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KRCR: Not over yet: Mobile home park residents set sights on rent stabilization ballot measure

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CHICO, Calif. — "Don’t give up on us," said Celeste Macklin. "Let us get this rent stabilization passed so we can get some happiness in our final years."

Macklin was among the residents of Pleasant Valley Mobile Estates who attended Tuesday night's Chico city council meeting in support of a rent stabilization ordinance. Residents point to back-to-back rent increases, which they say is a result of "corporate greed."

"Because we are on limited incomes, we can’t afford these things without any kind of preparation or anything," Macklin said.

Council members ultimately voted against the proposal in a 4-2 vote. KRCR reached out to the council...

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Residents point to back-to-back rent increases, which they say is a result of "corporate greed."

In a world of stupid quotes, this one has to be the winner. If these residents have not noticed (and you know they have if they drive a car, shop for food, have insurance, or pay utilities) the prices under the Biden administration have risen more than 20% in the past three years. I don’t think it’s fair to say that raising lot rent every year is a sign of “corporate greed” but instead “corporate survival”.

What a ridiculous and non-supportable position to take!

WATE: Time running out for Maryville mobile home park residents given notice to vacat

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MARYVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Time is running out for some people in Maryville to either move or sell their mobile homes. WATE’s Don Dare returned to the park where residents were given a 90-day notice on March 30.

Teenager Ashley Leon and her mother, Laida, are cleaning up what’s left of their homesite after paying to have their trailer moved from the Thornhill Mobile Home Park a few days ago. Some residents in the Maryville community have already pulled their trailers out. People who own their homes received an Expiration of Lease and Notice to Vacate in late March. The park owner demands in the letter that residents either lease their...

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Another story about a mobile home park being torn down and redeveloped into a different use – this time as single-family home lots. Spotting a trend here?

The Jolt News: Resident-owned manufactured home community would replace The Jungle

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Olympia announced plans to apply for a $40.9 million federal grant to help create a new affordable housing community in the area commonly called “The Jungle.” On Tuesday, June 18, Anastasia Everett, Olympia's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program manager, presented the proposal to the city council.

If awarded, the Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) grant would fund a new resident-owned manufactured home community (MHC), which is tentatively named the Woodard Creek Manufactured Home Community. The city has partnered with the Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC) for the project,...

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Only in Olympia, Washington could you find people who think that $40 million is a fair price to build 50 tiny homes – that’s nearly a million dollars per home! I’m not even sure if we should tell the non-profit the sad truth that they can bop on over to the local Clayton dealer and buy the same thing for $50,000 each – they would probably take offense at that being pointed out. What a bunch of monumental idiots.

MLive: As private equity buys up mobile home parks, Michigan ranks second highest

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Big-pocketed investors have built a thick portfolio of Michigan mobile home parks – with one in 10 now owned by private equity firms.

In recent years, mobile home parks across the country have been purchased by investors at a rapid pace. But a new tracker released this week by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a watchdog group, reveals the full scope of private equity’s stake in manufactured housing.

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Baltimore Terrace Mobile Home Park in Hastings on Monday, April 17, 2023. After the mobile home park was purchased by hedge fund-linked investment firm, some residents say the water quality is poor and repairs are being ignored while rent prices have increased. 

There’s probably no bigger falsehood forwarded by woke media outlets than the narrative that private equity groups do a worse job of maintaining their properties than mom and pop owners ever did. When a new buyer closes on a deal, they can’t make immediate enhancements without following a defined timeline that includes statues on enactment of rules enforcement, lining up contractors who are often months out on availability, and having to contend with weather issues (for example, you can’t pave roads in the winter, etc.). That means that any writer could drive through virtually any newly acquired mobile home park a few days after closing and declare “look, it’s just as bad as it was before” since there’s no possibility that anything has yet been accomplished. Of course, if they visited a few months later they would be blown away by the extensive improvements and the happy tenants who now love where they live. This reality is further backstopped by institutional lenders that produce property condition reports as part of loans and require improvements to be made within certain time boundaries.

