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Kitsap Sun: Meeting with residents changes timeline of aid distribution, reveals rent increases

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North Kitsap Fishline will postpone the distribution of $30,000 in funds pledged last week to help residents Poulsbo Mobile Home Park conduct repairs, after dialogue between residents and property managers revealed a delay in distributing inspection reports to tenants.

Intending to provide relief to residents who recently received violation notices requiring them to complete a series of external repairs within an initial 20 days, the City of Poulsbo organized a community meeting, held Thursday at Poulsbo Mobile Home Park on Lincoln Road, to start the process of distributing funds. Poulsbo's city council committed $15,000 from an...

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Our thoughts on this story:

At the May 3 Poulsbo City Council meeting, Councilmember Gary McVey told Josh Brooks and Shah, “We will take you at your word that you are not sprucing the place up to raise rents exorbitantly or to evict people who don't deserve to be so. We will hold you to that…”

And with those words the IQ of the entire room fell 10 points. Obviously, making the property nice should result in higher rents. Mobile home park lot rents are ridiculously low and until you break the $1,000 per month barrier in most markets (but not LA, Denver and others) you are not exorbitant. And park owners never evict people who do not need to be removed, as it costs a park owner about $5,000 in costs to evict a tenant when you factor in vacancy and home renovations.

San Antonio Report: City Council poised to approve 14 more affordable housing projects funded by 2022 bond

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The City of San Antonio has selected another 14 affordable housing projects to receive $32.1 million from the local housing bond and some federal grants.

If approved, the funding would be used toward building or rehabilitating more than 2,100 housing units in the coming years. The projects were presented to City Council on Wednesday.

“I would argue there’s only one thing that supersedes excitement of the Spurs getting the No. 1 draft pick — and it’s this presentation,” Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5) said. “Everyone deserves access to quality, safe, affordable housing.”

City Council is slated to vote on the latest batch of projects on...

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Our thoughts on this story:

There are 44,000 mobile home parks in the U.S. The residents own 300 of these. That’s .0068 of all parks. Focusing on that initiative is hardly the way to accomplish the goal of helping affordable housing. Devoting millions of dollars for 55 residents to buy their own park is not nearly as smart as spending that same money to act as grants to fix roads, pipes and other infrastructure at many, many parks. Let’s be honest, this has nothing to do with the public good. This is simply virtue signaling by the City of San Antonio.

Effingham Herald: Guyton to amend code regarding manufactured and modular homes

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The City of Guyton issued a press release May 18.

To quell the rumors and misinformation surrounding the potential changes to the City Zoning code regarding manufactured housing and modular homes, The following information is important:

1. The City is not making manufactured or modular homes illegal.

2. The City is not taking away existing manufactured or modular homes.

3. The City will not prevent homeowners from replacing an existing manufactured or modular home.

 4. The City will not prevent homeowners from repairing their property or require approval to do so.

The current proposed changes to the code will do the following:

1. Property...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Guyon, Georgia has a new idea. They will require a Special Use Permit for each and every new mobile home to enter any mobile home park in the city. But this should not be considered a way for them to keep mobile home tenants from moving in but instead because “It allows the community the opportunity to participate in the future of their neighborhoods”.

Yeah, right.

Let’s see how that holds up in court.

The Press Democrat: Problems at your mobile home park? Here’s how to alert California officials

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Mobile home parks offer some of the cheapest housing to the most vulnerable Californians. But advocates say these parks often fall into disrepair because of their old age, vulnerability to climate hazards and lax oversight.

The California Housing and Community Development Department monitors health and safety at most of these parks, and depends largely on mobile home residents to file complaints to find out about problems and urge owners to fix them.

