Originally released by Wiscasset Newspaper on March 14th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
Water that, for weeks, was sometimes off, is back on and, knock on wood, will stay on, a lawyer representing Whippoorwill Mobile Home Park’s management firm, Maine Real Estate Management (MREM), said. According to attorney Michael Harman of Bloomer Russell Beaupain in Bangor, pumps at the fully occupied, 31-unit park on Route 27 in Wiscasset repeatedly kicked off due to a shortage of water and had to be manually restarted.
Whippoorwill retained Maine Rural Water to do sonogram studies, as a leak was suspected, Harman explained in phone interviews and in letters March 2 and 7 to Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation...
The government department for park owners in Maine is the “Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation Manufactured Housing Board”? That’s funnier than the fake spokesperson article above. I’d like to see that letterhead.
First the resident harass the owner over the water system, and then are horrified when he decides to simply shut the park down and redevelop it into something else. Has anyone ever heard the old adage “biting the hand that feeds you”?
Originally released by Realtor on March 13th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
Mobile homes have come a long way. Despite their reputation as a last resort for desperate homebuyers who can’t afford a “traditional” home, these prefabricated structures are not all depressing metal boxes. They can be stylish, well designed, and extremely affordable options for a buyer looking to either downsize or get a foot in the housing market.
Today, mobile homes have interiors that are sometimes truly extraordinary. If you don’t believe us, check out this mobile home in the Hamptons that was recently sold for a record price of $3.75 million.
Spurred by that big buy, we perused listings nationwide to find seven stylish mobile homes...
When you pay $1,000 to $3,000 per square foot for a mobile home, you have to be basically nuts. A nice stick-built home can be had for less than half that amount – and comes with the land underneath. Overpaying for an asset is nothing to be proud of, but it is fun to see just how stupid people can be.
Originally released by The White House on March 9th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
President Biden believes that everyone deserves to live in a safe and affordable home. Whether you rent or own, having a place to live that you can afford in a neighborhood with opportunities is the foundation for so much else in life.
It’s also the foundation for so much else in our economy. A lack of quality affordable housing hinders the job market and holds back economic growth by making it harder for workers to access good-paying jobs. It drives up costs for families and inflationary pressures. It also increases commutes and inefficient energy consumption, which exacerbates climate change. And a lack of affordable housing...
Since the Democrats no longer have control of Congress, the odds of the Biden budget ever actually going anywhere is probably lower than the Chicago Bears winning the Superbowl in 2023. Actually, the Bears probably have a better shot.
Originally released by New Hampshire Public Radio on March 13th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
Julia Neily has lived in Lebanon for the last 25 years. Recently, she tried to find a one-bedroom rental in the Upper Valley for her mom — who lives in Massachusetts — so that they could live closer to each other. But it wasn’t easy.
“Oh, my gosh, horrible,” she said. Listings were going so fast that she barely had time to send in an application. “As soon as you find a place, it was gone in a day.”
Jeongyoon Han
/
NHPR
Julia Neily has lived in Lebanon for the last 25 years. Her sister who also lives there. Neily tried looking for a rental in the Upper Valley for their mother — but after a drawn-out search yielded few options, she...
Only a handful of towns in New Hampshire’s Upper Valley are taking up zoning changes this town meeting season. But farther south, in New London, town officials are also pushing for changes in an effort to address the housing shortage.
“I think we’re feeling the same pressures as the rest of the state in the housing market,” New London Zoning Administrator Adam Ricker said. “We’ve been hearing from our major institutions that they’re having a hard time recruiting because people can’t find housing — not just in New London, but anywhere in a reasonable commuting distance that’s affordable for the positions that they’re recruiting for.”
Recent census data shows that single family units make up the vast majority of New London’s housing. This spring, the town’s planners are hoping voters will be open to incentivizing different types of housing developments. That would include multi-family homes, condos, and workforce units. Another proposal would grant density bonuses — financial incentives to build units in a specified development project — in certain parts of town where planners think more housing would work well.
Paradis, who leads the town’s planning board, said that kind of mixed housing stock is exactly what the town needs: Right now, New London officials say out of the more than 2000 units in town, only 7 are available. Building a variety of housing, Paradis said, would allow many different people to make New London a home.
“I don't think you're going to see a wholesale change,” he said. “We would just have different types of housing beyond just single family housing in certain areas where it makes sense.”
Ricker said it’s hard to tell how the proposals will go over when voters finally weigh in.