Therefore, the truth – as any person with common sense would already grasp – is that private equity groups inject millions of dollars into infrastructure and home improvements in American mobile home parks on a regular basis (exactly what mom and pop owners cannot afford to do) and, without these groups entering the industry, the overall quality of parks would be substantially lower with a larger number of parks having been torn down and redeveloped.

While it is true that private equity group buyers often raise rents, that’s also true of any new buyer – large or small – and that includes even when the residents buy the parks themselves under a “resident-owned community” structure. Higher rents are necessitated by servicing large, new loans, fixing up infrastructure, installing professional management, and covering ever-escalating operating costs thanks to the highest inflation in 40 years. With the average U.S. mobile home park lot rent standing at around $300 per month vs. $2,000 per month for apartments, it’s baffling how park owners are endlessly criticized for rent increases which normally hover around $50 per year. The last time I looked, that’s how much more I’m paying for a single gas tank fill-up under the Biden administration.

Did you notice the date on the caption on this article’s photo? April 17, 2023. That’s over a year ago. Why did the writer not use a current photo? Probably because the improvements have now been made and the park  looks a thousand times nicer after the private equity group finished their property improvements! You gotta love the media’s manipulation of the facts.

vtdigger: Officials alarmed by apparent rebuilding of manufactured home park in floodplain

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Construction activity at a manufactured home park in Berlin that flooded catastrophically last summer is raising alarm bells among state and town officials, who have hinted at possible legal action to stop the work.

The Berlin Mobile Home Park is located on a narrow stretch of land off the Barre-Montpelier Road, right alongside the Stevens Branch of the Winooski River. 

After floodwaters swept through the park last July, dozens of residents were displaced. 

Since then, the park has sat uninhabited, with numerous flooded-out homes still onsite as of earlier this week. On Tuesday, a construction crew could be seen rehabilitating a home at...

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Virtually the entire town of Montpelier, Vermont was wiped out in a recent flood. However, it appears that only the mobile home parks are having problems with the city allowing them to put their businesses back in order. Sure, you can claim it’s for the common good, but we all know that it’s probably simply the city trying to find a good excuse to get the “trailer parks” out of their town. Considering that downtown Montpelier had 5’ of floodwater it only makes sense that those high-rise buildings need to come down, too, unless they can be raised out of the flood zone, right?

Wikipedia tells us that Montpelier has flooded three times over the last 100 years, with the last time being in 1992. Seems odd that the city had no problem letting the mobile home parks be rebuilt in 1992 but now something has changed. That “something” is probably the city’s desire to take advantage of the situation to get the mobile home parks and their residents out of the city limits, of course.

WRAL News: Harnett County commissioners reject rezoning for proposed mobile home park

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Residents of Victoria Hills can breathe a sigh of relief after the Harnett County Commissioners voted unanimously to deny a request to rezone a 10.5-acre plot of land for a mobile home park.

For four years, Brenda Oakley, a resident of Victoria Hills, has enjoyed the peace and quiet of her neighborhood.

However, a recent proposal threatened to disrupt that tranquility.

“I’m going to be very very sad, one my house value is going to go down… I don’t think it is a good thing,” Brenda Oakley, Resident said.

After a public hearing where residents voiced their opposition, the Harnett County Commissioners unanimously rejected the rezoning...

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For those who falsely claim that there will be any meaningful number of new mobile home parks built in the U.S. in the years ahead, please read this quote from the article:

Residents of Victoria Hills can breathe a sigh of relief after the Harnett County Commissioners voted unanimously to deny a request to rezone a 10.5-acre plot of land for a mobile home park.

That’s pretty much the normal reaction to proposed new mobile home park construction in every American market that I have ever attended a zoning meeting in (including my small town in Missouri). And I’ve been to hundreds of them.

You see, NOBODY wants a mobile home park built in their neighborhood. No zoning board or city council is ever going to approve a new park as a result. And no laws passed in Washington, D.C. are going to be able to negate the simple rules of local zoning.

End of story.

That does not include limited park expansions in which the “sting” of a new mobile home park neighbor is off the table nor does it mean that there is no path forward for higher-density subdivisions using new methods of construction, like 3-D printed homes. But as far as new mobile home parks – in the classical sense – that’s got about as much chance of success as me bouncing a basketball over the top of the Empire State Building – fruitless but fun to watch.

