "this property is so much nicer than mine – I sure wish mine looked like this". Well, the following are 21 small details that can have a big effect on the way your community appears. See if there are some or all of these that you can adopt to take your property to the next level. Edging This is not an expensive fix. You simply edge the entire property with every cut – turn on that edger and go down the curb from one end of the community to the other. Does it cost more? Sure, a little. But you will find that this is the first big difference between the good and the great properties. Why? Because that clean, straight curb line is the first thing you see when you drive into the community. Let's be honest, many communities do not have a lot to work with from an aesthetics perspective. But nothing catches the eye more than a nice, long straight line rather than a jagged one. Striping This is cheap and easy to do. No excuse not to. Whether white or yellow, you need to keep those stripes freshly painted at all times. Huge impact on virtually no cost. Framing out parking pads Most of our communities have concrete or asphalt parking pads. And that's our favorite. But what about those prop- erties that have no such formalized parking plan – situations in which residents just park haphazardly in their yards. It looks awful having those muddy ruts on each lot. Instead, here's an affordable idea. Frame out a parking pad using rail- road ties, which are a standard 6 ½ feet long. Three deep by three wide is a 19' x 19' pad. Then pour crushed rock into that frame and you have a terrific looking pad as cheap as you can build one. Flowers and planters – including window planters You can buy a planter for $5 to $20 at Walmart. You can fill that planter with flowers for around $10. Put those throughout the park and you have added some great color for little money. But you need to work out a watering plan so they don't die. Painting all utilitarian items "forest service" green Don't re-invent the wheel. The U.S. Forest Service and Park Service have a great green color that looks classy and blends into nature effortlessly. Knowing the government, they probably spent $25,000 picking out that color, but you can do it for free by just copying the one they picked out. Paint everything that is old and rusty that color. Paint wooden fences Old wooden stockade fences (that every community seems to have some of) need to be painted a fresh, solid color. There are some Martha Stewart-styled colors out there that are in the brown family that look fantastic on a fence. Go get a Martha Stewart paint chip board at the hardware store and pick out your favorite. Painting fences is really cheap and hugely impactful. Paint chain link fence Same as above, only go with green instead of brown. You will be amazed what an old, rusty chain link fence looks like with a fresh paint job. It's a whole lot cheaper than installing new fences. Paint mailboxes Mailboxes are often ignored by community owners for some reason. You can't paint the aluminum box doors – but you can paint virtually everything else. We recently painted 70 traditional mailboxes on the street of a community in Mis- souri. Huge impact, little cost. Put flags out front Flags are a fantastic marketing tool. They create consumer excitement. They make a dated community look young again. And they are really cheap. You can buy complete vertical flag kits for under $100, and putting one on either side of your entry makes you look like a pro. Entry sign While this is the highest cost item on this list, you have to offer a great entry sign to have a top-quality property. We recommend two 4" x 4" wooden posts as supports, sleeved in white PVC and with an attrac- • Edging • Striping • Parking Pads • Flower/Planters • Painting Utilitarian • Paint Wood Fences • Paint Chain Link Fences • Paint Mailboxes • Flags • Entry Sign • New Signage • Number Plates • New Name • Shutters • Awnings • Repetitive Features • White Vinyl Fence • Website • Skirting • Windows • Fresh Paint Ideas \ 19