Park-Owned vs. Tenant-Owned Homes: Which Model Wins in 2026?

Operators who came up in the 2010s mostly grew up in tenant-owned-home parks: the resident owns the home, the operator owns the dirt, and the rent roll is a clean line of lot-rent revenue. The 2020s have complicated that. Higher home prices, slower retail dealer flow, and infill cycles measured in months rather than weeks have pushed many operators back into park-owning a meaningful slice of their inventory. Here's how the two models compare in 2026.

The economics of each model

Tenant-owned-home (TOH) parks have the cleanest income statement: lot rent in, taxes/utilities/maintenance out, lender-friendly NOI. Capex on the home itself is the resident's problem. Turnover is rare because moving a mobile home costs the resident $5–10K and they generally won't.

Park-owned-home (POH) parks add home rent on top of lot rent — usually 1.8–2.5x the lot-rent figure — but you absorb home capex, faster turnover, and a tenant who can leave without forfeiting a $30K asset. The net is usually higher revenue per lot at the cost of higher operational complexity.

Turnover risk: not what it used to be

Conventional wisdom held that POH turnover was 25%+ annually. We're seeing that number trending down toward 15% in well-run parks because of two factors: longer rent-to-own programs (which lock residents in psychologically), and the broader housing market making any move expensive.

If your park has a TOH base under 60% of total lots, the income premium of POH probably outweighs the turnover headache — but only if you have an in-house turn crew. Outsourcing turns at $4K/turn eats the premium in a hurry.

What lenders see in 2026

Agency lenders (Fannie/Freddie) still prefer high TOH percentages because the income is stickier and the asset doesn't depreciate. CMBS and bridge lenders are more flexible on POH percentage, but they'll discount the cap rate by 25–50 bps versus a comparable TOH park.

If your refi is 18 months out, that cap rate gap is a real number. Convert POH back to TOH on the lots where the resident has been there 5+ years and the home is paid down.

The hybrid strategy most operators land on

We see operators converging on a target: 70–80% TOH, 20–30% POH, with the POH inventory used as an infill bridge. New homes come in as POH on a rent-to-own track, residents convert to TOH after 36 months, and the operator recycles capex into the next infill cycle. It's the model that survived 2024's turbulence the cleanest.