I know that there are many in the mobile home industry that talk about this topic constantly. So here’s my challenge. If I’m wrong on this theory, please send me a list of actual new parks with addresses constructed over the last few years. Not just talked about. Not just plans drawn. Not just investor funds raised. And with around 44,000 mobile home parks in the U.S., for new construction to be “meaningful” it would have to be an addition to the established list of parks of at least 5%, or 2,200 new parks, to be even worth talking about. If you have that list of fully constructed new parks, send it my way. But don’t feel bad if you can’t come up with any to put on the list – I can’t either.

KIRO NEWSRADIO: 90 Lynnwood residents — mostly seniors — on verge of homelessness

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Residents throughout Western Washington are feeling the sting of rent hikes. In Lynnwood, 90 homeowners are facing a substantial increase in lease payments.

The 90 residents, most of whom are seniors, live in the manufactured home community of Royal Wood Estates. The residents own their homes and have no mortgage rates, but still have to pay rent on the land their homes sit on — in other words they own their homes but not the land underneath them.

A new landowner of the property said maintaining their utility connections will require a spike in rent. And because a majority of the residents are seniors on fixed incomes, residents spoke out...

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The “free rent movement” folks just can’t accept the fact that Washington nixed rent control last year despite so many woke journalists being convinced it would go through. They still have the party hats and streamers in their closets. As a result, they continue to write articles on the topic despite it having zero hope of passage at this time. Kind of reminds me of Bill Murray’s “Groundhog Day” film in which every day repeats itself when the alarm clock goes off in the morning.

Yahoo! Finance: Ohio Seniors Demand Rent Control As Mobile Home Rents Spike Eric McConnell

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Ohio senior citizens are so fed up with spiraling rent costs at their mobile home parks that they want the state legislature to enact rent control laws. They recently protested in front of the statehouse to emphasize their demand for curbs on rent. However, it is unlikely that those protests will yield the results they are looking for, mainly because Ohio's state legislature enacted a statewide ban on rent control in 2022.

Rent control laws are state or local ordinances that allow governments to cap landlords’ or property owners’ increases in tenant rents. They are commonplace in many cities on the East and West Coasts with high costs of...

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Ohio senior citizens are so fed up with spiraling rent costs at their mobile home parks that they want the state legislature to enact rent control laws. They recently protested in front of the statehouse to emphasize their demand for curbs on rent. However, it is unlikely that those protests will yield the results they are looking for, mainly because Ohio's state legislature enacted a statewide ban on rent control in 2022.

Ohio made rent control illegal in 2022 because IT’S A TERRIBLE IDEA. And, since Ohio legislators had the common sense to make it illegal, what’s the point in writing an article promoting the need for rent control in Ohio? I’m betting the author of this article was unaware of the 2022 law when he wrote it and then didn’t have time to write a different article when he found out this fact so he said “f**k it”, added that one sentence disclaimer, and submitted it anyway. What a waste of time.

WFTV Orlando: “Everyone here is on social security”: New law to give mobile home park residents more rights

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The new mobile home law was discussed Monday at a news conference at Sugar Mill Mobile Home Park in Saint Cloud.

Sugar Mill Mobile Home Park is where residents first complained to Florida state representative Paula Stark, which led her to champion Florida HB 613.

HB 613, also known as the “Mobile Home Park Lot Tenancies” bill, was a house bill passed in the 2024 Florida Legislature. It will go into effect July 1.

“The most important part of that is that the homeowner associations and park owners association started talking,” Representative Stark said.

Representative Stark was motivated by concerns from residents like Victoria Frisenta,...

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It will also provide residents a mediation period, potentially negotiating a rent increase

Yes, this is the new Florida law that allows residents to sue for mediation every time the rent goes up, despite the fact that Florida has no rent control. Florida legislators have clearly lost their minds and I can’t imagine what other idiocy they will propose next. If you thought that Florida was a red state, think again. I’m betting you’ll soon see a larger number of Florida parks for sale on Mobilehomeparkstore.com in the near future.

The Daily Gazette: Proposed law mandates mobile homes come equipped with weather radio

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(The Center Square) – The governor is expected to sign House Bill 5238, which will mandate developers and operators of mobile home communities to provide and install a weather radio in each mobile home.