“I think that whatever the will of the voters ends up being, it will provide the planning board data,” he said. “Then, they can readjust and decide what their path forward will be.”
Originally released by Houston Chronicle on March 10th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
Houston-based Live Lone Star Communities unveiled the first of several manufactured home communities planned across Texas as it aims to provide affordable homes in a setting that incorporates elements found in upscale master-planned communities.
The developer on Tuesday provided a preview at The Landing at Pearland, a gated 55-acre community at 17730 County Road 127, near Pearland Regional Airport. The $34 million project includes plans for 420 home sites and is expected to open in April.
“The goal is to bring quality manufactured homes with amenities to markets where houses are so expensive that it’s keeping people from owning in those...
“The homes range from two to five bedrooms, contain 850 to 2,200 square feet, and sell from about $80,000 to $170,000, according to Live Lone Star. Residents pay monthly fees of about $675, which cover lot rental, use of the amenities and common-area maintenance.” If you add in the lot rent, that’s the same as a mortgage on a $180,000 to $270,000 stick-built home. You can buy a really nice single-family home in Missouri for that much money.
Originally released by azcentral on March 13th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and our colleagues on the Phoenix City Council have an opportunity to join our efforts to keep more than 130 families out of homelessness.
It should be an easy choice, but it will require real leadership.
This past week, we worked to pass protections for residents facing imminent eviction at three mobile home parks in Phoenix: Periwinkle, Weldon Court and Las Casitas, now called Beacon.
These protections hinge on creating a zoning designation that would keep these properties as mobile home parks. This would allow residents – like elementary student Daniel Ochoa and his five siblings, and U.S. Army veteran Gerald...
The author of this story believes that it is the fundamental right of the city council to force property owners to accept whatever zoning (and value) the city cares to designate. This is completely contrary to all property rights – and is one more example that woke journalists are completely insane. If a mobile home park owner wants to sell their land for redevelopment that’s completely their legal right. One of the fundamental underpinnings of socialism is the removal of the right to privately own property and this writer apparently thinks that’s a great idea.
Originally released by Phoenix New Times on March 9th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
The city of Phoenix is considering several ways to halt evictions that are displacing mobile home park residents across the Valley.
At an emotional meeting of the City Council's Community and Cultural Investment Subcommittee on Monday, councilmembers heard from residents at three different Phoenix trailer parks that are facing evictions in the coming weeks. In more than an hour and a half of testimony, residents and supporters pleaded with the elected officials to take action to stop the evictions.
Councilmembers Betty Guardado, Carlos Garcia, and Yassamin Ansari voted to bring several policy suggestions to the full city council, including...
Here’s what the writer of this article is promoting:
“The councilmembers also recommended that the city partner with a nonprofit to study the city's mobile home parks. The city would then use the study to create a special zoning overlay, which would prevent property owners from redeveloping mobile home parks and changing the land use without city approval.”
This would effectively qualify as a “public taking” of these parks and there is a methodology to that which would require the city to pay the park owners what they could get for the land for redevelopment. But, of course, the city does not want to pay anything for this ability to “take” these properties so they want to put an overlay on them to reduce their value without paying the difference.
If the city council passes this, I would hope that the park owner sues each and every council member personally for illegally taking away their property rights. That will get their attention and perhaps end their pandering to this nonsense. I saw this same thing happen in the 1980s when a landowner tried to tear down a grocery store to build a movie theater. The neighbors didn’t want to lose the grocery store, so they convinced the Dallas city council to vote to refuse to allow the developer to build the theater, even though it meant all their guidelines. The property owner filed suit personally on each member of the city council the following morning and the council mysteriously voted to undo their ruling within a couple days.
Originally released by The Press Democrat on March 10th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
At Thursday’s marathon session to set Santa Rosa City Council's policy priorities for the year, several residents showed up to remind officials the recent rent control law governing mobile home parks remains unfinished.
“We have a real mess,” mobile home owner and longtime advocate Roger McConnell said during public comment. ”This has gone on and on...We need help. We need to get this done. Please.”
On Dec. 6, the council updated a decades-old law restricting how much mobile home park owners can raise rent each year on the land under residents’ homes.
Previously, Santa Rosa’s mobile home rent control, governed by different laws than other...
Originally released by The Union Democrat on March 13th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
Residents of Woods Creek Mobile Home Park and RV Resort between Sonora and Jamestown were cleaning up Monday from the path of destruction left by a severe weekend storm that produced a rare confirmed tornado which touched down Saturday afternoon in the Jamestown area.
