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Ana Maria Island Sun: Pines owners offer to sell to homeowners for $75 million

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BRADENTON BEACH – In a Jan. 27 letter to the Pines Trailer Park Homeowners Association (HOA), Pines Park Investors LLC offered to sell the mobile home park to the residents for $75 million.

At that price, each of the 86 mobile homeowners would be responsible for $872,093.02.

“This has got to be a joke,” said one Pines resident, who asked not to be named.

On Aug. 5, 2023, Pines Park Investors, LLC purchased the 2.78-acre waterfront mobile home property from The Jackson Partnership LLLP for $16.25 million. The manager of Pines Park Investors LLC is Shawn Kaleta.

The park sustained damage from both Hurricanes Helene and Milton but many...

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BRADENTON BEACH – In a Jan. 27 letter to the Pines Trailer Park Homeowners Association (HOA), Pines Park Investors LLC offered to sell the mobile home park to the residents for $75 million. At that price, each of the 86 mobile homeowners would be responsible for $872,093.02.

To make this mobile home park worth $872,093 per lot, at a 6% cap rate, would require a monthly lot rent of around $8,000 per month. That’s probably not going to work. Some mobile home parks can’t make sense continuing in that capacity regardless of how high you raise the lot rent.

The News&Observer: Apartments, townhomes could replace Cary mobile home park, plans show

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Hundreds of apartments and townhomes could replace one of Cary’s two mobile home parks, preliminary plans shared with the town show.

Two pre-application meetings were held last fall among the town, the owner of Chatham Estates Mobile Home Park and WithersRavenel, a Raleigh-based engineering firm.

A concept plan by WithersRavenel dated Oct. 2 showed 90 townhomes and 328 multi-family units on 27 acres at 607 Cedar St., which is the mobile home park’s address.

On Dogwood Street, the opposite side of the park, the plan shows a three-story building with 26 apartments on each floor with a pool and gathering space.

The preliminary plans come...

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A concept plan by WithersRavenel dated Oct. 2 showed 90 townhomes and 328 multi-family units on 27 acres at 607 Cedar St., which is the mobile home park’s address.

Clearly, being able to replace around 270 mobile home park lots that rent for $400 per month with 90 townhomes and 328 apartments that will rent for around $2,000 per month is a no-brainer financially. And this is the story for most of the mobile home parks in the U.S. in the years ahead. As I’ve been writing about for years now, mobile home parks make ideal redevelopment parcels as they have 1) great locations 2) great road frontage 3) access to all utilities 4) the correct acreage size and 5) the city is willing to give out whatever permits you need to get the park torn down. The sooner that people understand this, the better. Owners are not stuck with mobile home parks as their only option, and only higher lot rents will fend off the wrecking ball. In this case, the lot rents simply weren’t high enough.

Littleton Independent: Meadowood Village residents purchase their mobile home park in Littleton, locking in affordable housing for decades to come

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After almost a year of paperwork, grant applications and meetings, the residents of a mobile home park in Littleton are now the proud owners of the land beneath their homes.

In purchasing the park, the residents of Meadowood Village have gained control of the property and have locked in affordable housing for at least 30 years, based on the terms of their loan agreements.

Last spring, the residents received notice of a corporation’s intent to buy the park, which is located on the west side of Santa Fe Drive, just north of Breckenridge Brewery. Since then, the residents, who are mostly over the age of 55, have worked together to achieve...

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The cooperative did have to increase some land rents to have enough revenue to pay off interest from its loans, said David Stouder, who serves as the board’s operation manager. Land rents, which formerly ranged somewhere between $780 and $995 per month, will now be $960 per month for all residents, he said.

So the residents had to raise the rent – on day one – from $780 to $960 per month? That’s compared to the $50 or so raise the corporate owner was proposing. Yeah, that’s a pretty big success … having the rent go up nearly $200 per month right out of the chute. It’s bizarre that they aren’t embarrassed to tell this tale.

But that’s not nearly embarrassing enough. Up to bat next will come the park falling apart as the tenant managers will fail to collect rent or enforce rules on their friends as well as never being able to raise additional capital to make repairs. Maybe these folks haven’t head about the other great tenant buyout of the Sans Souci Park, also in Colorado. Read this article when you have a chance.