The bill goes further and encourages operators of mobile home communities to provide a written reminder to owners to the homes to replace the batteries in the weather radio. The operators are encouraged to provide reminders during National Fire Prevention Week. Opponents argue the unfunded mandates will make the popular, affordable housing option more expensive. State Sen. Terri Bryant expressed opposition to the bill on the Senate...

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The governor is expected to sign House Bill 5238, which will mandate developers and operators of mobile home communities to provide and install a weather radio in each mobile home. The bill goes further and encourages operators of mobile home communities to provide a written reminder to owners to the homes to replace the batteries in the weather radio. The operators are encouraged to provide reminders during National Fire Prevention Week.

Considering the fact that the National Weather Service interrupts every television station, radio station – and even cell phone – when there is a tornado warning, this seems more than a little unnecessary. I guess the new norm is to assume that Americans are complete idiots. Next, they’ll pass a law that all park owners must paste a reminder on the toilet tank to flush after use.

WBNS: Lawsuit alleges mobile homes were wrongfully demolished after Indian Lake tornado earlier this year

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Residents of a mobile home park in Lakeview, a village hit by an EF3 tornado in March, are taking legal action against their landlords.

In the days after the deadly tornado on March 14, a lawsuit filed in Logan County Common Pleas Court alleges that the owner of the property at a mobile home park off U.S. Route 33 began demolishing homes without warning tenants.

“Within the first two days after the tornado, the owners went in and began to demolish the homes. They didn’t give any notice to the residents, they didn’t get to go in and get their belongings, they lost literally everything, so they are starting over from...

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Let me get this straight. A mobile home park is pulverized by a tornado in March. It’s officially closed forever in April since the owner just wants to develop the land into a different use rather than attempt to put it all back together. So he clears the land at 100% his own expense. The tenants did nothing to help nor did they pay a dime. And now they are suing the park owner because he carted away their destroyed homes for free yet did not give them enough time to sift through the debris to look for things like a “measuring cup”? As I see it, the tenants owe the park owner thousands of dollars, not vice versa.

WCCB: Charlotte Mobile Home Park Renters Protest Alleged Management Mistreatment

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A peaceful protest turned physical when renters living in a Charlotte mobile home park marched in an attempt to put a stop to predatory towing and unfair fees.

More than 100 Charlotte Hills residents came together Monday to protest how their property is being run. Their goal was to march on the management office but before their march could gain steam, the protestors were met with hostility when a business sharing the same street tried to bring the marching to a halt.

Protestors and workers pushed against each other while leasing management watched on. CMPD arrived and residents turned their protest to the streets of the...

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“Living here at first was actually peaceful,” Navaro said. “We didn’t have issues.” She says that changed when a different management company took over the properties, and new rules were put in place without residents being told. Navaro said her neighbors are tired of what they call predatory towing and constant fines. “The fines became very, very consistent,” Navaro said about the major complaints protestors have with management. “started putting boots on cars, towing cars all at once.”

Obviously, what happened here is that the new owner has started enforcing the park rules and those that hate rules (which is the same rowdy crowd that can’t even march down a street without getting into a fight) don’t like it one bit. Up to bat next are higher rents, nicer property condition, and pride of ownership. They better get ready to march against those, too.

Realtor: https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/million-dollar-mobile-home-inside-countrys-toniest-trailer-parks/

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Multimillion-dollar price tags usually come attached to massive mansions or luxury condos—but now, it’s becoming more common to find them in mobile home parks in enviable locations.

But, these aren’t just any trailer parks, as they’re more commonly known. For one, they usually sit on prime real estate. And the neighbors? They’re usually billionaires or A-list celebrities.

Prices in some of these parks can generally range from $1.5 million to more than $6 million, but that hasn’t put off buyers with that type of cash to spare.

“People who have this kind of money—and you have to pay cash—will tell me, ‘I can’t believe I just bought a $5...

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Prices in some of these parks can generally range from $1.5 million to more than $6 million, but that hasn’t put off buyers with that type of cash to spare.