A five-month CalMatters investigation found most park residents don’t know how to file a complaint or fear what could happen if they do. We took the most common questions we heard from park...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Here’s how it works in the real world: 1) file your complaint with the State of California 2) get some bureaucrat to go out to the park and find 1,000 problems with every square inch of it 3) notify the park owner that they need to do 160,000 repairs 4) park owner calls the local real estate broker and puts the land on the market for redevelopment 5) buyer makes an offer 5) park owner accepts it 6) developer requests mutli-family zoning and gets it immediately 7) park owner terminates all leases 8) park becomes 100 high-end apartment units and 9) the tenant who filed with the State of California cries and says “I don’t know how this all happened”. The winners in this story: 1) the park owner 2) the developer 3) the new 100 apartment residents 4) the city government and 5) the neighboring community. The loser: the tenants in the park.

The scariest words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”.

Ideastream Public Media: Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park supporters stage another protest to save homes

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Holding protest signs including “Fund our community, not our displacement,” about 10 supporters of the Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park demonstrated outside of a Western Reserve Land Conservancy fundraiser at the conservancy’s Moreland Hills headquarters Friday morning.

The conservancy, which owns the land where the mobile home park sits in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood, announced in February that more than 100 mobile home residents would have to move to make way for a new public park. Since then, United Residents of Euclid Beach (UREB) — a resident’s union with about 40 members — and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Do you seriously think that Cleveland needed this piece of land so bad to make way for a city park that they just had to evict those 100 park residents? Obviously, the truth is probably that Cleveland wanted to get this park torn down because it’s unsightly and costing the city a fortune in school tuition, hospital stays, and public programs. That’s like when the hotel says that it’s not going to wash your towels or sheets to save the environment from toxic chemicals.

The Durango Herald: How Lightner Creek tested Colorado’s Mobile Home Park Act

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When about 85 residents lost water for two months in the Lightner Creek Mobile Home Park earlier this year west of Durango, there was little anyone could do.

Two days after the Feb. 13 outage, the park’s owner, Darlene Mann, received a cease-and-desist order from Christina Postolowski, manager of the Mobile Home Park Oversight Program. The order compelled Mann to comply with the various sections of the Mobile Home Park Act by repairing the water system, providing water to residents until service was restored, repairing a blocked sewer line and fully cleaning up a spill of raw sewage on park property.

When Mann did not comply with the...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The average park owner does not have access to the $30 trillion credit line of the U.S. government. Asking an elderly park owner to chip in $5,000 per day, for water alone, for 60 days totals $300,000. And that does not even cover the cost to replace the water lines. So what’s the solution? Do you think there’s a higher use for this land in Durango, Colorado? Are you serious? In this case, a park buyer took the property over and saved it from the wrecking ball. But in 9 out of 10 cases, this park would be torn down and made into a more profitable use. What should have happened differently? The state should have supplied the water and fixed the water lines and prayed that the stress of the situation alone would not have coerced the seller into calling a land broker. The article confirms that if the park was resident-owned the state would have provided grants or low-cost loans immediately to do just that. Since tenants own nearly zero parks in Colorado, the state might want to think about changing that program requirement.

Democrat Gazette: Trailer park razing a concern in U.S.

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PHOENIX -- The razing of older mobile home parks across the United States worries advocates who say bulldozing them permanently eliminates some of the already limited housing for the poorest of the poor.

A recent survey by the National Low Income Housing Coalition showed a U.S.-wide shortage of 7.3 million affordable rental homes for extremely low-income renters, defined in Arizona as a three-member household making $28,850 or less.

"Mobile homes are a much bigger part of our affordable housing stock than people know," said Mark Stapp, who directs Arizona State University's master's degree program in real estate development. "Once it's...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Bingo.

 

At least six such communities have been torn down in Arizona in the last 18 months, he said, adding that Grand Canyon University "bent over backwards" to help residents more than other park owners."A lot of these parks are 70 years old," said Anderson, noting an uptick in demolitions of older communities for redevelopment. "It's going to be a big problem down the line."

 

So people are starting to have second thoughts about the importance of making sure that more parks don’t get town down. Easy solution. HIGHER LOT RENTS. You don’t need an academic study.