The Daily Evergreen: https://dailyevergreen.com/184383/news/this-is-the-way-homelessness-starts/

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Residents of Campus Vista and University Mobile Home Park are facing a 22% rent hike, in addition to new utilities fees and a $50 monthly fee for extra parking.

Larry McGee, a former WSU custodian and current resident, said the rent hike will cripple the community.

“The lot rent increase, as it stands now, is putting [people] in a real bind and some of them might end up homeless,” McGee said. “This is the way homelessness starts.”

Former WSU student and current University of Idaho law student and park resident Denver Mickali said many residents are elderly, disabled or both. The extra rent burden is not an option.

“They’re in their late...

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Mellissa Finch, who inherited the park after her mother’s passing in 2024, said the reason for the rent increase is property taxes have been raised from $4,400 to $37,000 and insurance prices have risen.

Oh, I see how it is. The property taxes go up by 1,000% and the park owner is just supposed to shrug that off. Instead of complaining to the park owner, why not complain to the tax assessor.

As for the potential for homelessness here, it’s not the lot rent increasing that’s the risk, it’s probably going to be Ms. Finch realizing how much more this parcel is worth in a different use. That’s going to come to her soon enough as the tenants deliberately create so much mental anxiety that there will soon come an offer from a developer and she’ll quickly agree.

KOB4: Mobile home park residents hope new ordinance will protect them

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For residents in Albuquerque Meadows the fight for protection started ever since an out-of-state company bought the land their community sits on.

That was in 2021, and since then residents said their rent has gone up significantly while necessary fixes and upkeep have diminished.

But now, they have hope.

“I remember at least three times coming to you talking about this, and so it’s great because we’re finally actually doing something about it,” said Albuquerque mayor Tim Keller.

And with that signature, the latest ordinance in Albuquerque is officially in place, providing more protections for manufactured homes.

Often...

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This article is wrong on so many counts:

  • The false assertion that lot rent of $1,000 per month in Albuquerque is “horribly high” when the average apartment rent in Albuquerque is $1,708 per month and the average single-family home is priced at $308,000. When mobile home park lot rents are 40% lower than apartments and 80% less than the single-family home mortgage and taxes, it would seem to me that mobile home park lot rents are actually very low NOT high.
  • The false claim that corporate owners somehow lead to lower property condition when, in fact, they are well-known to inject million of dollars into large properties, such as this one, to bring infrastructure and cosmetics back to life – something that former mom and pop owners often let deteriorate over the decades and have no money to fix.
  • The false concept that residents are having to cut back on prescription drugs and food solely as a result of higher mobile home park lot rents. As you may be aware, while all prices in the U.S. rose roughly 20% during the disastrous Biden administration, food alone is the fastest inflating commodity. On top of that, housing is only the fifth largest cost for Americans, eclipsed by health insurance, childcare, transportation and taxation. Those have risen faster than mobile home park lot rents and it’s beyond ridiculous to pretend that somehow only the mobile home park lot rent is the culprit of people being broke.
  • The false narrative that somehow tenants could buy parks and lower the lot rents. Since the bulk of the cost would be to service the debt – at the exact same price as a corporate owner – plus utilities, insurance, property taxes and repairs that would all be the same regardless of ownership, the truth is that tenants pay the exact same amount no matter who the buyer is.

While the writer of this article may think that you are dumb enough that they can convince you that 2+2 = 5, hopefully they failed.

Coast TV: New bill seeks to protect manufactured home residents in Delaware

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DELAWARE - A new bill introduced in Delaware’s Senate could bring stronger protections for people living in manufactured home communities. Senate Bill 40, introduced on Jan. 10, aims to address landlord violations and improve living conditions for tenants.

, sponsored by Sen. Walsh and co-sponsored by several other lawmakers, makes repeated violations of rental agreements or state housing laws by landlords a violation of the state’s Consumer Fraud Act. 

Additionally, the introduced bill empowers the Attorney General to petition Justice of the Peace Courts to establish receiverships for manufactured home communities under specified...

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If you own a mobile home park in Delaware, it’s apparently time to start calling land brokers to get your parcel on the market for a better use. The folks that run Delaware are clearly nuts.

AZ Mirror: Sedona can disallow short-term rentals in trailer parks, judge rules

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A lawsuit filed by the Goldwater Institute against the City of Sedona, its mayor and city manager for refusing to give a short-term rental permit to the owner of a mobile home park was dismissed.

