As interest rates remain elevated, housing affordability continues to decline, and investors search for resilient assets that can weather economic uncertainty, one real estate sector continues to stand out: mobile home parks. Once overlooked by many investors, manufactured housing communities have become one of the most sought-after asset classes thanks to their ability to provide stable cash flow, strong occupancy, and an essential solution to America’s affordable housing shortage. In this episode of Build It to Billions, Brett Swarts sits down with Leo Young, Founder and Managing Partner of Cornell Communities, to explore why mobile home parks continue to outperform and what investors should know before entering this growing market.
Drawing from his experience acquiring and operating manufactured housing communities across the country, Leo shares the fundamentals that make this asset class so compelling, from identifying value-add opportunities and managing communities to navigating today’s changing economic landscape. Whether you’re an active real estate investor, a passive investor seeking dependable income, or an entrepreneur looking to diversify after a successful exit, this conversation offers practical insights into building long-term wealth through one of today’s most resilient real estate investments.
Episode Highlights Here:
Brett
Before we jump into this episode, I want to invite you to join our community to help you become a better steward, scale to billions, and ultimately give more or all of it away. All I want you to do is to click the subscribe button right now. I love your support. It’s incredible to see your comments, and we’re just getting started. I can’t wait to go on this journey with you. Thank you so much for subscribing; it means the world to me. Welcome to the Build to Billions podcast, where you guys’ successful entrepreneurs on their journey from millions to billions. And we believe that the key to scaling and compounding your wealth in life starts every single day with the mindset and practice of stewardship over ownership and applying billionaire biblical principles. Our ultimate goal is to be scale and compound your wealth in life, so you can give more all the way to help MVPs. My name is Brett Swartz. By the way, we’re also streaming on Capital Gains Tax Solutions podcast and YouTube channels as well. And I’m excited about our next guest. He’s out of New York and he has a focus on mobile home park investing and helping you as a passive investor to scale and build up your income passively through mobile home park investing. And he has a unique background as the one of the managing partners at Cornell Communities, and he’s a speaker. He’s also ex Tesla, which is kind of cool.AI nerd. He is a martial artist, and he started his career in finance in a top sales role at Tesla, and then he went all in on real estate. And over the past decade, he has moved from broker to acquisitions to full-time operator. And today, he manages a growing portfolio of commercial real estate across the country through his team. Please welcome to the show with me, Mr. Leo Young. Leo, how we doing?
Leo
Excellent. Thanks so much for having me, Brett. And very excited to share some insights with your listeners.
Brett
Absolutely. If our listeners get to know you for the first time. Would you give us just a little more about your story and your current focus?
Leo
Yeah. So, so my background. I mean, you summed it up very well. I studied finance in college, went into sales at Tesla because I feel like it was a important skill for me to learn at the time, and I’m very much so a feet first kind of guy. I hold myself accountable to build these skills, learned it, got decent at it, and then moved on to real estate. Right, I discovered the power of real estate, of building cash flow, of depreciation, all the all the good stuff. Went and got my real estate license. Was helping people transact in residential and commercial real estate. Then was recruited to join a private equity real estate fund, helping them deploy capital nationwide. Learned how the big players view things and on their time horizon as well. Andthen started my own firm with a partner. Grew it now. We focus specifically on mobile home parks and RV parks. I think right now we’re about 600 units under management. So, you know, growing team, lots of good stuff, and excited to share.
Brett
Fantastic! And for listeners, want to learn more about Leo, you can go toCornellCommunities.com. CornellCommunities.com. So, Leo, what’s what? What is the number one secret right now to mobile home park investing, given the interest rate environment, given where we’re at in this commercial real estate kind of cycle, and what’s maybe a recent deal story that maybe you can share to kind of bring this to light?
Leo
Yeah, so with the interest rates right now, they’re higher than pre-COVID, call it, and they have come down since the 2022 spike. The good part about mobile home parks, especially within commercial real estate, is that it’s a very stable stream of cash flow. So, to the banks, to the lenders, they really like that. So, we’re able to get fixed rate financing a lot better than other types of real estate assets are. So, for us, we just focus on buying deals at a good price, a deal that we can operate well, and we just hold it and we run the business plan. So, something recent that we did, I’ll give you an example. Is just to illustrate how stable this asset is. We closed a deal with a local bank, and we got a 6.25% interest rate and 30-yearamortization. So that’s really, really good rates. I mean, residential mortgage rates are at, 7%So you know, if you’re thinking about like how a lender views things, it views a mobile home park as a less risky investment than your single-family home.
Brett
Absolutely, yeah, and that makes sense. And mobile home parks, yeah, is probably the safest. You know, when it comes to commercial real estate, what, how are you finding deals? Do you feel like sellers are finally meeting the market in the last couple years? For those who you know thought things would change more rapidly with interest, you know, dropping, but they’re not dropping. I thought they would drop. So, what has been your most successful way to find sellers that are willing to sell at an equitable price?
Leo
Yeah, I laugh because unfortunately, this space has only gotten more crowded through the past few years. And it’s now harder than ever to find good deals worth.
Brett
So, if you like this little, short clip of the interview I just did, click over here to watch the full interview, and please don’t forget to subscribe. Thanks so much, everybody.
Watch the episode here:
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About Leo Young
Leo Young is the Founder and Managing Partner of Cornell Communities, a real estate investment firm specializing in the acquisition, operation, and improvement of manufactured housing and RV communities across the United States. With a background in institutional real estate investing and private equity, Leo has been involved in more than $75 million in real estate transactions and is passionate about creating long-term value through recession-resilient, cash-flowing assets that address America’s growing need for affordable housing.
Before founding Cornell Communities, Leo built his career in both private equity real estate and sales leadership, experiences that shaped his disciplined approach to investing, operations, and capital allocation. Today, he works with investors to build wealth through professionally managed real estate syndications while sharing practical insights on manufactured housing, passive investing, and scaling sustainable real estate businesses. His mission is to help investors achieve financial freedom by combining sound investment principles with opportunities that create lasting impact for both residents and communities.
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