KOLO: Can’t afford to stay or leave: Local mobile home owners’ dilemma

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SPARKS, Nev. (KOLO) -In many ways, Jeanneil Marzan is a typical resident of her seniors-only mobile home park in Sparks.

She’s owned her manufactured home for 10 years, and for all those years she’s shouldered the responsibilities of any homeowner. Her home and others nearby are well kept.

Although she owns and maintains the structure, someone else owns the ground it sits on and her landlord has just changed. In December, the park was bought by an investment group, the Carlisle Corporation.

They’ve raised the rent for new residents. She pays $790 a month. Someone moving in across the street would pay just over a thousand, but there are no...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This article is so stupid that its own conclusion negates it.

So, they are tied to a home they own and can’t move, facing added expense if they stay, leaving with a fraction of its worth if they choose to move on. “So, if I want to sell my house for probably half what I should get for it, then where do I go?” asks Marzan. “What else is affordable here that we could get into?”

The article starts off saying that higher lot rents make mobile home prices go down, as the potential home buyer has less cash flow to work with. Then it ends with the fact that they bought the mobile home, not for appreciation potential, but because it’s the cheapest thing in town. You can’t have it both ways. I know of no asset that is both cheap and appreciates wildly. If I go buy a car at a used car lot and say “what’s the cheapest thing you’ve got” I’ll end up with a 1985 Ford Taurus. Not a 1985 Ferrari. And that Taurus will have zero chance of ever being a collectible classic. If I buy the car that will appreciate – the Ferrari – it will cost as much as the ten cheapest cars combined.

So don’t go around telling me that anyone lives in mobile homes because they view that as an appreciating asset. They live in mobile homes because they represent the only shot at insanely cheap living. If you want a house that appreciates in value, the average single-family home costs $400,000 – that’s 100 times what many mobile homes sell for.

KSAT: Mobile home co-op plan poised to get city bond funding

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San Antonio – The City of San Antonio plans to use part of its first housing bond to help create the city’s first mobile home park cooperative.

As part of the second round of proposals to use bond and federal dollars, city staff on Wednesday recommended helping fund a plan to purchase a South Side mobile home park and convert it into a co-op. That means the tenants of the 56-site Riverside Terrace on Mission Road would then own the park themselves and have the authority to set rents and make any improvements.

City staff recommended approving a little less than $2.9 million of the $150 million housing bond as well as $250,000 in fee...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The tenants are buying this park for around $100,000 per lot. Clearly the seller has no problem with that. But I don’t think these residents realize what they’re getting into. To service that much debt, the rents are going to go up – way up. “Maybe not today or tomorrow but soon and for the rest of their lives” as Humphrey Bogart would say. To think that this transaction is going to keep rents low is a fallacy. It’s called math.

Daily Montanan: Gianforte vetoes mobile homes park bill, CPS reform, among other legislation

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Gov. Greg Gianforte vetoed a bill that would have given protections for mobile home park residents, like requiring park owners give 60 days notice before taking action like increasing rent.

House Bill 889 is among more than a dozen other proposals to get rejected by the governor, including a bill for reforms to Child Protective Services and another bill requiring the state health department to issue reports of abuse from the state hospital.

Gianforte said in his veto letter Tuesday that House Bill 889 “increases regulation of mobile home parks, disincentivizes landlords from maintaining or increasing the inventory of mobile home rental...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The Governor of Montana is this week’s Smartest Guy in the Room:

Gianforte said in his veto letter Tuesday that House Bill 889 “increases regulation of mobile home parks, disincentivizes landlords from maintaining or increasing the inventory of mobile home rental lots, and, in general, compromises the property rights of mobile home park owners.”

He must be an avid reader of this weekly publication as he fully understands that making mobile home parks a pain to own results in them being redeveloped into other uses. As tenants try to put burdens on park owners that are not in-line with American property laws, they set in motion the park owner selling the land for a different – and more porofitable – use.

Standard-Examiner: Riverdale mobile home park emptying; 152-unit apartment complex planned

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RIVERDALE — As the deadline to vacate the Lesley’s Mobile Home Park site looms, only a handful of stragglers remain.