At the center of the dispute was a 2016 law that barred cities and municipalities from banning short-term rentals. Groups like Airbnb and Vrbo have taken heat from locals and lawmakers since the 2016 law’s passage as the state’s affordable housing stockpile has rapidly decreased. 

Sedona has seen major impacts from the short-term rental industry, with effects felt sharply by the service industry workers employed by the hospitality industry that...

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Our thoughts on this story:

What are they smoking at Sedona city hall? The state has a law that says that mobile home parks allow short term rentals. The City of Sedona apparently doesn’t care what the law says. So they found some woke judge that hates the Republican-led state fathers so much that they will rule against anything they say. Now it gets appealed and the judge’s ruling gets tossed. What a waste of taxpayer funds. Pitiful.

Times Union: Saratoga Planning Board starts approval process to bulldoze mobile home park

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SARATOGA — Despite pleas and shouting from an audience of nearly two dozen people, the town’s Planning Board on Wednesday approved a negative state environmental assessment for a boat and RV storage facility — one that would replace a mobile home park.

Before approving the review for the Boat N RV Condos, the chair of the Planning Board Walt Borisenok said the concerns of the audience — mainly concerning a contractual agreement to not change the use of the property until 2026 — are not in his purview and therefore the plan to approve a Saratoga Lake project will move forward.

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“We evaluate special-use permits, if they are allowable by the town,” Borisenok told the audience, some of whom tried to shout him down calling him a “coward” and a “liar.” “We do subdivisions, site plan approval. That’s what we do here.”

Yes, and another park bites the dust. Is anyone paying attention here? Only higher lot rents stop redevelopment. Once again, in this case, the lot rents simply weren’t high enough.

Apartment Therapy: I Live in a Mobile Home — And It’s Great. Here Are the Pros and Cons of Mobile Home Life

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When my husband and I moved to Wisconsin, my in-laws owned a mobile home that they graciously offered to us rent-free. We were in the midst of paying off our debt, so the plan went like this: Work to pay off the debt, save to build up our emergency fund, save up for a down payment, buy a house. Over the years, we discovered there are pros and cons to mobile homes, especially as our plans changed and we spent longer in our mobile home than we expected.

After building our emergency fund, we found out we were pregnant and decided that my husband would stay home after our son was born while I continued to teach. That meant going down to one...

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Great article. Fair and balanced. I’m impressed.

ALM GLOBEST: GMF Group Raises $250M For Manufactured Housing

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GMF Group has raked in roughly $250 million from the closing of its latest funding round and plans to keep up nationwide investments in housing communities.

Since launching GMF Group Fund II, the real estate firm has acquired 43 manufactured housing communities (MHCs) in both North Carolina and Florida. Plus, the company said it is under contract to buy five MHCs in undisclosed cities in the Midwest and Southeast regions, accounting for about 400 lots.

In addition to acquiring assets, Group Fund II is making renovations to properties, which includes improving infrastructure, bolstering amenities and common areas, paving and...

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In addition to acquiring assets, Group Fund II is making renovations to properties, which includes improving infrastructure, bolstering amenities and common areas, paving and landscaping, as well as implementing new affordable homes. GMF, which has invested almost $30 million in its MHCs portfolio, hopes that these moves will provide a boost in value for both residents and investors.

Once again, I’m impressed that this writer, rather than advance the false narrative that “private equity groups make evil landlords”, instead told the truth that these well-capitalized buyers are the ones that have the money to bring old mobile home parks back to life.

Steamboat Pilot & Today: Yampa Valley Housing Authority: Preserving Routt County’s mobile home parks crucial for affordable housing

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As the cost of homeownership in Routt County spirals beyond reach for many, manufactured homes have emerged as one of the last affordable options for local families. Yet these vital sources of naturally occurring affordable housing are under threat.

Consider this: between 2010 and 2019, the number of manufactured homes in Routt County plummeted from roughly 1,300 units to just 788. By 2024, that number dropped further to 770, with only 407 located in Steamboat Springs. One recent bulwark against this decline is Colorado’s Mobile Home Park Act, which gives residents the right of first refusal if the owner intends to list it for sale,...

