First, let’s look at the improbability of the tenants buying the park:

O’Banion says federal grant money is needed to move forward with the $41 million land purchase — something she is unsure they will secure by Nov. 1.

There’s no way on earth that the tenants are going to find a federal grant of at least $10 million in three weeks for the down payment, and everyone knows that. This is the same government that can’t even get a $750 check to the victims of Hurricane Helene.

But there’s an even more worrisome part to these tenant-first-option pitches and that’s the way that the media frames it as a life-or-death predicament:

“History has shown that when an investor purchases a manufactured housing community there is economic eviction because the residents are not going to be able to afford the lot rent that the investor charges,” said O’Banion. 

Here’s where that argument falls apart. There are hundreds of mobile home parks that change hands each year and residents buy somewhere around 10 of those. That’s all. And I don’t see any uptick at all in the vacancy rates in those parks bought by professional investors. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. When a professional investor is the buyer they typically improve the park’s infrastructure, bring in homes to sell to occupy the vacant lots, and install professional management. This leads to a better living experience for the residents and makes detached affordable housing attainable. It’s a total contradiction to the claim that the residents are saddled with “economic eviction”.

The truth is that – and I urge you to research this – many properties that have sold to the residents have had nothing but declining conditions coupled with higher rents than even the professional buyer would have charged. The reason? Committees of residents are terrible managers of the property, having no desire to evict each other for non-payment as well as being incompetent stewards of the property.

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: 10

Even Karl Marx would read this article and say “these California people are nuts!”

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: DESYAT (10 IN RUSSIAN)

"Unfortunately, due to rising costs and limited revenue, Evergreen Village will need to be sold," it read.

I guess the “free rent movement” has some problems out there, such as the landlord’s ability simply to redevelop the park into something more profitable. Ouch.

On Sept. 15, the homeowners organized a community support fundraiser called SOS, or Saving Our Steamboat One Neighborhood at a Time, with music and some 100 donated silent auction items. The fundraising is intended to support any legal costs and a down payment fund. Carter said the fundraiser was well supported by community donations and raised more than $11,000. “The fundraiser went fantastic,” Carter said. “It helped lift the spirits of Milner. It was so nice to see how many people are supporting us and cheering us on. We had so many donations from local businesses. It was truly amazing how many people donated to our fundraiser. We are so thankful to have such wonderful people support us.”

Let’s look at the actual numbers for a minute (yeah, I know that I’m a party pooper). The park is $10 million. That requires at least a $2 million downpayment. The residents have raised $11,000 so far – that’s around $1,989,000 short of the goal. So, let’s just give this idiotic mission up and move on to something else. As the U.S. Army says “hope is not a method”.

I’m sorry but $600 lot rents in a city with $1,750 average apartment rents and $375,000 home prices seems ridiculously cheap. Based on the old axiom of mobile home park lot prices being roughly 50% of apartment rents (which has circulated throughout the industry since at least the 1990s) the actual lot rent should be around $900 per month to be at market levels, not $600. The fact that an amateur mom and pop were charging $300 is not a very convincing testament as to what rent levels should be. In the end, supply and demand is what sets prices, not park owners.

Of course, no reasoning helps when you’re arguing with members of the “free rent movement” who would be unhappy with any rent, regardless of the amount.

The seller is under no obligation, but in this particular case, the seller really did work with the residents, and it’s a pretty exciting outcome," MaineHousing Director Dan Brennan said.It's an exciting outcome with another historic first: the co-op is getting $3 million from the governor's supplemental budget to help close the sale.

Probable Translation: the residents paid $3 million more than the park appraised for and the Governor had to kick in $3 million to close the deal. I think we all know that. Just wait until you see how high the lot rents now have to go to cover the mortgage and the tenant’s inability to manage it properly. My bet is that it will be back on the market in 5 years or less. Maine can’t even get L.L. Bean right anymore (they’re no longer open 24 hours).

The lawyer argues that while third reading was passed by West Kelowna city council on Sept. 10, the rezoning bylaw needs final adoption before evictions can be triggered.

The park is nearly abandoned and they are ready to bulldoze what’s left. Just look at the photo and tell me who’d even want to live in this mess? The attorney is simply delaying the inevitable. Who’s paying him to do this? Can’t be the residents as they all claim to be destitute. You know there’s some “free rent” advocate funding this incredible waste of time. I know this is a Canadian park, but you see this same perversion of the justice system all the time in the U.S. and it’s appalling.

