About Harry Shurek EA: Why I Built a CPA Firm Just for MHP Owners

I want to tell you something that most accountants would never say on their about page: the tax rules that apply to mobile home parks are genuinely different from the rules that apply to almost every other real estate asset class. And most CPAs — even experienced real estate CPAs — do not know what they do not know when it comes to MHP taxation.

I know this because I saw it happen, repeatedly, before I built The MHP Accountant.

Where I Started

I am Harry Shurek, and I am an Enrolled Agent. That designation matters — an EA is a federally licensed tax practitioner authorized by the IRS, which means I can represent any taxpayer before the IRS on any tax matter in any state. Unlike a CPA license, which is state-specific, the EA credential is federal. I chose it deliberately because my clients are not limited to one state — mobile home park owners are spread across the country, often owning parks in multiple states, and they need a practitioner who can work with them wherever their portfolio takes them.

Before building a practice focused exclusively on MHP owners, I worked with real estate investors across multiple property types. I saw how real estate taxation works across asset classes — apartments, commercial properties, mixed-use, land. I developed a solid foundation in MACRS depreciation, passive activity rules, 1031 exchanges, and cost segregation analysis.

And then I started working with mobile home park owners, and I saw something I had not seen before.

What I Saw That Most CPAs Were Missing

The most consistent, recurring error I found in MHP returns prepared by generalist CPAs was the misclassification of park-owned homes. Not as a rare edge case — as the default. Most returns I reviewed treated POHs as residential real property at 27.5 years, when IRS Asset Class 00.12 clearly establishes that personal-property-titled manufactured homes in an active MHP business are 5-year personal property.

That one error, compounded across a portfolio of even 10 or 15 homes over 5 years of incorrect filing, represents a substantial amount of missed depreciation. And because of how Form 3115 works, it is often recoverable — but only if someone knows to look for it.

The second thing I saw consistently: no separation of land improvements from the building basis. Roads, utility distribution lines, water and sewer infrastructure, fencing, parking areas — assets that clearly belong in the 15-year land improvement class — lumped into the building basis at 27.5 years, or worse, into the land basis where they receive no depreciation at all. This is an error that is entirely fixable with a proper cost segregation study at acquisition and entirely invisible if no one is looking for it.

The third issue, which takes longer to observe but is just as real: no exit planning. A park owner who has taken five or seven years of depreciation — even correctly — without a coordinated exit strategy may face a tax bill at sale that is significantly larger than it needed to be. The 1031 exchange, the installment sale, the entity restructuring that enables a more favorable exit — these options require lead time. They cannot be created retroactively the week before closing on a sale.

Why I Built The MHP Accountant as an Exclusively MHP-Focused Firm

I could have stayed a general real estate practitioner and taken MHP clients as one segment of a broader practice. That is what most CPAs who work with MHP owners do — they handle apartments, commercial property, land development, and the occasional mobile home park, all within the same generalist real estate practice.

I chose not to do that. The reason is simple: specialization produces better outcomes for clients, and mobile home parks are complex enough as an asset class that genuine expertise requires full focus.

The MACRS rules for manufactured homes, the passive activity analysis for mixed POH/TOH parks, the RUBS accounting treatment, the multi-entity portfolio structures that park owners use, the due diligence financial analysis for acquisitions, the cost segregation coordination with engineering firms who understand manufactured housing infrastructure — these are not skills you develop by occasionally handling a park between apartment deals. They are skills you develop by working exclusively with MHP owners across dozens of transactions and dozens of parks, over time.

When I built The MHP Accountant, I made a deliberate choice to serve only this one client type. That choice means that every engagement I take, every question I answer, every return I file is in the same domain. There is no learning curve on your account. There is no “let me look that up” on a basic question about 5-year asset classification. There is just fluency — the kind that comes from doing nothing else.

What Exclusive MHP Focus Means for You in Practice

Here is what the specialization means for a park owner who works with The MHP Accountant:

When you bring me an acquisition, I already know the questions to ask about POH title status, existing depreciation schedule errors, and purchase price allocation. I have a cost segregation process that I have run with qualified engineers who understand manufactured housing asset classes. I have the acquisition tax plan built before we get to closing.

When you bring me your existing park’s returns, I can identify misclassification errors within the depreciation schedule quickly because I have seen the same patterns repeatedly. If there is a Form 3115 opportunity — years of missed 5-year asset deductions that can be recovered in the current year — I will find it and build the analysis to support it.

When you are thinking about selling, I can model the exit before you have an offer in hand. I know your basis in every asset, your accumulated depreciation profile, your recapture exposure by class, and the options available to structure a more tax-efficient exit. I have that conversation proactively — not reactively when an LOI arrives.

When we are in a planning call, I am not explaining what an MHP is. I already know what RUBS means, what a mixed POH/TOH park looks like, what the cap rate conversation sounds like, what infrastructure costs look like at the lot level. We can get directly to the analysis that matters for your situation.

A Note on What I Do Not Claim

I do not guarantee results. Tax outcomes depend on your specific situation, your income, your entity structure, your asset mix, and decisions that are often made before I am involved. I can tell you what the rules allow. I can identify what prior CPAs missed. I can build a plan that takes advantage of every available opportunity under the law. I cannot promise a specific outcome or a specific dollar amount of savings.

I also do not claim a client count or cite specific results from past client engagements on this page. That kind of credential-signaling is not how I operate. What I offer is expertise, attention, and the kind of engagement that comes from working exclusively in one domain — applied to your specific situation with the full weight of that focus.

How to Work With The MHP Accountant

The best starting point is a 30-minute call. In that call, I ask about your current situation — what parks you own, how they are currently structured, what your CPA is doing (or not doing) on the depreciation and planning side — and you get a sense of whether I can add value and whether we are a fit to work together.

I work with park owners at different stages: active acquirers who are bringing parks under contract and need acquisition tax planning support, existing owners who suspect their depreciation may be wrong and want a review, and portfolio holders who want a year-round strategic advisory relationship. I also work with first-time MHP buyers who are in the due diligence phase of their first acquisition and need a CPA who knows the financial package they are looking at.

I do not take every client who contacts me. I take clients where I believe I can make a meaningful difference in their tax position, and where the engagement makes sense given my exclusive MHP focus. The initial call is where we figure out whether that is the case. See what strategic planning with The MHP Accountant looks like in our post on strategic tax planning services for MHP owners. For the specific depreciation and financial reporting issues I review in every engagement, see our guides to mobile home depreciation and MHP accounting.

Frequently Asked Questions

For the IRS information on Enrolled Agent licensing and authorization, see IRS information on Enrolled Agents.

This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute tax or legal advice. The MHP Accountant recommends consulting a qualified CPA for advice specific to your situation.