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Our thoughts on this story:

While I disagree with the premise that mobile home parks are best served by resident ownership (which I have discussed in detail every week) the article explores more than that one item and concludes that mobile home parks are important for the community and should be saved from redevelopment by perhaps having the state/county/city gift the necessary infrastructure repair that many older parks face, as well as to help residents obtain the funds to buy them, when possible.

Once again, overall, a favorable article for the industry.

The Business Journals: Tennessee group grabs more Eastern NC mobile home parks

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Once again, an out-of-state investor is pouring millions into acquiring a mobile home park in a eastern North Carolina.

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They better hope that large, well-funded groups keep buying these mobile home parks as they are the only people who have the capital to fix the flooding issues in North Carolina that FEMA has no money to help with.

I’m impressed that there was no negativity to this article – that’s refreshing.

CBS NEWS: Mobile home park residents want to rebuild

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Residents of a famous mobile home park in the Pacific Palisades not only have to deal with losses but also figure out if they need to pay rent. CBS News Texas reporter Trevor Sochocki talks to one couple who wants to rebuild.

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I have no idea how anyone in Pacific Palisades can ever overcome everything that has happened there, but just the fact that there were mobile home parks in such a prestigious area elevates most American’s opinion of the mobile home park product.

WLAX/WEUX: Mobile home park in Altoona receives FEMA grant money

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ALTOONA, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – A mobile home park in Eau Claire County is receiving grant money from FEMA to help build a safe room.

The $70,000 grant is going to the Hillcrest Estates mobile home park neighborhood in Altoona.

An administrator for FEMA says this project will give local residents a place to go when severe weather threatens the Altoona area.

This grant is the first of three increments of a $1.2 million investment to build a safe space for residents in and around the mobile home park.

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Our thoughts on this story:

It’s strange that they would be that concerned about a storm shelter in an area that rarely has a storm but it’s nice that the city is FEMA is gifting $70,000 to a mobile home park for this project.

AOL: Apartments, townhomes could replace Cary mobile home park, plans show

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Hundreds of apartments and townhomes could replace one of Cary’s two mobile home parks, preliminary plans shared with the town show.

Two pre-application meetings were held last fall among the town, the owner of Chatham Estates Mobile Home Park and WithersRavenel, a Raleigh-based engineering firm.

A concept plan by WithersRavenel dated Oct. 2 showed 90 townhomes and 328 multi-family units on 27 acres at 607 Cedar St., which is the mobile home park’s address.

On Dogwood Street, the opposite side of the park, the plan shows a three-story building with 26 apartments on each floor with a pool and gathering space.

The preliminary plans come...

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Our thoughts on this story:

No surprise for anyone who reads this weekly missive, as I have been writing for years about the fact that mobile home parks are perfect for redevelopment as they have great locations on major roads, access to water and sewer, and are just the right amount of acreage for most uses.

If lot rents don’t go up substantially, many mobile home parks will be redeveloped in the years ahead.

Maine Public: Bangor residents are second group in Maine to purchase mobile home park under new state law

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Residents of a mobile home park in Bangor will be the second group in the state to purchase their community under a new Maine law.

Residents of the Cedar Falls Mobile Home Park voted over the weekend to purchase their community for $8 million, using grants from Maine Housing and the city of Bangor, as well as loans from the Genesis Community Fund and a group of non-profits and banks led by Bangor Savings Bank.

Nora Gosselin, director of resident acquisitions for the non-profit Cooperative Development Institute, which helped residents purchase their park, said the deal will allow for the preservation of affordable housing for nearly 130...

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Residents of a mobile home park in Bangor will be the second group in the state to purchase their community under a new Maine law. Residents of the Cedar Falls Mobile Home Park voted over the weekend to purchase their community for $8 million, using grants from Maine Housing and the city of Bangor, as well as loans from the Genesis Community Fund and a group of non-profits and banks led by Bangor Savings Bank.

Then, once the celebration is over, comes the ugly reality that they have an $8 million mortgage to service every month using their meager collections and untold maintenance surprises, all falling on a group of people who have never successfully managed anything in their entire lives. Kind of sounds like the Biden administration, right? With the same ending, no doubt.

Ithaca Times: Working Group Aims to Keep Manufactured Housing Affordable & Sustainable

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The Tompkins County Legislature’s manufactured housing working group is working to address issues surrounding manufactured housing in the county, focusing on the need to improve energy efficiency, affordability, and community ownership.