There’s an old Chinese curse that goes “may you be highly visible in times of political uncertainty”. Well, that’s the case here. A simple mistake by a home demolition company (which accidentally hit a propane tank) is launching the same Congressman that wants to expand the Supreme Court to demand that mobile home park residents be protected from “evil landlords”. The problem is that the “evil landlord” in question is none other than RHP, which is arguably one of the best operators in the business. To say that RHP does a poor job of management of their properties is like saying that Patrick Mahomes does a poor job as QB. Of course, even though RHP presents the facts to the media refuting all of Blumenthal’s assertions, the reporters don’t want to hear them since their clientele wants to hang all landlords from the nearest tree. It’s called the “free rent movement”. How could Blumenthal get sucked up into that nonsense? How embarrassing. 

So far this year, Havenpark has kicked-off $20.6 million of its planned improvement projects, with $2.9 million in upgrades already completed.  Additionally, Havenpark expects to begin and complete an additional $9.5 million in upgrades at its properties, surpassing their 2024 investment goal by $2.2 million, totaling $30.1 million in investments across its communities in 2024.

So much for the “free rent” narrative that “out of state landlords are evil”. I’d like to see a local person write a check that large to make necessary improvements. Big outfits are the only ones who have the capital to bring old mobile home parks back to life at this scale, and without them you’d see a fraction of the progress in the affordable housing sector. And all the adults in the room know it.

The media loves to pretend that mobile home parks are somehow inferior in severe weather events than all other forms of housing. I’m sorry but 5’ of water destroys everything in its path – it’s an equal opportunity destruction mechanism. To pretend that a single-family home does better when the water is touching the ceiling is ridiculous.

You are never going to get traction in pretending that mobile homes are site-built until you get them off the boat trailers and down on the ground. Unless you can get that one item repealed from HUD’s rules there’s no chance of any public embrace of this “almost single-family looking” product. Since the Supreme Court just repealed the Chevron Doctrine, this issue needs to be immediately litigated by the manufacturers and fixed. When you can put a mobile home on the ground – like all its housing competitors – then you really have something as far as trying to take on the single-family construction market. Until then, forget it.

JUST IDIOCY

Another vulnerability the residents face is the homes themselves; many were built in the 1970s and '80s and have exceeded their lifespan and have repair/ maintenance issues. The residents are often responsible for having to pay out of pocket for the repairs, Porter noted. HED determined that 62% of mobile home structures were 42 years or older.

I kind of thought that HUD’s 1976 takeover of manufacturing ensured that mobile homes are safe for continual residency and didn’t have “lifespans” like a dog or cat. That’s why they proudly have the HUD seal on the back – the government blessed them as forever homes. Right?

FACT VS. IDIOCY

IDIOCY:

“I think one of the biggest challenges that I've been hearing throughout the last couple years has been the maintenance of roofs and ceilings, and some of the decay over the years,” Addison said. “These are not meant to be permanent housing.”

FACT:

When asked if mobile home repairs are included in their responsibilities as landlords, the company said: “We do not own the mobile homes, and have never owned any of the mobile homes. The tenants own their own homes and are solely responsible for their upkeep as well as their yard and driveway.”

IDIOCY:

Addison, who is running for Richmond mayor this November, said poor living conditions also expose that landlords might not be taking care of infrastructure around the home.

FACT:

The Dressler Corporation, the Florida-based company that owns Mobile Towne, told VPM News via email: “We replaced all the water lines, sewer lines, roads, mailboxes and most of the electrical hookups. Cost over $1.? [sic] Million.”

EXTRA CREDIT IDIOCY:

Note that the mayoral candidate is claiming that mobile homes are not intended to be “permanent housing”. I’m not sure that HUD – or the law -- would agree with her theory.

JUST IDIOCY

The law requires that when mobile or manufactured home park owners prepare to sell their properties, they notify the residents. The residents then have the opportunity to form a homeowners association and purchase the park.

The association has the right to match existing offers and negotiate with the park owner to find mutually beneficial terms. If the owner finds another buyer, residents are supposed to be given the opportunity to match any substantially different offers.

The Shady Acres Mobile Home Park in Danbury went up for sale late last year, triggering the start of this process. Residents formed a homeowners’ association and made plans to purchase the property from owner Cajo LLC, but the deal fell through after inspections showed serious problems with water waste disposal systems that would be expensive to fix.

OK, the tenants had their shot and they blew it. You can’t ask later for a do-over. That’s not how the real world works.