Rhonda and Don Casner, residents of the creekside-hillside community for more than five years, said the storm on Saturday brought extreme, sideways, circular winds, uprooted trees and flying tree limbs, rains pouring through broken windows and damaged roofs, and flood waters from rising Woods Creek that severely damaged or destroyed the two homes closest to theirs, set one...
Only 5 out of 91 mobile homes were severely damaged in a tornado hit directly on the park? Pretty impressive. Mobile homes are a lot tougher than people give them credit for. Of course, the modern tie-down is a big part of the story, as a mobile home that breaks loose from the ground becomes effectively a giant, flying wrecking ball.
Originally released by The Durango Herald on March 14th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
Nearly a month has passed since the water stopped running at Lightner Creek Mobile Home Park on Feb. 13. With each passing week, the situation has continued to devolve as the park’s owner, Darlene Mann, finds herself facing mounting legal trouble.
But as of Friday evening, Mann is no longer in control. She signed an agreement leasing the property on a month-to-month basis to Chris Hamilton, a Durango attorney who has been under contract to buy the park for over a year and a half. Hamilton will take control of the park effective April 1.
Although Mann has been pressured by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for years...
Great quote from the new owner who is trying to bring this old park back to life:
“Darlene claims, and may be right, that she doesn't have the money to save the park, to fix the water,” Hamilton said. “If the water doesn't get fixed, the park will implode and have to close down and that will be the end of it for everybody there. They don't deserve that, they're innocent people. And no one else is going to do it.”
This is one of those rare articles that is actually fair and balanced.
Originally released by The Sun on March 13th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
Harmony Communities, the property management company that purchased a troubled Fresno mobile home park, appears to have used a prank name as it worked on its PR issues.
The Stockton-based company interfaced with Fresno-based media under the pseudonym “Heywood Jablóm,” presented as the director of communication and marketing, but a report from The Business Journal revealed that he does not exist and that the name is merely a play on a play-on-words sex joke.
The backstory: Harmony Communities stepped in as the buyer of the troubled Trails End Mobile Home Park in north Fresno last year for $1.7 million.
The first funny mobile home park story of 2023. Why not make a joke of how unfair the media portrays mobile home park owners by inventing a fake official spokesperson and spoofing reporters who are too stupid to figure it out?
Originally released by The Bourne Enterprise on March 10th, 2023
Commentary made on March 17th, 2023
Preview:
Shock and disbelief.
Those are the words used by The Park at Pocasset residents Albert MacDonald, Jim McSharry, and Bill Lytle to describe their feelings when the Barnstable Superior Court handed down its ruling in a case surrounding the sale of the park three months ago.
All three men are members of the park’s resident association, which has been enveloped in a three-year-long legal battle over the park’s sale. Mr. MacDonald, a resident for more than eight years, could not believe what he read until he saw it in print: the court had ruled against the Pocasset Park Association, the residents group intent on purchasing the community,...
A judge shoots down each and every claim from a group of disgruntled residents and decides that the tenants failed in their quest to buy the park under their first option, having failed to get the necessary resident signatures to start the process by around 30%. The crazy part is that the residents were able to keep this case in court for years when the whole case was so stupid. Shame on this judge who wasted so much time and legal fees on points of law that any sane adult could have ruled on within an hour.
Originally released by 10 WBNS on February 27th, 2023
Commentary made on March 3rd, 2023
Preview:
ORIENT, Ohio — At least two homes in a mobile home community flipped due to powerful storms that moved through central Ohio on Monday.
The Pleasant Township Fire Department said multiple agencies were called to the Fox Lair Trailer Park on Goosehollow Circle around 4:30 p.m., just as the storms were moving through the area.
The fire department said two homes flipped and people were trapped inside. Everyone was safely taken out of the homes, but some residents suffered minor injuries, according to the sheriff's office.
The sheriff's office said a tornado hit the community, but that will need to be confirmed by the National Weather...
Originally released by The Islander on February 28th, 2023
Commentary made on March 3rd, 2023
Preview:
The clock is ticking on the future of a bayside community in Bradenton Beach.
Homeowners in the Pines Trailer Park, 103 Church Ave., Bradenton Beach, must decide: Will they buy the park?
The Jackson Partnership LLLP of Bradenton, which lists Richard and William Jackson as partners, owns the land-lease community. In this case, the land lease allows the owner of the mobile home to lease the land where the home is situated. The most common land-lease communities are manufactured home communities.