Working group member Danielle Eiseman told the Ithaca Times, "The working group was created after the legislature brought up concerns about the energy costs and needs of constituents living in manufactured homes [and] we've been exploring these issues more deeply ever since." She added, “Since October 2022, our small informal group has been exploring a lot of the problems surrounding residents living in...

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According to Brown, “What it really came down to, for me, was that this is truly affordable housing that you can own…[and] when investors buy these parks, they raise the rents and don't improve the infrastructure [and] it leads to ongoing issues for the residents.”

I have some basic factual problems with this often repeated, but factually incorrect, statement that include:

  1. When a park sells – whether to an investor or a non-profit – a giant mortgage is placed upon it. This requires a huge increase in rent to pay it off. Mom and pop could charge a tiny rent because they owned the park free and clear. So the only way that you can stop rents from going up, in the event of a park sale, would be for mom and pop to give the park away for free. Unlikely to happen.
  2. An investor and non-profit both have to pay the exact same water rate, sewer rate, electric rate, trash fee, property tax, insurance premium, repair bills – every single line item on the P&L. As a result, they both have to charge the same rent to cover those costs.
  3. If you read these articles every week, you will note that just last week the non-profit admitted that the tenants will be paying the same – or more – rent by buying the park themselves.
  4. Investors are much better managers and stewards of a property than the residents are. The residents lack the discipline to file evictions, make tough choices on rent levels, and enforce the rules.
  5. Professional investors, in fact, are the ONLY ones out there fixing aging park infrastructure and taking these old properties to the next level.
  6. I am yet to see a single park in the United States, purchased by a professional investor, that is not far nicer now than when they bought it.  

Would a “working group” accept these factual statements? Never. Common sense is left at the door when these types of committees get together. But the facts are still the facts and even if just one person reads this and understands the truth now, then it was worthwhile writing this. We can’t allow these lies to continue.

Bay News 9: Pines Trailer Park to close but residents left in limbo with no set date

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MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — After years of weathering storms on Anna Maria Island, a mobile home park is set to close.

Residents of Pines Trailer Park say the property management company sent them an email announcing the closure, but didn’t provide a firm date. The email also mentioned the possibility of continued residency for some.

Pines Trailer Park is set to close according to property management It’s residents received an email from Pines Park Investors LLC on Jan.  4, but the letter also mentioned the possibility that some residents could extend their month-to-month residency for up to a couple of years

These waters are calm now, but...

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The management team is concerned about the long-term viability of the park.“The cumulative impact of delinquency, loss of units, and the need for significant investments makes it clear that the park’s current model is no longer feasible," the letter said.

Most residents – and certainly the media – don’t seem to realize that a mobile home park is a business, just like any other form of commercial real estate. Any business that does not make money ultimately shuts down. And any use of land that has a more profitable replacement will ultimately be redeveloped. In so many of these articles the attitude is that the mobile home park owner is somehow a governmental non-profit. They’re not. Nor did they ever ask to be.

Seven Days: Nonprofit Seeks Land for New Manufactured Home Park

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A nonprofit that helps mobile home park residents create owner cooperatives is looking for land for a new park.

A private donor gave the Cooperative Development Institute $50,000 to jump-start the project, which is expected to cost millions of dollars and take years to complete. CDI has identified suitable land in southern Vermont that could accommodate 200 new manufactured homes, Jeremiah Ward, CDI’s water infrastructure support program manager, said this week. He declined to identify the location of the potential site, noting that purchase discussions are in their early stages.

Ward said the donor, whose name was not revealed, asked CDI’s...

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A nonprofit that helps mobile home park residents create owner cooperatives is looking for land for a new park.
A private donor gave the Cooperative Development Institute $50,000 to jump-start the project, which is expected to cost millions of dollars and take years to complete.

Only an academic would be excited about a $50,000 donation to fund a study of a multi-million-dollar project. They will no doubt use the $50,000 for a feasibility study that will tell them – no matter what the truth is – that the concept of building a new park is absolute genius. Then, with the $50,000 gone, they will spend years forming committees and having endless discussions. At some point, to justify their existence, they will start passing the hat to raise millions of dollars for the actual construction, which will quietly never be mentioned again when they top out the fundraising at maybe $100,000. In the end the donor might have been better off just burning the $50,000 and grilling a hot dog on it. At least there would be a nicely cooked hot dog to show for it.