There seems to be a competition in America today to see who can waste the most money – that’s become the new symbol of success. Whether it’s spending millions to see the Titanic or Jeff Bezos’ five-minute trip to outer space, society needs to know that you have so much money that you can blow it on meaningless crap. I guess that spending $5 million on a $5,000 mobile home is a modern status symbol, but to those of us who have not lost our minds it seems stupid beyond belief.

WCJB: Manufactured home owners get more rights under new Florida law

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCJB, WCTV/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) - People living in manufactured homes across Florida will soon have a new tool to fight rising rent. It’s part of a new law taking effect next month regulating manufactured home communities.

More than 400,000 people live in manufactured homes across the Sunshine State, making up just over 8% of housing.

State Rep. Paula Stark, (R) St. Cloud, said the rent for the lot where those homes are put is on the rise, sometimes by hundreds of dollars.

“Most of the time seniors are retired, or you’re talking about your most vulnerable citizens who just can’t afford those kinds of increases,”...

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Ayotte said until now, the state controlled any mediation which could take several months.“Everyone knows what’s going on at the same time and if the parties agree to it, they can elect to expedite the mediation process,” Ayotte said. Park owners can raise rates if they match the Consumer Price Index.

Like any sane individual I am extremely disappointed in Florida, which apparently has decided to make being a landlord impossible. Between this crazy ordinance – which allows tenants to file for a formal mediation every time the rent goes up despite there being no rent control – and the hopeless future of obtaining or retaining affordable insurance in the state, I’m certainly glad we sold our only park in Florida years ago. I’m also more than a little disgusted that Ron DeSantis signed this into law. How embarrassing.

WLRN: In the crosshairs of the climate and housing crise

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Sue Hammel huddled with her four cats as Hurricane Idalia thrashed at the thin plywood and sheet metal walls of her mobile home. The roaring wind, thunder and rain competed for dominance, so loud she couldn’t hear the nearby cracks of plummeting pine trees.

Others sought refuge in a nearby laundromat, the only concrete structure at Hammel’s small mobile home and RV park in Perry, a city about 50 miles south of Tallahassee.

Before dawn, the hulking trunks of pine and oak came crashing down on eight neighboring homes, splitting them one by one.

“I was sitting there holding my cane, shaking like a leaf, thinking, ‘This is it, I’m going to...

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One solution is cooperatives, where mobile home residents pool money together to buy their park and share ownership. This way, they’re not subject to rent increases or displacement when the park land changes hands. However, this is an underused option, as only about 2% of manufactured housing parks were community owned in 2019, according to a Freddie Mac report.

Why do you suppose that in all these decades -- in the “bluest” of all red states -- only 2% of mobile home parks are resident-owned communities? After all, it’s not a new idea. The problem is, of course, that this concept requires an outside donor for the downpayment and then another non-profit to personally guarantee the loan. In none of these deals do the residents ever “pool their own money” to buy it – they have no money. It’s just a game of massive subsidies from outside the park. Apparently, very few groups want to give away free money or co-sign mortgages. With that reality in mind, can we please stop throwing out this stupid notion that, although it’s failed for decades, somehow it now suddenly has a shot of working? After all, 2% in 20+ years is not much of a track record to brag about.

Tampa Bay Times: Pinellas County extends deadline for residents of mobile home park told to leave

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Pinellas County has given residents of a frequently flooded mobile home park an extra year to elevate their homes to nearly 11 feet.

County officials had previously told homeowners at the Twin City park in the Gandy area they would have to complete the work or leave by the start of the hurricane season on June 1. Last month, the county sent Twin City residents a letter extending their temporary occupancy until June 1 of next year.

Tom Almonte, assistant county administrator for Pinellas, said staff chose to delay the deadline after communication between the county and the park’s management company broke down.

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Nobody with common sense would think for one minute that the reason the city is suddenly demanding that residents raise their homes 10’ off the ground – at a cost of $10,000 each – is because the city is so worried about future flooding issues. They’re obviously just trying to find a way to get the park shut down. But this one quote seemed even more misguided than the rest of the story:

Roth staked a for-sale sign in her front yard, but hasn’t received any serious offers yet. She’s asking $40,000 for her recently repaired home — Roth spent $26,000 of FEMA money after Hurricane Idalia pushed floodwaters inside. She has had few showings since. As soon as Roth discloses the park’s frequent flooding issue, it scares off prospective buyers.“Their eyes get wide and it’s like, ‘Oh, never mind,’” she said. “And they leave.” Roth said she’s worried about braving another hurricane season in her mobile home but doesn’t want to force her daughter and their two dogs into a cramped motel room. “I can’t stay here — can’t do it,” she said. “Because the next time water gets in, I can’t afford to fix it.”