ALL IDIOCY:

“It’s not my job as a legislator to legislate the morality of people, but my goodness, I’ve never seen this type of greed,” said state representative Aaron Saunders, whose district includes Ludlow. “I can’t get past that type of thing happening to folks in our community.”

Yes, this is the same old story about the park that legally filed to raise their rent and the rent control commission agreed. Now the residents are wanting to re-litigate the same thing all over again. You can’t. At least not in the real world. And trying to publicly shame the owner is ridiculous because the rent control board already agreed with the owner that the rent should be raised. The end.

ALL FACT AND NO IDIOCY:

While Point Dume Club is a bit of an outlier, mobile home communities are finding new favor among retirees and losing some of the negativity previously associated with these types of communities. Because getting a new community approved can often be challenging, existing properties are highly desirable. Communities can be solid moneymakers for investors because tenants rarely pick up and move their homes so vacancies are low.

"Some of the most profitable investments are in industries where demand is outpacing supply," Kristin Millington, director of manufactured housing and self-storage at Dallas-based Crow Holdings Capital, told Bisnow earlier this year. "That's the exact dynamic we see present in the manufactured housing space and we don't really see that changing."

Yes, that’s all correct.

ALL IDIOCY:

If you’ve ever even considered buying a mobile home park in California, read this article and that should put an end to the discussion. What a bunch of lunatics.

ALL IDIOCY:

Because they would need to take on a mortgage for the purchase, Fry explained that there would be a significant jump in monthly rents immediately after the sale. However, after that initial jump they could expect to see rent increases of less than 1% per year, he said. If the property was bought by someone else, they didn’t know what could happen. And if the buyer was a big corporation, Fry estimated they could see annual increases of 10% or more.

These residents certainly blew it. Now their rent is the same – or higher – than a third-party would have charged them and the only way they can rationalize it is the delusion that their future increases will be smaller. But here’s a spoiler alert for them: it won’t. As the park ages it will need more infrastructure repair and now, they’ll have to not only raise the rent but figure out how to get the money to pay for those repairs up-front. I’ll bet $50 this park goes make on the market in the future as the tenants realize what a horrible mistake they made.

TOTAL IDIOCY:

The current U.S. housing system creates tremendous profits, but it doesn’t work for everyone. Half of the nation’s 45 million renters pay more than a third of their paychecks to landlords. Every year, landlords file 3.6 million evictions, and 6.7 million live in substandard housing — realities that disproportionately affect people of color. Homeownership doesn’t guarantee protection either, with almost 20 million owners in a similar boat, paying more than 30 percent of their incomes to banks for mortgage payments and other costs.  

This theory that the government should take over the U.S. housing industry came from AOC – need I say more? For anyone who thinks the government can do a better job of things than private industry, I would remind them that the U.S. government just spent $7.5 billion on only 8 EV charging stations. Then there’s the $1 million army toilet story. The list is endless.

COMMON SENSE ALERT: HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR, IT WON’T KILL YOU.

I’ve been in the “trailer park” business for 30 years and I sincerely doubt that anyone truly finds any of this so objectionable that they are going to lose sleep over it. We see this same stereotype shamelessly advanced in absolutely everything on television and the movies.

ST. PETERSBURG — A candidate for City Council has removed posts on social media about a Catholic school fundraiser she hosted two years ago under a “trailer trash tragedy” theme. In May 2022, Torrie Jasuwan posted about the party at her home that included several photos of party guests dressed in ways that promoted stereotypes, including exposed bra straps and fake tattoos. Several were photographed with plastic red cups and cigarettes in their mouths, with one sporting a fake pregnant belly. “Such an epic “Trailer Trash Tragedy” murder mystery party-party for HFCS this weekend!” Jasuwan wrote. “Now to think of our theme for next year...”

The only one who cares about this story is this person’s political rival for that city council spot.

COMMON SENSE ALERT: WHEN YOU BUY THE PARK TO TEAR IT DOWN YOU ARE NOT “SAVING THE PARK”.

This story is so stupid that it’s hard to believe I’m the only one calling them out on it. For several weeks now, the media has been raving about how Charlottesville is “saving the mobile home park” by helping Habitat for Humanity buy the property to then tear it down. They’re not even trying to mask the fact that the wrecking ball is already being lined up.