Idaho Statesman: Residents worry as Boise-area mobile home parks fade away. This may be the next to go

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J.R. Thompson is known as a bit of a handyman around Elm Grove Mobile Home Park near downtown Meridian. The 43-year-old journeyman carpenter has lived in the park at the corner of Fairview Avenue and 3rd Street for two years while saving up to buy his own land. You can often find him making fixes for his neighbors around the park. “I’m kind of the guy that does everything for them, as far as maintenance stuff,” he told the Idaho Statesman while working on a portable carport for one of his neighbors. Overall, he’s liked living there. “It’s not the prettiest to look at, but we all get along here,” Thompson said. Most importantly, he said,...

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The mobile home park — already listed as “permanently closed” online and no longer accepting new tenants — is slated to be redeveloped into a 90-unit apartment complex in the next few years, eliminating one of the most-affordable housing options in the city. Average rent in Meridian is almost $1,500 a month, according to Apartment List, while residents on the 40 lots in Elm Grove own their homes and pay $590 a month.

And here’s another park closing for redevelopment. People who don’t own parks have no idea how strong the demand is for redeveloping the land they sit on. The typical mobile home park has a strong suburban location with great frontage and access to all utilities, which is perfect for apartments. And, as the writer duly notes, 90 apartment units at $1,500 per month is a whole lot more revenue than 40 lots at $590 per month. But the existing park didn’t need millions of dollars in construction capital and interest costs and there probably was a lot rent number that could have saved it. Was it $700? $750? Somebody should have asked when the first hint was given that the park might sell. Instead, the park is yet another victim of greener pastures and an escape from criticism.

Realtor: Barbara Corcoran Reveals Million-Dollar Trailer Home Has Been ‘Entirely Destroyed’ in California Wildfires: ‘My Heart Breaks Again and Again’

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Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran has voiced her heartbreak after her beloved million-dollar trailer home was “entirely destroyed” in the deadly California wildfires that began ripping through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 7.

Corcoran, 75, shared the “devastating” update about her mobile home in a series of social media videos, revealing that the Palisades Fire had obliterated her property, as well as the entirety of the ultraexclusive trailer park in which it was located.

“The devastating fires in L.A. have taken so much from so many this week,” the “Shark Tank” star wrote while sharing a video of the blaze...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Have you noticed that the follow-up footnotes to the “Shark Tank” cast hold nothing but bad endings? Mark Cuban revealed that he spent $20 million on start-ups during his decade on the show yet collectively never made any money from any of them. Meanwhile, Daymond John’s FUBU – his personal business – went down the drain. And then it was revealed that Barbara Corcoran was living in a mobile home in California, which now has burned to the ground.

I would recommend that people read actual biographies of real, successful investors going forward and steer clear of the televised “reality show” versions that are fictional at best and give about as much insight into successful entrepreneurial ventures as I could give on quantum physics.

Idaho Press: Boise dedicates $6.7 million HUD award to preserve city-owned mobile home park

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The city of Boise announced Tuesday the receipt of $6.7 million to be dedicated to its affordable housing goals.

The award comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with Boise being one of 17 nationwide recipients that will dedicate the funds to “maintain, protect and stabilize affordable hosing,” a news release from the city said. Boise’s award will be used to preserve and maintain the Sage Mobile Home Park, a 2-acre mobile home park on the Boise Bench that houses 26 families and was originally purchased by the city in 2022.

“Keeping Boiseans in their homes is one of our top priorities when it comes to...

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The city of Boise announced Tuesday the receipt of $6.7 million to be dedicated to its affordable housing goals. The award comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with Boise being one of 17 nationwide recipients that will dedicate the funds to “maintain, protect and stabilize affordable hosing,” a news release from the city said. Boise’s award will be used to preserve and maintain the Sage Mobile Home Park, a 2-acre mobile home park on the Boise Bench that houses 26 families and was originally purchased by the city in 2022.

This is so stupid that it would make Gavin Newsom jealous. Boise, Idaho is going to spend $6.7 million to upgrade a 26-space mobile home park? That’s over $250,000 per mobile home! You could literally give each resident a mortgage-free, 3 bed/two bath brick home on an acre of land as opposed to wasting a quarter million dollars per trailer. How is this kind of stuff even possible? Talk about government waste! But where I’m really lost is that this park is already owned by the City of Boise. So are they saying they let the park fall apart to the point that it will take $6.7 million to put it back in usable condition? Surely the writer has these numbers wrong.