“I’m waiting to the last minute,” said one of the remaining residents, Flora Espinoza, who’s lived at the park for 23 years. Lesley’s, which sits in the shadow of Riverdale Road where it crosses the Weber River, has space for 55 units, but only five or six units are still occupied.

Espinoza still hasn’t found a buyer for her unit, at least at a price that’s acceptable to her, and she’s holding out. “I’ve cried a lot over this,” she said from her porch, one of her grandsons eating inside the unit while her two dogs, Chiquita...

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Our thoughts on this story:

The writer of this article just doesn’t get it.

“The plight of the residents, he maintains, underscores the need for legislative change to counter the power owners of mobile home parks have over tenants.“The man did win. Maybe that’s the way Utah legislative laws are set up. The one gets richer, the poor get poorer,” he said.”

No, Lesley’s mobile home park did not get torn down because mobile home park residents don’t have power over the owner of the park. It got torn down because 152 apartment units is way more profitable than 55 mobile home park lots. In this case, there’s no way you could have raised the lot rent high enough to stop the apartment development. Instead, you have to accept the reality that mobile home parks have really good locations and cities will provide the developer any zoning necessary to get rid of them.

The moral is that the tenants and media need to stop harassing and publicly shaming mobile home park owners because there is always some type of development that any mobile home park can be turned into – and pretty easily.

Realtor: The Week’s Most Popular Listing Is a Must-See California Mobile Home—Seriously

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Atiny mobile home in Palm Springs, CA, rumored to have once been actor Desi Arnaz‘s makeup trailer is this week’s most popular listing on Realtor.com®.

Named “Lucille” after Arnaz’s real-life wife and “I Love Lucy” co-star, Lucille Ball, the 336-square-foot abode is part of a mobile park community known as Horizon Mobile Village. Located directly under the famous , the affordable and adorable dwelling is already pending sale.

Other real estate offerings that made the popularity list include a massive Lone Star estate with a 50-car garage, a California megamansion that Eddie Murphy once owned, and a hobbit-style home in...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Seriously? $150,000 for that?

KHQA: Residents in Monroe Community Trailer Court unhappy with condition of property

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MONROE CITY, Mo. (KHQA) — Residents of one Monroe City Trailer Court are unhappy about the cost of living and unhealthy living conditions.

"They have all these high expectations, but them not wanting to fix anything, how are you going to have high expectations when you are a slumlord," said one tenant who requested their identity remain unknown.

Residents in the Monroe Community Trailer Court have had concerns about the condition of the area for sometime now.

They say they have seen more crime and unhealthy living conditions when new owners took over.

Ben White lived in the former Kendrick Mobile Home Park since 1972.

He says when the new...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Could this be any more predictable? New owners buy the park and raise rents and enforce rules. A few residents try to get back at the owners by claiming that somehow the park is going down the drain (when it’s really being brought back to life). Some young reporter who makes less than the cashier at Dollar General writes an article about it without probably doing any fact-checking at all or attempting to get the other side of the story.

The Islander Classifieds: Offer to buy Pines Park includes 5-year break for homeowners

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Homeowners in the Pines Trailer Park, 103 Church Ave., Bradenton Beach, received notice May 8 of an offer from an unknown entity seeking to purchase the park land.

The notice was prepared by attorney David A. Luczak, representing the Jackson Partnership, which owns the land on the bayside in the city’s historic district.

The property is one of two mobile home parks on Anna Maria Island — both are in Bradenton Beach.

The notice outlined an offer that includes a purchase price of $16,250,000 for park-owned land, as well as any park-owned mobile homes, recreational vehicles, equipment, materials, vehicles and buildings.

The notice also...