The partnership made the homeowners association an offer Jan. 25 to buy the park for $16 million, according to some residents.
OK, look at the photo of the homes. Then tell me how it makes sense for those folks to pay $183,000 each for their lots. Maybe these Floridians have not travelled much, but $183,000 will buy you a nice stick-built house in the Midwest for all cash. Why would you want to live in this park – based on the photo in the article – and not a nice, brick home on a golf course fairway in Kansas City for that same price? There must be more to Florida than meets the eye.
Originally released by Bennington Banner on February 27th, 2023
Commentary made on March 3rd, 2023
Preview:
MANCHESTER — Several months ago, when more than a dozen state agency officials came to the Manchester Community Library to talk about ways towns could use federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars, interim Town Manager Leslie Perra and town Assessor Gordon Black were in attendance and asking questions about how those dollars might help the town extend sewer service up Main Street.
It paid off — to the tune of as much as $603,756 of the cost of running sewer service and water, from the library north to the Manchester Mobile Home Park. Word arrived Monday afternoon that the town had been awarded the grant, Black said.
Real smart to publicly shame a park owner who is trying to fix a broken water pipe but can’t get the part due to the “supply chain crisis”. When this owner shuts down and redevelops the park into a different use in the future, I’m sure he’ll tell the same newspaper “I’m shocked you didn’t see this coming as you were responsible for it”. Not sure if the writer did any research on this topic, but the City of Jackson in Mississippi has not had water in five months now https://www.foxnews.com/us/jackson-mississippi-preparing-go-without-water-periodically-for-up-10-years-crisis-continues.
Originally released by Digital Journal on February 28th, 2023
Commentary made on March 3rd, 2023
Preview:
Market Research, INC. has recently published a report on Mobile Homes market which is an essential tool for businesses to gather critical insights about their target markets, competitors, and industry trends. With the increasing complexity of the global business environment, companies need accurate and up-to-date information to make informed decisions and stay ahead of the competition. That’s why we are excited to announce the release of our latest market research report, which provides comprehensive insights into the industry.
Our report is a comprehensive study of the industry, covering a range of topics from market size, growth...
Since there are no mobile home parks in most of these countries, can somebody please explain …
Mobile Homes Market Regional Analysis:
The research study covers North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa on the basis of productivity, thus focusing on the leading countries from the global regions. Our report also provides a deep dive into the consumer behavior and preferences, which can help businesses understand their target audience better.
Originally released by Patch on February 27th, 2023
Commentary made on March 3rd, 2023
Preview:
KILLINGWORTH, CT — State Attorney General William Tong has launched an inquiry into longstanding property management concerns at Beechwood Community mobile manufactured home park in Killingworth.
Tong has received numerous complaints over the last year from Beechwood Community residents who have seen sustained, escalating rent hikes despite deteriorating conditions, according to a statement.
Beechwood residents, like many residents of mobile manufactured home parks, own their homes but pay monthly rent for the lot of land they sit on which covers various common amenities, including property maintenance.
Not sure if Attorney General Tong knows who he is dealing with, but SUN is one of the largest and best REITs out there, with strong management and great properties. When the facts come to light, I’m betting Tong regrets this publicity stunt.
Originally released by New York Post on February 24th, 2023
Commentary made on March 3rd, 2023
Preview:
In the summer of 1998, Ken Hilderbrandt was contemplating buying a bigger boat — or a beachfront trailer on a wave-swept bluff in Montauk overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
“There was a [for-sale] sign on the window, rotted off,” Hilderbrandt, 85, told The Post, recalling the dilapidated trailer sitting on a 1,972-square-foot lot of land within Montauk Shores, the former seaside campsite for working-class vacationers, locals and surfers. Hilderbrandt, who owns a jet-ski rental business in Bellport, saw the potential. Sure, it was a fixer-upper off a dirt road — but the million-dollar ocean views pulled him in like a riptide. The asking...
I find this article disturbing at the sheer amount of arrogant waste that some Americans indulge in today and the fact that the media relishes this type of over-the-top behavior. When you spend nearly $4 million for an 800 square foot mobile home on the beach, you are basically depriving a willing charity of $4 million that could actually do many people some good. If this buyer had donated that $4 million to St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis (the non-profit that treats children with cancer for free) think of how many kids and families could have their lives changed. Or you could start your own non-profit and give the money to individuals in need. But to waste that type of money on literally nothing is a testament to the complete lack of moderation and morality which is currently ruining our society. I’m all for buying nice things, but this story is all about sheer and utter waste – literally burning $4 million in a bonfire. The fact that a media outlet would find it funny and cute is gross.
