Mobile Home Park News Briefing

The city said “no” to building a new mobile home park

This year, residents overwhelmingly voted that down in the August primary, seemingly definitive.

And then the guy wanting to develop it appealed that vote and they voted again:

The appeal was unanimously rejected by the three-person board.

So now the deal is dead. What’s the lesson learned? Nobody – and I mean nobody – who owns property in the United States wants a mobile home park built anywhere near their property. That’s never going to change. And that’s why I’m so negative when people tell me they are going to start a venture to build new parks. It’s simply a futile mission.

AND THE GUILTY PARTY REALLY IS: THE SIMPLE TRUTH THAT THE PRESENCE OF A MOBILE HOME PARK DEPRESSES THE VALUE OF ALL PROPERTIES SURROUNDING IT

The only other option is to build the homes up in some cases 12 feet to make them compliant with the city’s flood ordinance. But given the cost and the layout of the two mobile home communities in town, that’s virtually impossible.

And now you know why Ronald Reagan said the nine scariest words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”.

AND THE GUILTY PARTY REALLY IS: THE CITY OFFICIALS.

Manufactured houses, widely known as mobile homes, are one of the most affordable options for homeownership in the United States, but they typically come with a big risk: You own the house; you don’t own the lot it sits on.

That has made mobile home parks ripe targets for investors, who buy communities and then increase the lot rents to boost profits. It’s a massive industry: manufactured homes account for approximately one in 10 new single-family homes in the United States, according to a 2023 report by the Manufactured Housing Institute trade organization.

To curb investor involvement, the state of Maine ushered in a new law last year that requires mobile home park owners to give advance notice to residents if they intend to sell, giving the community members a chance to buy it themselves.

Let’s break this typical “free rent movement” narrative into the three positions presented.

Paragraph 1 says that mobile homes have one HUGE risk: the tenant doesn’t own the land. Well, that’s why mobile homes are so inexpensive to begin with. The average detached dwelling in the U.S. is $400,000 and the average mobile home is probably $10,000. By not owning the land under the home it becomes actually affordable for the bottom third of Americans that can’t afford $400,000. It’s not a risk or a problem – THAT’S WHAT CREATES THE OPPORTUNITY TO LIVE IN A DETACHED DWELLING FOR AROUND $500 PER MONTH IN LOT RENT. They DO sell mobile homes that come with the land. They are called land/home deals. They cost around $150,000 and up.

Paragraph 2 says that “private equity groups increase lot rents to boost profits”. All businesses – large and small – raise prices, when possible, to maximize profits. It’s called the free market system. It’s part of our economic structure called “capitalism”. The issue is not that private equity groups want to increase lot rents – everybody does – but what’s important to note is that this is possible because mobile home park lot rents are ridiculously low. Owners of office buildings and shopping malls would also like to raise rents but there’s no demand so they can’t do it. And so would airlines, car dealers and every other business on earth. But mobile home parks could double existing lot rents and still be the cheapest housing on earth. And stay completely full. And that’s why private equity groups are buying mobile home parks, because they’re a bargain. That’s also why investors bought Apple when it was a dollar a share and gold at $300 an ounce.

Paragraph 3 says that Maine’s new law gives residents a chance to buy the park. But the problem is that residents have no money, so that’s not who’s buying the park. Instead, this concept requires a non-profit to provide the down payment and another non-profit to personally guaranty the loan. And there are not too many non-profits wanting to do that which, as a result, makes the successful purchase of the park by the residents about as rare as a documented sighting of Big Foot.

In the complaint, Parkland Inc. alleges that former company employee Todd Storey, who the company says was in charge of reading the meter and reporting the readings to the city, resigned in November 2022 and vowed to “take (Gregg) Pardieck down for $250,000.” Pardieck is identified in court filings as the company’s president. Collectively from June 2021 to August 2023, Parkland Inc. reported using around 62.83 million gallons more water to IDEM than what it reported to Seymour’s water utility, according to records included in the complaint.