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Our thoughts on this story:

As required under the Florida Mobile Home Act, they first offered the park to the homeowners association for purchase. The law requires a park owner to give 45 days notice of an intent to sell to unit
owners and gives those homeowners the first right of refusal. Homeowners in February voted to form a cooperative to rally for the purchase of the land but negotiations between the property owner and the HOA failed April 20 due to a lack of funding, according to Bill Gorman, a real estate professional hired by Pines homeowners to help facilitate the purchase of the park from the ownership.

Could somebody please explain to the world that mobile home park residents are not going to come up with not only $16 million but with $1 million non-refundable on day one (which was required to match the offer). 

Daily Mail: EXCLUSIVE: 'I live the same lifestyle as my multi-millionaire neighbor!' Inside Palm Beach mobile home community Briny Breezes - complete with a beach club and pool - where residents REFUSED $500m offer from developers

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And when a so-far unidentified developer wanted to change all that and offered more than half a billion dollars to buy them out, the residents were near unanimous with their answer – you've got to be kidding me!

Even now, they don't regret their decision to turn down the bid, as DailyMail.com got an inside look at the community and spoke to residents who said no to the offer of $502,496,000.

'This is paradise,' resident Chuck Swift told DailyMail.com. 'I mean, you're sitting on my boat right now and I live the same lifestyle as a mega multimillionaire that's six blocks south. Obviously it's a trailer, but I can go out to the inlet, out to...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Look at the photos in this article and tell me how these people are not complete idiots for turning down $502 million for this land – that’s over a million dollars to each resident, free and clear. If this is the best you could do for housing on $1 million then I’m speechless.

Valley News: Mobile home parks tackle septic, drinking water crises with federal dollars

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When the North Country Village Cooperative asked the state last year for help with failing drinking water and wastewater systems, the manufactured home community was placed at No. 5 on a priority list.

Fifty-seven homes occupy the former 1960s three-season campground, just a few miles from the beautiful expanse of Lake Winnipesaukee in the small town of Tuftonboro. The leach field systems were defective and breaking down. Some needed to be pumped every six months or less. Septic tanks were undersized.

Drinking water was another issue altogether. The water system was just barely meeting daily demand, according to project documents, and one...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Yet another article about New Hampshire replacing mobile home park infrastructure but only if the tenants own the park. The writer somehow thinks this topic will brainwash all park residents to buy their parks. Unfortunately, this writer does not read my weekly submissions, or they’d realize that it’s a ridiculous narrative. They might as well write an article stating that if you get a perfect SAT score you will get free tuition in college (which is true). In last week’s articles I highlighted a group of park residents that were trying to buy their property at a price of $16.5 million and had only been able to raise $4,400 towards that goal when the timeclock ran out. That’s the truth in 99% of all cases.

KTNV: Residents forced to move as North Las Vegas senior mobile home park closes

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NORTH LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Many residents at the Pair-A-Dice Senior Mobile Home Park say they were told to leave by June 2nd because the park is being torn down.

"Where are you going to put all the senior citizens who are on a fixed income," said Pair-A-Dice Senior Mobile Home Park resident, David Kille.

Another resident, Sayed Mohammad Sayed has lived in the park for nearly two decades. Over the years, he said he has invested about $20,000 into his home, but says Agora Realty, the company that recently purchased the land is only offering him $3,750 to relocate by June 2nd.

"Now to move from here and not give me the correct money is...

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Our thoughts on this story:

“In a statement sent to Channel 13, Agora Realty said they are working proactively to help residents relocate because of the park's closure, but residents believe even with their help it will be nearly impossible to find an affordable place to live.”

Maybe those residents should spread the word to all the other mobile home park residents nationwide as to the importance of all park owners making sufficient profit as to not seek redevelopment.

NBC Palm Springs: Mobile Home Park Water Pipeline Work to Prompt Partial Overnight Road Closure

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INDIO (CNS) – Overnight water pipeline work aimed at enhancing water quality and reliability in a mobile home park will prompt the closure of a portion of Indio Boulevard through early Tuesday.

From 10 p.m. Monday until 4 a.m. Tuesday, the eastbound lanes of Indio Boulevard between Jefferson and Madison Streets will be closed, according to the city of Indio. The work will convert the Elm Mobile Home Park’s private water system to the City of Indio/Indio Water Authority (IWA) system.