Courier Journal: Metro Council rezones trailer park after developer commits funds for displaced residents

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Louisville Metro Council members approved the rezoning of a mobile home park in the South End on Thursday after tabling the case in order to find additional assistance for residents who will soon be displaced.

Residents of the Woodland Estates Mobile Home Community learned about the park’s rezoning last year after the park owner reached an agreement with Core5 Industrial Properties, which filed plans to build 1.2 million square feet of warehouses on the property. The rezoning case went to a vote during the council's Dec. 12 meeting but was tabled after some members voiced concerns over the residents' abilities to handle the financial...

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Residents of the Woodland Estates Mobile Home Community learned about the park’s rezoning last year after the park owner reached an agreement with Core5 Industrial Properties, which filed plans to build 1.2 million square feet of warehouses on the property.

And another park bites the dust. Seeing a trend here? Guess why? The lot rents were too low to beat out the industrial redevelopment option.

Anna Maria Island Sun: Owner closes Pines Trailer Park

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BRADENTON BEACH –  Pines Trailer Park residents who recently received city approval to repair their hurricane-damaged mobile homes received a letter on Jan. 4 from Pines Park Investors LLC stating that the park will be closed.

The letter from Pines Park Investors LLC, whose manager is Shawn Kaleta, was received by Pines homeowners on Jan. 4 and reads in part:

“Over the past months, we have conducted extensive financial modeling and assessments to determine the viability of maintaining the park,” according to the letter. “Unfortunately, we have come to the difficult conclusion that Pines Park is no longer sustainable as a trailer park and...

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“Over the past months, we have conducted extensive financial modeling and assessments to determine the viability of maintaining the park,” according to the letter. “Unfortunately, we have come to the difficult conclusion that Pines Park is no longer sustainable as a trailer park and must be closed.”

Yes, this is exactly what I predicted months ago. FEMA and city governments have suddenly realized that all they have to do to get rid of mobile home parks is simply demand that every home be raised above the base floodplain elevation (BFE) – one home they even wanted to be elevated 12’ in the air – which costs a fortune and that no resident or owner can possibly afford. It’s really a clever scheme in that you can disguise closing down “trailer parks” while blaming it on simply looking out for the residents’ future happiness. If that’s not FEMA’s intention then they need to immediately cut out this nonsense and get these people back in their homes as quickly as possible. Have you ever heard of such a thing from a group supposedly devoted to helping those in need? That would be like the police showing up at your house and saying “sorry, but I can’t stop that burglar from strangling you until you replace your deadbolts, because it might happen again”.

News Center Maine: Bangor mobile home residents secure funding to buy park

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BANGOR, Maine — Residents of Cedar Falls Mobile Home Park in Bangor have secured financing to buy the land their homes sit on.

Last year, they successfully submitted an $8 million bid to prevent the property from being sold to a Canadian developer that planned to increase monthly rent by $35 a year.

This opportunity stems from a 2023 Maine law requiring park owners to give residents a 60-day notice before a sale, allowing them to submit an offer to buy the property.

Ronnie Pinkham, president of the Cedar Falls Resident Cooperative, said the group has made significant progress. "We're on the right road to success," she said.

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So check this out. The residents are paying $8 million to buy their mobile home park to fend off a $35 per month lot rent increase:

Residents of Cedar Falls Mobile Home Park in Bangor have secured financing to buy the land their homes sit on. Last year, they successfully submitted an $8 million bid to prevent the property from being sold to a Canadian developer that planned to increase monthly rent by $35 a year.

And now they just figured out that, upon buying it, they will have to raise the rent more than $35 per month:

With the interest on the loans and $300,000 in repairs that need to be done on the property, lot rent will have to increase.

So here’s the moral. When the tenants buy the park, the combination of mortgage and operating costs requires a rent that is just as much – or more – than when a professional owner steps in. But here’s the bigger problem. Residents are lousy managers as they refuse to evict for unpaid rent, make tough decisions that anger their neighbors, or vote to spend money on cap-x repairs, so the tenants pay not only more rent per month but their quality of life in the park is actually lower. Pretty stupid concept, right?