She didn’t even pay to fix it the LAST time – FEMA did. What is she even talking about ??

And on the matter of stupidity, the U.S. government MUST stop coddling and enabling people in Florida to live in flood zones by removing the entire concept of personal accountability. If you live in a flood zone, in the state that has more flooding than any other, you must stop throwing good money after bad. Why did FEMA spend $26,000 fixing this home if it was already tagged as happening again in the future? They should have bought the resident a mobile home for $26,000, moved it inland, and been done with it, right? There’s an old saying that the very definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different outcome.

Petaluma Argus Courier: Judge dismisses lawsuit brought by mobile home park owners against city

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A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against the city of Petaluma by owners of two mobile home parks who claimed the city infringed on their constitutional rights.

Owners of the two parks — the seniors-only Youngstown on North McDowell and all-ages Little Woods Mobile Villa on Lakeville Highway — claimed the city’s mobile home rent control laws and its park closure regulations infringed on their rights because owners are forced to operate parks at a loss and it’s difficult to otherwise sell or convert the parks.

The lawsuit was dismissed Tuesday by Judge Charles R. Breyer of the Northern California District Court.

Order granting motion to...

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With every other form of real estate, once you build it you’re stuck. If you build an office building you have so much money invested in the construction that – no matter what the city later declares – you have no choice but to accept it because there’s no other way out. But mobile home parks are basically just parking lots and it costs virtually nothing to tear them down and redevelop. As a result, while California may allow crime in retail centers without worrying about closure – because nobody can afford to tear their malls down – mobile home park owners have freedom of choice and no economic barriers to preclude them from building something back on the land that’s more profitable.

As a result, the city’s attempt to control the park owners is simply going to displace the tenants and not really harm the park owners that much. But perhaps that was the plan to begin with, since most cities want all the mobile home parks removed, right?

Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola mobile home park residents say safety, maintenance fall, while rent just goes up

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Takesha Montgomery, seven months pregnant with her first child, sits surrounded by several box fans in her mobile home at Oakstead Mobile Home Park. The 24-year-old woman has lived in the unit for almost two years and said from the time she moved in there have been problems with the condition of the trailer.

There’s a large hole in the wall she keeps covered with an unplugged television that she says is caused by water leaking through the mobile home. There are other holes that need to be fixed and she suspects an opossum she once found in her bathtub got in through one of them.

Most recently her air conditioner went out, about two months...

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Everything in this article seems more than a little odd. The mobile homes shown in the photos are newer models and don’t look that bad. I’m not even sure that the park owner owns these mobile homes, since the monthly rent is $800 per month, which in Florida is around lot rent levels not including the homes. On top of that, the residents are claiming that the park needs to provide 24/7 security, which they don’t by law. And then there’s the resident that says she won’t call 911 because “it’s a pain”. None of it really adds up to me.

There are two sides to every story. I’m betting the news agency is getting “played for fools” by the residents, who are hoping to get their rent reduced as a result. Reminds me of the time that National Geographic did a segment at one of our parks and a resident conned them into going over to their house to “reveal” that we had sold them a mobile home with a furnace that didn’t work. We showed National Geographic that the reason the tenant’s heat was not working was because they had simply not paid their gas bill and they didn’t run that story as a result.

Again, there’s two sides to every story and this article only provides one of them.

Virginia Mercury: These new housing laws will take effect next month

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Manufactured homes, mobile homes, trailers — whatever they’re referred to as, this type of housing has offered tenants an affordable option to become homeowners. 

But they haven’t offered as much stability. That’s where Virginia lawmakers have passed some laws to help neighbors around the state have a little more peace of mind. 

For example, should a mobile home park be sold for redevelopment, a new law will require some financial assistance to help residents relocate and another new law strengthens protections for residents’ leases. 

