Mobile home residents who have bought the parks they live in agree the concept is simple — you start buying so that you can stop paying high rent increases.
For at least three mobile home parks in Palm Beach County, high rent increases are no longer a problem.
“Jamaica Bay is really a success story,” said Joseph Grefig, president of Jamaica Bay Mobile Home Park Inc., west of Boynton Beach. “It was a good decision to buy the park.”
Grefig and fellow neighbors bought the park in October 1986.
“We bought the park for $7.5 million,” he said.
Grefig said about 600 of the park’s 743 lots belong to co-op members, 139 are rentals and the rest are vacant or models.
In the buyout, the homeowners’ association offered each lot to residents for $19,000. Those residents who preferred not to buy in were allowed to stay.
“We made a conscious decision that these are our neighbors and we would do everything we could to protect them,” Grefig said.
The rent is $325 and the maintenance fee is $85 for those who bought into the park, he said.
Grefig said that buying the park is the way to go. He said that it has taken a combined effort from all the residents, who volunteer their time to keep the park running smoothly.
“This is so elementary I can’t even see why these arguments persist,” Grefig said, referring to opposing residents’ comments about who needs the extra headache, leave well enough alone, we don’t want anything tying us down, and who’s going to keep the money.
In the case of Colonial Estates Mobile Home Park, west of Boynton Beach, the owners decided to sell and residents were offered the chance to buy the park.
They bought the park.
“We have a permanent rent now,” said Curtis Bristol, president of the Colonial Estates Mobile Home Park Inc., the homeowners’ association.
Bristol said he and his neighbors are comforted by that fact and can make other plans for their money.
Bristol said that as long as long as the park can stay within their budget, which is determined by the number of repairs necessary, then there will be few rent increases.
Bristol said the park cost the residents $4.6 million.
“One of the guys here had a friend at the bank,” Bristol said. “They talked to us and told us how much to get up.”
The park has 254 lots and each resident was asked to come up with $800 for the operating expenses during the initial negotiations. The initial down payment for each resident was $19,180.
The maintenance fee for co-op members is $82 a month. For renters it is $260 a month and that will be raised a little, Bristol said.
Bristol said that as labor goes up, rent may have to, too.
However, Bristol said, that will be the decision of the park’s seven-member board of directors and its residents.
“Everything within the park is running smoothly,” said Bristol, who once swore he would never own a mobile home. “There’s no real work to it.”
West Lakes of Boca Inc. Mobile Home Park is also owned by residents. Fifteen years ago, residents bought the park.
“We pay $125-a-month maintenance fee,” said Charles Krall, president of West Lakes of Boca Inc. Mobile Home Park. “In my mind I wouldn’t consider living in a park where you’re operating at the whim of the owner.”
Krall said among the park’s amenities available to the 178 lot-owners are three lakes, a clubhouse, shuffleboard courts, gazebo, a building for barbecues and plenty of room between neighbors on 32 acres.
Krall said five committees control the park. There is the park beautification committee; the sight, smell and sound committee, which checks for park noise and pollutants; the operating committee, which is for maintenance; the bylaws and rules committee; and the budget committee.
Written descriptions of the park’s amenities don’t describe all the advantages the park has, Krall said.
“I can’t do it justice. I don’t like the traffic, but I love Boca,” Krall said. “I love the park. It’s a beautiful park.”
TIPS TO MAKE BUYING EASIER
Many things must be considered before you buy your park.
This list, provided by the Federation of Mobile Home Owners, can be used by your homeowners’ association in evaluating the park and preparing for the day when it is offered for sale:
— Organize your corporation and file your incorporation papers in order to be ready when, and if, the park owner decides to sell.
— Check on zoning: Will a change of ownership or form of ownership change zoning requirements?
— Check on possible roadway changes that could seriously affect the property or part of it.
— Check on easements granted to utility companies; also check on commitments to residents, adjoining property owners.
— Check on the adequacy of sewer plants and water supply.
— Divide the buying price by the number of lots to get the estimated cost each resident will have to pay.
— Reach an agreement on what happens to residents who do not wish to buy shares or lots.
— Have an attorney prepare an “option to purchase.”
— Have an attorney prepare closing papers, deeds, title search, etc.
— Obtain title insurance to protect residents and liability insurance to protect the directors and officers of the homeowners association.
