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“We had a choice between corporate owners or the ROC USA model,” Peirce says. Although Sans Souci residents strongly supported the idea of purchasing the park at first, some grew frustrated by the increasing price tag as the numbers from ROC USA Capital came in. It felt, Peirce says, that there was still a large player dictating major expenses, and fear that in the end residents would still get saddled with a substantial cost. “We knew that that was going to be tough and that the market rate wasn’t going to be sustainable for many of the residents,” he says. With guidance from LEAP, Pleasant View residents have joined together to form a cooperative and take out a $1.65 million loan $1.39 million for the land, plus funding for infrastructure improvements.
Purchasing the parks at market rate inevitably raises lot rents two or three years in advance to be competitive, Peirce says, at least for most parks. For Sans Souci, that means lot fees just went up to $750 from $605 in the beginning of September. In the coming months, they may increase again to $800 and then $856 before stabilizing to an average increase of about one percent a year to account for cost of living increases. “What we found is that within five years of resident ownership, all but one community was back down to market level rents or below,” he says. One community even had rents that were 22 percent below market rate, he adds. In a commercially owned community, the theory is that if you dont like how the park is being managed, you can move your home.
Longview Mobile Home Park
The homeowners own the land underneath our neighborhood as a resident-owned community . Our community is unique, and those of us who are lucky enough to be Members cherish the opportunity to live in a place where we can be free of worry about our space rents spiraling beyond what is affordable. Your donation will give homeowners the chance to improve their manufactured home communities where they see the most pressing need. Additional support and partnerships are often necessary to make the financing for resident-owned communities to work.
Valleau, the housing attorney, said park owners are “gaming the system” by only sending notices once they’ve already got a deal in the works. In light of the nondisclosure, the state reset the 90-day purchasing clock for residents. But this time, Hickory Village couldn’t get majority support from homeowners on a second offer.
Study: ROCs Grow More Affordable Every Year
After going through the process and closing the purchase of the Mobile Home Community , the resident cooperative becomes the governing body of the park. Unification of land and housing ensures community owners’ self-determination. Monday’s deal closed the loop on a dream that began more than two years ago, though residents’ early flirtations with the idea of a sale never quite took hold. But they pressed forward — starting the requisite homeowners association that would allow residents to speak with a unified voice and becoming even more active as continued rent increases threatened to displace some longtime residents. Sans Souci and the 120-unit River View park, which also closed its $14 million sale from Strive to a resident co-op on Monday, are the state’s fourth and fifth resident-owned communities — with others likely to follow. Such sales are significant, especially in the midst of Colorado’s current housing crisis, as mobile homes account for the nation’s largest inventory of non-subsidized affordable housing, and they’re home to an estimated 100,000 Coloradans.
While the model works for Mapelton, Kadlec is a bit wary of it working elsewhere.“Mapleton is in the City of Boulder. “So I think at the time it was a great opportunity to preserve it under that land trust model when we weren’t aware of the ROC model. Whether or not residents succeed in purchasing their park, there are inherent benefits to trying, Kadlec says. Residents become leaders in their own communities, learning to speak up for themselves in public meetings, advocating for assistance and preservation. Any funding from the county, he continues, would come with conditions that wouldn’t necessarily work for Sans Souci residents, like deed-restricting the homes, and could even cause riffs and factions to form within the community.
Arrowhead Mobile Home Park
Michael Peirce walks back toward his Sans Souci mobile home community in Boulder County on June 22, 2021. Deborah Cantrell, a University of Colorado law professor who helped draft Colorado’s recently revised law governing mobile homes, noted that there has been a lot of activity on the mobile home park market across the nation. And while she wishes that the surge represented a major shift toward resident ownership, she suspects the real reason is driven by low interest rates that provide big investors a chance to raise capital and increase their mobile home park portfolios. Among the 25 mobile home parks sold statewide between June 30, 2020 — when the law took effect — and the end of 2020, 11 park owners did not provide a copy of the required sale notice to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, according to state data. Four parks currently up for sale have not provided notice to the state, and it’s unclear how many landlords didn’t provide adequate notice to homeowners. The resident-owned market constitutes just 2.4% of manufactured housing communities nationwide.
And if it comes down to taking the park owner to court, most mobile home residents don’t have the resources to compete with billion-dollar corporations. In order for residents to put in successful bids for Sans Suici and the River View mobile home park in Durango — which homeowners in June bought for $14 million — the “stars had to align for us to meet every deadline,” he said. While most mobile home parks in the past year have gone the way of Hickory Village or Golden Hills, two success stories give hope to those fighting for resident-owned communities. One broker of manufactured home communities said he didn’t think many owners try to skirt the law. But he admitted he’s seen companies work on deals before notices went out.
Crestline Manor Mobile Home Park
After each notice, homeowners are supposed to be given a 90-day window to make their own purchase offer. Resident owned communities, like Sans Souci, are “a great model for regular ownership, but not more affordable housing,” says Isabel Sanchez, president of MHA. Still, with the land trust model, the benefits of resident control remain, she adds.
With each unanswered offer, Gibson says support for the idea waned as the cost per resident increased. The last offer they submitted would have increased monthly rents to just over $1,100. But the residents say they still have never heard from Blackmer, and the property is no longer listed for sale. The residents almost unanimously agreed to raise their own lot rents in order to purchase the park—about $100 to $125 each, according to Kadlec.
Additionally, there is a swimming pool and hot tub, a covered picnic area, shuffleboard and more. Get out for a night of eating and drinking in the nearby towns, spend a day enjoying the outdoors or just enjoy some of your neighbors’ company. Below is a partial list of Mobile Home Parks in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois and New Mexico currently or previously managed by Sierra Corporate Management , and owned by a Kort & Scott Financial Group company.
Once the resident co-op made an offer, which Strive quickly accepted, the process moved into its due diligence phase, a more thorough evaluation of the property and a sharper estimate of operating costs. Shifting the residents from an HOA to a co-op required a lot of planning and decisions on rules, policies and procedures, plus a new property management company to collect rent and handle maintenance. Once the opportunity-to-purchase provision of the new state law gave notice that Strive was ready to sell , much of the organizing of residents had been done.
In a commercially owned community, even though residents own their homes, the park owner controls the lot rent and the park rules. He or she also has control over the condition of the community including roads, water, electric, waste-water systems and landscaping. Each time the community is sold to a new owner, the rent is likely to increase. The community has two pools, including one thats heated so you can enjoy the water year-round. This mobile home park is situated on 10 acres, including 5.6 acres which are zoned commercial. Its only a quarter-mile from the main highway, a 10-minute drive to Lake Schaffer, and offers three park-owned mobile homes.
The Manaus strategy begins with engaging owners and residents before owners list a park for sale. That keeps the nonprofit from competing directly with deep-pocketed outside investors. Mobile home residents applauded the changes, but recognized that the state still doesn’t have the power to invalidate a park sale.
Manaus must raise $250,000 to finance the deal before closing in April. Along with serving as a bridge to resident ownership, the nonprofit plans to underwrite park operations and make maintenance and safety improvements. The median household income at 3-Mile is $54,000, according to a survey conducted by Manaus, roughly 57% of Garfield County’s official area median income of $94,200.
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