“The City/IWA entered into an agreement with the State Water Resources Control Board to provide a safe and reliable water supply to the 48 households in Elm’s...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This article had some interesting input, but the writer missed it. It’s the interesting way that this park came to get city water after decades of well water:

“The City/IWA entered into an agreement with the State Water Resources Control Board to provide a safe and reliable water supply to the 48 households in Elm’s Mobile Home Park,” city officials said in a statement. The project is being funded by a grant from the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) Drinking Water Program.”

If more cities and states would do proactive improvements to old mobile home parks, then fewer of them would close each year.

The Laurinburg Exchange: Laurinburg mobile home park in peril for residents

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LAURINBURG — 63-year-old Tina Perry has lived at the Town and Country Estate mobile home park, situated between the new and old Hillside Cemeteries in Laurinburg, for 36 years.

The land was recently acquired by Park Haven Management and, along with new ownership, an order to vacate the park. Perry, who owns her home but rents the plot of land it sits on, remains undaunted and is currently crusading against the new owners to keep her home where it has been for over half her life.

Town and country mobile home park is comprised of homeowners and renters. Approximately eight to ten individuals own their homes and rent the land, whereas six to...

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Our thoughts on this story:

Not much must be happening in Laurinburg, North Carolina when a newspaper prints a major story which is nothing more than a liberal judge dismissing an eviction because the park was not represented by an attorney (which this judge finds somehow offensive). The article admits that all the park owner has to do is simply re-file and have an attorney show up and they will win the eviction. But the resident gets a whopping 30 more days. Big deal.

KAALTV: Future of Bob’s Trailer Park to be discussed during public hearing

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(ABC 6 News) – There will be a public hearing about the closing of Bob’s Trailer Park on Monday.

The Rochester city council will review the park owner’s closure statement and assess the impact the park’s closing could have. Bob’s was bought by “TSJ Parks LLC” in 2021, with plans to turn the trailer park into low-income housing for seniors.

ABC 6 News has reported on several issues this trailer park faced before, including the public health and safety concerns related to a compromised water system.

This past October residents were officially given their notice to leave, but some residents say they never received a notice and were told they...

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Our thoughts on this story:

So let me get this straight: the city and media has hounded this park for years about how much they hate it and now they are crying because it’s officially closing. Kind of reminds me of the old adage “the dog that bites the hand that feeds it”. Maybe city bureaucrats missed out on economics class, but the premise of free enterprise is just that: “free”. If you relentlessly harass a business, it shuts down and converts into a new business that it’s harder to be harassed about. You see this going on throughout American cities today, such as WalMart closing all stores in Portland https://www.the-sun.com/money/7549539/walmart-store-closing-theft-shoplifting/. So here’s a new bulletin for Rochester government and media concerning Bob’s Trailer Park: “you blew it”. Just like Portland.

AZMirror: The eviction o mobile home residents happened by design. Zoning reform can prevent it.

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The same week that the Phoenix City Council was debating providing a mobile home zoning overlay at three mobile home parks that are facing imminent eviction and displacement, another mobile home park at the I-17 and Indian School Road showed up for sale on Zillow. 

The listing stated that the tenants were facing annual rent increases and that future rezoning and redevelopment was imminent. This would allow for the demolition of the existing 34 mobile homes and subsequent eviction of all the residents to build about 192 units of market-rate housing. 

Even if the community organized to reject the rezoning application, most mobile home parks...

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Our thoughts on this story:

“Mobile home parks being purchased by developers, subsequent evictions and trauma for the residents will not stop until the root of the issue is addressed. Exclusionary zoning practices must end in order to provide our families and communities the security and dignity that is taken with their eviction, displacement, and destruction of their homes. Our state lawmakers can choose to stop this with three zoning reform bills that are currently at the state legislature, House Bill 2536, Senate Bill 1161 and Senate Bill 1163. Each seeks to unwind exclusionary zoning by: allowing for the construction of casitas, manufactured housing, and affordable housing along the light rail by-right.”

