The On The Rise Podcast
The Asset Class Nobody Brags About With Nathan Jameson
On this episode of the On The Rise Podcast, host Jeremy Dyer talks with Nathan Jameson, who scaled a homebuilding company from $30 million to $160 million before moving into manufactured housing. Now on his third fund, Nathan explains why mobile home communities stay uncorrelated to economic cycles, how cost segregation makes returns largely tax-deferred, and why supply keeps shrinking as demand climbs. He breaks down the three tiers of the asset class, where real value-add comes from, and what new federal legislation could mean for financing. A first-of-its-kind conversation for the show. From homebuilding through the Great Recession. Nathan turned down a Lehman Brothers offer for the "tangible built environment," then spent 15 years building one of the country's largest privately owned homebuilders — and living through a downturn most younger operators haven't. Manufactured housing is uncorrelated to the economy. After a career in cyclical homebuilding, Nathan chose an asset class that holds up either direction. He sees manufactured housing and self-storage as the only two effectively uncorrelated to economic growth and decline. The tax treatment was an unexpected win. Most of the acquisition isn't land — it's land improvements like roads, water, and sewer. With cost segregation, those losses can make an investor's position effectively tax-deferred for years. Supply is shrinking while demand grows. Aging owners sell to buyers who redevelop into data centers, warehouses, or apartments, so national supply keeps falling. Regulation makes new development financially infeasible, and Nathan can't name another asset class with that dynamic. Contrarian by design. "If an investment is something somebody wants to talk about at a cocktail party, I'm probably not interested." Stigma, to Nathan, signals mispricing. There are three tiers — and they target the middle. The bottom tier is the stigmatized trailer park, where raising rents to market "totals the homes." The top is nearly indistinguishable from site-built housing. Nathan's funds work the middle, where value can be added and harvested. Value-add starts with infrastructure, then infill. First: deferred maintenance, utilities, and paving. Then: bringing in new homes and selling them to residents who rent the land. Well-maintained communities build equity for residents, not just owners. Cash flow is a J-curve, and the industry is maturing. Going-in cash-on-cash can start below a Treasury yield before growing to roughly 8–12% through rent increases and infill. Meanwhile institutional capital is compressing cap rates, much as apartments matured decades ago. Website: https://arxcapital.com/ Email: nathan@arxcapital.com 00:00 Introduction 00:58 From Lehman Offer to Homebuilding 04:19 Why Manufactured Housing? 04:59 The Depreciation Advantage 07:10 Shrinking Supply, Rising Demand 09:46 The Three Tiers of Manufactured Housing 12:16 Where the Value-Add Comes From 14:48 Cash Flow in Today's Market 16:51 New Legislation and the Chassis Rule 18:54 The Cycle and the Institutional Future