The mobile-home-specific proposals are among a suite of housing laws that will take effect next month —...

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House Bill 73 — This will require courts to automatically expunge eviction records for cases that have been dismissed after 30 days.

House Bill 764 — This bill will give domestic violence or sexual abuse victims the right to terminate a lease agreement early should they have a permanent protective order and need to move residences for their safety. 

House Bill 86 — This bill mandates that during eviction cases, landlords notify tenants of any increases to any money that is requested. 

House Bill 477 and Senate Bill 50 – These bills extend Virginia’s eviction diversion pilot program for another year. 

House Bill 368 and Senate Bill 538 — These increase the maximum fine that localities can impose on repeated violations of the Uniform Statewide Building Code. 

House Bill 1203 — This bill increases tax credit amounts available to landlords who rent to Housing Choice Voucher holders. There is also an earmark for use in rural regions of Virginia. 

House Bill 478 and Senate Bill 49 — These allow localities to set up Community Revitalization Funds, which can be used to prevent neighborhood deterioration, such as revamping blighted structures for continued use. 

Senate Bill 489 — This bill establishes a workgroup that can analyze the possibility and options for creating a Virginia Residential Development Infrastructure fund. 

Apparently, the bureaucrats that run Virginia want all the parks torn down. These new rules are a good start.

Mass.gov: AG Campbell Releases Updated Guide To Manufactured Housing Community Law

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BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has issued an updated Guide to Manufactured Housing Community Law (“Guide”), which provides guidance to owners, operators, and residents of manufactured housing communities regarding state laws and regulations governing manufactured housing, including the Manufactured Housing Act (“Act”) and the Attorney General’s Manufactured Housing Community Regulations (“AG’s Regulations”). The updated 2024 Guide provides additional clarifications and explanations on a range of key manufactured housing issues that the Attorney General’s Office (“AGO”) has commonly encountered since the Guide was last...

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Read these new rules from the Massachusetts Attorney General regarding mobile home parks:

  • Clarifies that community owners may not deny tenancy applications based on a single factor, such as credit score or income level, when there is other reasonable evidence of a prospective tenant’s ability to pay rent
  • Informs community owners that they must charge new residents entering their community the same rent as residents already living in the community so long as the new residents have similar lot sizes and receive the same services as those already living in the community
  • Clarifies the process that community owners must follow to discontinue the use of a manufactured housing community

So now tell me who would want to own a mobile home park in that state?

Ironic that the city that brought you the Boston Tea Party – the origins of the “freedom” movement – would be the place in which woke bureaucrats heap on new regulations that make property ownership completely unappealing.

Land Trusts Aim to Make Homes Affordable: Land Trusts Aim to Make Homes Affordable

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ANGIE MILES: As both homelessness and home prices have increased, Virginians have been searching for innovative ways to make shelter available and affordable for more people. Vouchers for subsidized housing, tiny homes, accessory dwelling units, these are some of the solutions. Another is looking not at buildings, but goes to the ground level with the community land trust, or CLT.

AMELIE RIVES (CEO, VIRGINIA STATEWIDE COMMUNITY LAND TRUST): So, a community land trust is an affordable housing model that separates the ownership of a home from the land that it sits upon. A buyer buys that home, and then a community land trust owns the land....

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This is not going to work. Just more subsidies for the taxpayers and donors to pay. Can’t anyone come up with an idea that is not reliant on hand-outs?

Lynnwood Times: Forum exposes the dark practice of underfunding manufactured home communities

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LYNNWOOD—Almost 200 residents throughout western Snohomish County filled the dining hall of Homage Senior Services on Thursday, May 30, to attend a Manufactured Home Ownership Forum hosted by George Hurst, Lynnwood City Council President, and Pam Hurst, Legislative Lead, Washington Low-Income Housing Alliance; Dave Ross of KIRO Radio moderated the event.

The purpose of the forum was to bring together agencies, legislators, and residents to learn about economic eviction, share available services to help residents alleviate the burden from economic eviction, and hear the plight of residents.

“They are scared, they don’t know what to do and...

