Coast-to-Coast Manufactured Home Community News
Apparently, Arizona, New York, and California all have one very important thing in common…a fundamental understanding of the intrinsic value of today’s fiscally responsible manufactured home community.
Phoenix City Council Brings Meetings to Manufactured Home Community –
Manufactured home owners are traditionally very active in local politics and tend to have higher than average voting records than most other demographics. This is especially true of seniors and retiree homeowner residents in land-lease communities. Unfortunately, there are many politicians across the country who don’t realize, understand, or cater to this influential voting bloc, much to their own peril.
Phoenix city Council brings government to the people
The City of Phoenix, Arizona, and the surrounding area is home to a large population of retired senior citizens residing in beautiful manufactured home communities throughout the greater metropolitan area. Many of these community residents are affectionately called “snowbirds,” those who have migrated to the Valley of the Sun to escape the cold weather in the northern U.S., and surprisingly many from Canada. These close-knit manufactured home community residents are always politically active and possess a great deal of clout with elected city officials. And, the Phoenix City Council is extremely cognizant of this influence.
The Phoenix Mail Tribune is reporting that the City Council plans to bring government to the people this year with plans of holding four meetings in various communities in order to allow/ encourage greater participation in town-hall gatherings before regular sessions, as well as a session at Phoenix High School. The council is expected to approve the idea at its Feb.6 meeting, where it will hear a staff report.
Mayor Chris Luz proposed the concept last year when he served on the council. The format will provide opportunities for input, questions, and answers before the regular council meeting. Manufactured home parks that have been contacted have been receptive to the idea, Luz said.
“We want to give these folks the opportunity to ask questions and to get suggestions and take them to the City Council. Just reaching out and listening is a good thing in itself,” said Luz. “If it encourages some participation at the meeting, then that would be great, too. The rest of the counselors are excited about it. We will make it happen.”
The first meeting is tentatively scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, at Bear Lake Estates, 300 Luman Road. Creekside Estates, 4601 Pacific Highway, and is the likely location of a May meeting. Rogue Valley South, 4624 S. Pacific Highway, would host a meeting in August; residents of nearby Greenway Village will be at encouraged to attend.
Executive board members of the HOA (homeowner’s association) at Creekside liked the idea when Luz presented it at their meeting, said President Carla Gilliam. The proposal will be presented to the entire association when it holds its quarterly meeting Thursday. Creekside has 55 manufactured homes and a good sized clubhouse, said Gilliam. Former Creekside resident Diane Stewart was on the City Council, and other residents are active in city programs, Gilliam said. Luz offered to prepare a flyer to go out with the community newsletter. Hoping for greater interaction, Luz noted, “They will let us hear about how they feel about things, and hopefully they will attend City Council meetings in the future.”
Stony Point, New York Residents Of Manufactured Home Community Won’t Get Help Unless They Move –
Stony Point Manufactured Home Community
So … Will They Stay, or Will They Go?
That was the crux of three new programs offered by state officials was recently revealed after a nearly year-long study, to an anxious crowd of residents who lived in the flood-prone Ba Mar Manufactured Home Community, according to Lohud Journal News. Residents packed into the Stony Point Center — more than 150 — to hear the state’s final decision after waiting 5 years to get a firm answer about whether they will be permitted to remain in their current homes or be forced to locate in the wake of Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Paul Lozito, director of housing policy for the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, presented three assistance options that all involved residents relocating outside of the mobile home park, which is in a designated 100-year floodplain. The plans, Lozito said, were “intended to provide resources to folks that want to relocate. Current residents are welcome to stay if they do not want to participate in the program. “The state will not encourage the displacement of residents,” Lozito said.
Here are the three state options:
- Manufactured home replacement assistance: The program will fund the purchase of a new manufactured home at a capped level ($125,000), and must be out of the 100-year floodplain. Residents must find another lot on which to locate the new home or obtain a lease for the lot. The program will also arrange for the demolition or removal of the old home.
- Homeownership assistance: This plan will provide the entire down payment and eligible closing costs for the purchase of a new home outside of a 100-year floodplain. Residents will also get a one-time payment to reduce the size of the loan so monthly mortgage payments to the bank are affordable based on the person’s gross income. Those who participate must qualify for a mortgage.
- Rental Assistance: The state will provide a total of 42 months of rental assistance to cover the costs of renting a new home outside the 100-year floodplain.This option remains dependent on federal approval, which is expected in the early summer. The program will also cover the costs of the demolition of the old home.
Rockland County Legislator Douglas Jobson, R-Stony Point, said the night’s meeting offered a lot of information for residents to take in, but he wasn’t sure whether the options will offer a solution for everyone.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Jobson said. “It gives them a whole new set of parameters now where these people are going to have to see what they can do to fit into one of the three options, but I’m afraid not everybody will.”
Ineligible for the new programs are those who have already received a benefit or award through another program, such as the FEMA Manufactured Home Program. But residents who have applied to other programs but have not yet received a benefit can still apply.
Mortgage Group Finances Acquisition of Manufactured Home Community in San Andreas California –
Oak Shadows Mobile Home Park
Hunt Mortgage Group, a leader in financing commercial and residential real estate throughout the United States, recently announced it provided a Fannie Mae loan facility in the amount of $5.3 million to enable the acquisition of a manufactured housing Community located in San Andreas, California. The final loan covered approximately 75% of acquisition costs, as reported on Globe Newswire, posted by Yahoo Finance Online. Oak Shadows Mobile Home Park is comprised of one, one-story community building and 105 pads. The property was developed in 1977, is situated on a 17.8 acre parcel and offers 230 spaces. It is age restricted to 55 years and older and is 100% occupied.
Property amenities include the leasing office and clubhouse with a kitchen and fitness room, Outdoor recreational activities include a swimming pool and spa. All of the pads at Oak Shadows are double-wides, some of which can accommodate “triple-wide” homes.
Oak Shadows is located in the city of San Andreas which is situated in the western Sierra Nevada Mountains on the eastern side of the California Central Valley, approximately 130 miles northeast of San Francisco.
