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For a developer, mobile-home parks carry most of the advantages and few of the disadvantages of other real estate projects: construction costs are at a minimum and tax benefits at a maximum. Since a park contains few permanent structures, Carlsberg pays lower property taxes than he would on a shopping center or an office building. Tax benefits accrue to his tenants as well. Owners of mobile homes, which are regulated by state motor-vehicle bureaus instead of by local assessors, frequently pay lower taxes than they would on conventional homes—a system that many mayors consider unfair. For that reason, some communities have placed a moratorium on new mobile-home parks. By taking advantage of tax shelters and using mostly borrowed money, Carlsberg aims at a 9% return on his investment. Often he does much better. Last year the Carlsberg Financial Corp., which he owns outright, had after-tax profits of $4,000,000 on revenues of $20 million.
Shrewd as he is on most business dealings, even Carlsberg can come out second best in some real estate matters. Convinced that the $18,000 annual property-tax bill on his palatial marble-columned home in Bel Air was too steep, he recently paid a visit to the tax assessor to complain. After looking into the matter, the assessor agreed that there was an error; he raised Carlsberg's bill to $19,000.