This comes after it voted in early August to join efforts along with Habitat for Humanity and the Piedmont Housing Alliance to save the park. The City will help financially by committing more than $8 million over a five year time span. The money will be considered a loan. There will be a minimum of 180 units. At least 70% of those rentals will be for households with low to moderate incomes. This is just one component of what would be an overall project involving lots of different eventual requirements from different funding sources,” Councilor Michael Payne said. Construction is set to begin by December 2029 and to be completed by December 2033.

So apparently when Habitat for Humanity tears a mobile home park down they are “saving it” and when anyone else does they are “forcing residents into homelessness”. Pathetic.

COMMON SENSE ALERT: WITH MORE REGULATION COMES HIGHER PRICES WHICH BENEFITS NOBODY.

People buy mobile homes simply because they are inexpensive. When HUD adds on more regulations it simply makes the price higher, while providing nothing of real value to the buyer. Nobody goes around the mobile home park trying to outdo the neighbor by saying “my home saves $4 per year on my energy bill due to my unique window design” but instead says “I sure am glad I bought my mobile home before HUD raised the prices by $15,000 with those new regulations”. I know the nation has gone nuts for ecology and virtue-signaling but the reason you buy a mobile home is not with a concern about energy efficiency. Let rich people worry about all this nonsense and don’t punish those on small budgets with unnecessary add-ons.

Here’s the actual housing stats for Springfield, Massachusetts:

• Single family home price average is $240,800
• 3-bedrroom apartment rent is $1,540 per month.

Against that backdrop, the tenants of a mobile home park have filed suit stating that a rent of $503 per month is abhorrent, unjust, and every other adjective they can think of:

A housing court judge promises to make a decision about a mobile home park’s rent increase appeal by the month’s end. But first, the tenants’ lawyer will file new documents hoping to sway the judge’s decision. Effective Feb. 1, the West Village Mobile Home Community received a nearly $300 rent increase — going from $207 to $503.06 a month — for the land on which their mobile homes sit.

The foundation of their argument is that the rent is going up 150% to get to $503 per month. Apparently what the tenants are hoping is that by focusing on the 150% the judge will somehow be blinded to the fact that – at the new rent – the mobile home park is 66% less than an apartment, and around 90% less than a house.

They better hope that the judge is a total idiot.

I believe that the McDonald’s Value Menu Cheeseburger has gone from $1 to $3.15, which is a 215% increase. But that’s 50% of the cost of the cheeseburger at other restaurants. Get the picture?

COMMON SENSE ALERT: DO YOU THINK TWO YEARS AND $20,000 IS MAYBE OVERKILL ON A $1,000 HOME?

Only in bureaucratic America can it make sense to delay a development for two years and spend $20,000 per home for four holdouts in a mobile home park. The homes in the photo appear to be 1980s models in poor condition and probably worth $1,000 each. Unbelievable.

After about nine months of back and forth, a West Kelowna mobile home park has officially been rezoned to allow for industrial uses. After being deferred twice this year, West Kelowna councillors were satisfied that four remaining residents of Shady Acres Mobile Home Park would be given adequate notice to move out and access to compensation from the developer, Kerr Properties. Brent Magnan, director of development approvals, said that once the zoning bylaw amendment is adopted, that will trigger the 12 month notice period for tenants to vacate as well as the $20,000 compensation for their homes.

I’m sure the poor developer regrets getting involved with a city this out of touch with reality.

COMMON SENSE ALERT: NOBODY BUYS A MOBILE HOME BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY CAN MOVE IT.

All that is great, but the fundamental flaw of manufactured housing remains. Owners of these units typically don’t own the land under them; they rent space in trailer parks. And mobile homes, despite their name, are hardly mobile. Relocating one can cost $10,000 — more than most of their residents can afford.

People buy mobile homes because of their one big strength: THEY’RE INCREDIBLY INEXPENSIVE. Nobody, in real life, ever has the desire to move a mobile home. It has always – and will always – make much more sense to sell it where it sits. Let’s just model that out for a minute for those who are truly common sense challenged. If you buy an old mobile home for $5,000 already set up in a mobile home park in Kansas and then get a new job in Oklahoma, you could move the $5,000 home at a cost of $10,000 (net loss of $5,000) or just sell it to somebody else – exactly where it sits – for $5,000 (so you get all your money back) and then buy another one for $5,000 in Oklahoma. It’s not rocket science. These articles attempt to make you feel that being deprived of your ability to move your housing choice is what makes it a bad buy. The last time I checked you could not move a single-family home or condo either. Give me a break.