Trash Homes

When we bought Arrow Woods there were several abandoned homes in the community. Some of them were worthy of rehabbing and selling; others needed to be removed. The problem was that we did not hold title.

The Probate Office (where we go to do titles) told us that all we had to have for these homes were bills of sale. They are "non-titled" homes in the state of Alabama. They suggested we have the prior park owner write us bills of sales on the homes.

So, now we have bills of sale for three of the homes; two are rahabbed and sold. We actually put VERY little money into a 1967 Marlette because it is such a strong home; the people who bought it think it is the best home they ever saw! Their reaction when they walked in was "this is nice!" Our major cost for this home was putting vinyl siding on it.

One of the other problem homes was abandoned, but we knew the name of the woman who owned it. Since some of our residents knew this woman, we asked them to reach out to her. Her reaction was that she had given this home to the prior owner - she did not want it anymore. We knew it was beyond rehab. It would cost us money to have it moved out of the park, but it definitely needed to go. It was an eyesore.

The man who mows our park offered to take the home for metal value. We jumped at this offer. He disassembled the home on site in a short period of time, sold the metal and the city trash department took away the rest! One problem solved....

We currently have another home that actually had a man living in it until we made him leave. He did not own the home and had no water going to the home - there were broken pipes. Although we know the name of the owner of this home as well, we have not been able to get in touch with him. Our solution with this home was to ask the city to condemn it. The inspector was here and agreed that it needed to go, so we are just waiting for the right paperwork to be completed by the City. At that time we will have this one dismantled as well.

Our third problem home is a newer home, but we may have the city condemn this one, too. We have talked with the owner, who has not paid lot rent in a very long time, and we have talked with Greentree, who has a lien on the home. There is over $4,000 owed in lot rent. Again, there are broken pipes under the home, and many other issues. Greentree can't do anything because the woman is making her house payments - she told us she doesn't want to hurt her credit, so she is making payments! We want to work in the cheapest way possible, and to do an eviction is very expensive (although it would definitely hurt her credit!) If we have this home condemned Greentree would either have to move it out or we would have to take care of it. Either way we would end up in a better position than we are in now.

The City of Troy is very happy with what we have done in this park. The inspector told Jim he wished we would buy two or three other parks in the City since they have a hard time getting rid of the older homes. They know we are very willing to work with them, and they are willing to work with us. What a win-win situation!

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