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“After I pay for water, electricity, cable, groceries, and my medication I am left with nine dollars at the end of the month,” one resident on fixed income, who requested to remain anonymous, told the Lynnwood Times.

I know that Washington state is blue as can be. I know that it’s the homeland of the woke “free rent movement”. But if you add up the items in the quote above, it means that the resident has a total income of around $1,000 per month. Exactly how would this person be able to live anywhere in the U.S. on that amount? They clearly need to get into the U.S. Section 8 program. But, of course, they can’t because there is a 10-year wait list or something like that. This is not the story of evil park rents but instead the story of a government subsidy system that is broken.

99.9% of park residents like higher lot rents because they bring with them better property condition and professional management. But instead, Washington is seriously contemplating policies that revolve around an incredibly small minority of tenants but will literally destroy the Washington housing market, as rent control has in all other states dumb enough to institute them.

Flathead Beacon: Agencies Establish Emergency Fund for Displaced Mobile Home Residents

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For the last 14 years, 61-year-old Debbie Wallace has lived in her 1978 trailer with her husband at Spring Creek Mobile Home Park on South Cedar Drive in Evergreen where, until recently, they have paid a few hundred dollars per month in lot fees.

But when new owners took over the park last year and abruptly started raising the rent, charging a base rate for utilities and tacking on additional costs like late fees while removing grace periods, Debbie — along with her neighbors — started to get nervous.

As surveyors frequented the park and repeatedly shut off the water without notice, park residents became suspicious that the new owners...

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I hate to rain on another fantasy parade, but the homes in those photos are from the 1970s and 1980s. They are clearly in extremely poor condition. They will never survive the move from that property. On top of that, none of these residents will ever be able to afford private land or the $10,000 needed to put in a well and septic. This is just a bunch of hopeless nonsense. The residents had a great run at the world’s cheapest housing under an all too lenient mom and pop owner, but the new investor appears poised to take this property to the next level – benefitting the remaining residents who have pride of ownership – and these homes need to be demolished, not moved. This is not a story of an evil park owner but of residents who did not maintain their homes, to the detriment of their neighbors, and their actions finally caught up with them. It’s called personal accountability.

KSLA12: Proposal to add about 70 homes to King Oaks draws opposition from official, some community members

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SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — “Nowadays, they want $1,000 a month for rent. If I can afford to pay $1,000 a month for rent, surely I can buy my own home,” said Carol Smith, a member of the MLK Community Development Corp.

At a time when hundreds of residents have been displaced due to unpaid utility bills and dilapidated properties in Shreveport, new housing would seem to be a solution.

However, Standard Enterprises Inc. (SEI), owner and operator of King Oaks, has faced opposition to a plan to add about 70 homes to the subdivision.

“Supposedly, some constituents do not want rental properties in the area when there’s an overwhelming need,” said...

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But some residents and District 2 Caddo Commissioner Greg Young say they would like to see more ownership in the area.

No, that’s not the real reason. It’s the politically correct reason, but not the truth. The reason that people don’t want to have a mobile home park built next to them is that it substantially reduces their property values. Just go to Zillow and look at a house next to a mobile home park and one three blocks away. The one by the park is about 30% less in value. Until you can fix that simple reality there won’t be any new mobile home parks built.

ForexTV: UMH PROPERTIES, INC. WILL ATTEND AND SHOWCASE TWO DUPLEX HOMES AT THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT’S ANNUAL INNOVATIVE HOUSING SHOWCASE

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FREEHOLD, NJ, June 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — UMH Properties, Inc. (NYSE:UMH) (TASE:UMH), today announced that the Company will attend the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual Innovative Housing showcase for the 4th year in a row. The event kicks off with a Showcase Opening Ceremony at 9am on Friday, June 7, 2024, on the National Mall in Washington, DC. 

Samuel A. Landy, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented “At this year’s Innovative Housing Showcase, UMH will be showcasing two HUD code duplex models in partnership with Cavco Industries, Inc. and Skyline Champion Corporation. We plan to market one duplex model...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Mobile home park duplexes are the bastion of “man camps” and parks that are filled with temporary, transient workers who are there to do a job and go home. To pretend that anybody else would live in these dreadfully small, depressing things is completely asinine.