Spending $3 million to save a 28 space park from the wrecking ball equates to over $100,000 per household. Why not simply give each family $100,000 cash to go by a stick-built home with no lot rent. Sure, some may need to move to a different town, but what is Missoula really trying to prove here? It just makes no economic sense.
Originally released by RVTravel on February 25th, 2023
Commentary made on March 3rd, 2023
Preview:
News and Analysis
San Rafael R.V. Park moves to evict tenants in wake of Ninth Circuit Court decision
Nearly all residents of the R.V. Park of San Rafael, in California, received eviction notices in early February after the property owner, K&M Family Trust, lost a rent battle in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Donna L. Chessen, trustee of the K&M Family Trust, argued that the City of San Rafael misapplied its Mobilehome Rent Stabilization Ordinance (“MRSO”) to her property, the R.V. Park of San Rafael, representing an illegal “taking.” A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit disagreed.
When pushed as to why the park owners shut the park down after the city and residents united to sue to block the rent from being increased, the owner gave the quote of the week: “the park has been operating at a loss for several years and has been fighting to keep this park open so no resident will have to move. The reality is the land is worth much more than operating an RV Park for affordable housing.”
When will people learn that low rents = park redevelopment? Apparently never.
Originally released by The Spokesman-Review on February 27th, 2023
Commentary made on March 3rd, 2023
Preview:
The Cheney City Council will introduce a zoning ordinance on Tuesday night that will put residents of the North Cheney Mobile Home Park in the crosshairs.
The ordinance would rezone a lot located off State Highway 904 for mixed-use development, worrying some residents at the mobile home park that it’s just the first step before they are ultimately evicted.
“I don’t want to live in a tent in Spokane,” said Douglas Brunell, a 73-year-old resident and Air Force veteran who bought a mobile home in 2006 and has lived at the park for the past 17 years.
Plans for the property are “kind of to be determined,” said Clifton Trimble, land use planner...
Yet another State of Washington article designed to sway politicians that rent control for mobile home parks is a great idea (a clearly unified woke journalist effort). I hope the politicians actually read this one though, as the park is being torn down for a mixed use development since the rents are too low ($250 per month lot rent in Washington State – seriously?). You can’t have it both ways. Either you get higher rents or parks get torn down. Your choice, politicians of the State of Washington.
Originally released by Zip06 on February 28th, 2023
Commentary made on March 3rd, 2023
Preview:
KILLINGWORTH
Attorney General William Tong has sent a letter to Sun Communities, Inc. management, opening an inquiry into longstanding property management concerns at Beechwood Community mobile manufactured home park on Route 81, according to a release issued by his office. The manufactured home park has been the epicenter of complaints by residents who claim a steady rise in rentals fees and the reduction of services has placed many residents on fixed incomes in a position where they may not be able to afford to stay in their homes.
Residents of Beechwood and several other area home parks owned by Michigan-headquartered Sun Communities...
My guess is that Attorney General Tong is trying to get some PR in Connecticut for a future run for Governor or Congress and decided that this was a good way to get some free publicity. SUN is one of the best operators in the mobile home park sector and I am willing to bet that Tong is making a fool of himself for pretending otherwise. The good news is that SUN has a large budget for legal fees and I’m betting Tong is about to find out that there’s a whole other side to this story built on fact and paper trail ad not just the verbal allegations of a bunch of tenants.
Originally released by PR Newswire on February 28th, 2023
Commentary made on March 3rd, 2023
Preview:
GILBERT, Ariz., Feb. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Roots Management Group has partnered with DoorDash's Project DASH to deliver canned foods and dry goods to Roots residents in need in Arizona manufactured housing communities. Project DASH is DoorDash's initiative to empower food banks, food pantries, and social impact organizations to leverage DoorDash logistics to increase access in their communities. Since Project DASH was launched in 2018, it has powered over 3.5 million deliveries of an estimated more than 60 million meals in the U.S. and Canada.
Roots surveyed residents in seven of its Treehouse Communities to determine how best to meet...
Interesting idea but I’m a bit confused on the mechanics. Doordash charges a big fee for delivery and these people who need assistance have no money – so who is paying for this? The writer needed to give better specifics, but I’m all for new ideas if they actually help someone.