So let me get this straight. The park owner fires the manager and he “vows to take the owner down” by reporting that he under reported to the city 62.83 million gallons of water that had been dumped down the sewer line without any supportive evidence of any type.

For those who are complete idiots (apparently the city and the reporter qualify) 62 million gallons of water would equate to filling 62 football fields 10’ deep in water… and that’s how much this little trailer park supposedly used… and the city believes that… yeah right.

I hope the city has a really good attorney because the judge will have to be smoking crack for them to win. 62 million pounds of crack to be exact.

So, the city has decided to unilaterally make 12 of the 16 parks in the city “seniors-only” without any authorization, process or approval from the government. Never mind that the city is fully aware it will never hold up in court. Sounds like they need to hire Letitia James as she doesn’t typically let the law stand in her way. Doesn’t It remind you of the scene in Blazing Saddles in which the outlaws are deputized by the corrupt governor and then given badges to which they shout “badges?... we don’t need no stinking badges!”

Flint can’t even provide safe drinking water but somehow, they view a mobile home park as the most dangerous thing on earth. It would appear the city can’t get the park torn down fast enough – or at least before anyone questions why it can’t just be fixed up. Gee, I wonder why? After all, I thought that cities love affordable housing. That’s what they’re always saying, right?

From the same Letitia James that brought you Trump’s bizarre victimless fraud case, she is now turning her legal prowess to solving the problems of some mobile home park residents who stupidly think they are using her to get rent reductions when, in fact, they will simply end up homeless once she fines the owners $3 million and shuts the park down. Smart.

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

This after their landlord’s 90-day notice to move their homes, stated the land was being sold and the new owner has other plans for the space.

I think I’ve been very clear for years now that there is a universal axiom that LOW LOT RENTS = REDEVELOPMENT. Contrary to what the “free rent” nitwits may tell you, mobile home park owners always have the option of simply cutting the park loose and building something else on the land. This trend is accelerating as apartment rents skyrocket and park owners are too insecure to match market numbers and, instead, simply elect to redevelop. Every single resident in every mobile home park would be smart to go to the owners and say “I’ll happily pay whatever the lot rent needs to be in order to keep the doors open”.

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: 10

Another park bites the dust.

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: 5

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

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: DESYAT (10 IN RUSSIAN)

The beyond-hopeless feeling at Gulf Breeze Mobile Home Park isn’t going anywhere unless more help arrives.

The government has miserably failed in their approach to Helene, having no more than $750 to give out to those impacted by wiping out their budget before hurricane season. This is not specific to mobile home parks but to literally every single person who lost their homes. The incompetence is appalling.

STUPIDITY NDEX RATING: 10

First of all, it’s extremely disingenuous for this article to start with a photo of a home destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and then put this caption in small print:

Your mobile home probably doesn’t look like this, but it might feel that way sometimes.

As for the California program mentioned, I won’t hold my breath until we see actual work done on the homes. California is notorious for promising things and never delivering on them. If they cough up the money and actually fix old homes for free, that’s great. But more than likely they’ll just study them, have committee meetings, and let the press die down before abandoning the concept.

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: 5

Residents have described the living conditions as dangerous, citing and reporting problems such as rodent infestation, mold growth, and deteriorating floorboards in many units. These ongoing issues have made Cherry Lane Park a frequent topic of discussion at the Town of Southport's monthly meetings. Over the past two months, town officials decided to revoke the park's license to operate, which legally prohibits any residency on the property.

So the residents complained to the city and the city used them as pawns to get the park shut down and make them all homeless. When will mobile home park tenants realize that the city government is never on their side, but simply using them to find an opening to get the park torn down and a higher use put on that land?

STUPIDITY INDEX RATING: 10

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.

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.

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.

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).

"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.

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.

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”.

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.

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. 

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.