If any of these three bills pass in Arizona, the state is screwed. Property values will be destroyed. More woke initiatives that no sane person would ever vote for, but bureacrats might be coerced into supporting on TV if protestors scream at them enough or harass them in front of their houses.</p>

Builder: WILL MANUFACTURED AND MODULAR HOMES EVER LIVE UP TO THE PROMISE?

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I have always been a fan of manufactured and modular home building. Converting home building from a site-built production system to a manufactured product is supposed to reduce waste and create a higher-quality product. Manufacturing is also supposed to be faster and less expensive.

That’s the promise, but I wonder if manufacturing will ever live up to those expectations.

Throughout home building’s modern history, bursts of momentum have occurred in prefabricated housing. All eventually receded into history. Examples include the pre-war Sears kit homes, the post-war Levitt & Sons and Lustron offerings, and the mobile home boom of the...

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Our thoughts on this story:

It depends on what the promise was. If the promise was to adequately fill vacant lots in mobile home parks, then the answer is “yes”. If the promise was to sell a whole bunch of units and be a neck-and-neck competitor with stick-built dwellings then the answer is clearly “no”.

Jacobin: Wall Street Is Holding a Gun to Mobile Home Residents’ Heads

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In the Indianapolis eviction court where my students and I work, Jessica and her family come to court in a panic. Jessica contracted COVID-19 and missed several weeks of work, which caused her to fall behind on the rent she owed to a mobile home park. Now she and her elderly mother and a brother living with disabilities, who all live together in the family home, are facing eviction.

The good news: Jessica and her family came to court with several folded and dog-eared money orders they had cobbled together, which together added up to the rent due. The bad news: the landlords say they won’t dismiss the eviction case unless Jessica pays for...

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Our thoughts on this story:

What an absurd article with quotes like “In mobile home parks around the country, millions of tenants and owners are being mercilessly exploited and regularly evicted, often by giant Wall Street firms like Blackstone.” Who wrote this nonsense, AOC? Blackstone and other private equity groups are injecting millions of dollars into these parks and bringing them back to life. That’s like criticizing the doctor that brings the patient back to life and then the relatives complain “I liked him better before”. Give me a break.

Nassau County Record: Trailers move for new growth

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A new 16,500-square-foot medical and retail development could break ground in Callahan before the year’s end. 

An application had not been filed with Callahan Town Hall as of Tuesday, according to town officials.  

The proposed Coastal Callahan Center is planned at 541299 U.S. 1, in the same location as the present Pinetree Trailer Park. E.H. Callahan, LLC is listed as the new property owner, according to the Nassau County Property Appraiser’s Office website. The property currently consists of 10 mobile home lots and two structures. Only a few mobile homes appear occupied. 

The 5.24-acre mixed-use development is part of Jacksonville-based...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This is what happens when the park does not charge continually higher lot rents.

The Argonaut: Palouse trailer parks form community cooperative

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Four mobile home parks in the region recently voted to form a cooperative in order to counteract some of the issues they experience. 

Residents of all four mobile home communities in the area are facing rent hikes of between 11% and 101%. (See accompanying chart) 

According to the National Cooperative Business Association, manufactured housing is susceptible to unique concerns. Since residents only own their homes, and not the land that their homes are on, they can be subject to poor infrastructure. This issue was exemplified by the Appaloosa Court situation when residents experienced problems with their water supply.

In March, Victoria...

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Our thoughts on this story:

This journalist is apparently offended because of the“feudalistic arrangement” between the tenant and the mobile home park owner. My question is “what form of real estate does not have a feudalistic arrangement”? In all property rights, the owner holds all the cards and the tenant has none. Is there some other arrangement the writer proposes? Maybe one in which the owner puts up all the money and risk and then the tenants choose the rent level? Even Karl Marx would tell you it’s a hard sell.