California MHP News

Tue, Aug 25, 2015 – Developers have been snatching up mobile home parks so they can build market-rate homes. Mobile home parks and their closures are particularly concerning in San Jose because it houses 59 such parks – more than any other city in California.

Mon, Aug 17, 2015 – The Jissers had planned to raze the aging mobile-home park and partner with a developer to build high-end apartments for tech workers. But that deal, with developer Prometheus, fell through during the protracted efforts by residents and supporters to keep the park open.

Fri, Aug 14, 2015 – One of those potential buyers is taking the unusual step of offering $16m under the market value of $55m. That buyer? The county of Santa Clara and the city of Palo Alto.

Wed, Aug 5, 2015 – The city of Carson has won the latest round of court arguments in its long-running legal battle to preserve affordably priced mobile home park rents against a park owner who aggressively fought the city on the issue for years.

Fri, Jul 31, 2015 – Winchester Ranch is the latest Silicon Valley mobile home park facing closure in a booming real estate market that can be appealing to developers eager to build high-density, high-end housing.

Tue, Jul 28, 2015 – Under the new ordinance, all mobile home parks will provide annual registration statements to the City. This registration data will enable the City to monitor rental trends in City mobile home parks and allow the City to better anticipate other regulatory options for the unique issues surrounding the preservation of housing at mobile home parks.

Sat, Jul 18, 2015 – Last week, the California State Court of Appeals upheld a 2013 trial court finding that the owner of the Rancho de Calistoga mobile home park located off of Foothill Boulevard is not constitutionally entitled to charge “market rate” rent, the owners’ central claim in both the trial court and appeal.

Thu, Jun 25, 2015 – In a big win for residents who have been fighting the city of Santa Clarita over their skyrocketing rent, the city council voted this week in favor of strict rent control proposals at area mobile home parks.

Thu, May 28, 2015 – So with that standard wiggle-up-the-rent model moot, landlords either do as Stoddard does and skip reinvesting in a park makeover — or eventually decide they want to move on. That’s what Joe Jisser attempted. He owns Buena Vista Mobile Home Park in the heart of Palo Alto, which sits on an enviable piece of land, in a hot city; it’s just down the street from a Tesla dealership, surrounded by neighborhoods where a one-bedroom will run you $2,500 to $4,000. For 15 years, Jisser says, he has been warning residents and the city of Palo Alto that since he can’t raise rents, the property is “falling apart” and needs to be phased out. He wants to convert the park into condominiums but has spent the past two years going through appeals and facing a crunch of negative media attention.

Tue, May 12, 2015 – The 162-space Starlight Mobile Home Park at 351 E. Bradley Ave., El Cajon 92021, has been sold for $17,981,000, cash. The buyers are Starlight MHP LLC (34.5 percent), Davis Group Exchange LLC (52.7 percent) and Starlight Exchange LLC (12.8 percent), 320 N. Park Vista St., Anaheim, 92806. Corporate Headquarters for Sierra Corporate Management

Mon, May 11, 2015 – A multimillionaire trailer park landlord who boasts that he makes big profits by buying up cheap trailer parks and immediately increasing rents is being sued for allegedly doing just that. Frank Rolfe, the US’s 10th-biggest trailer park owner and co-founder of a bootcamp designed to teach other people how they too can become millionaires from mobile homes, is being sued for allegedly breaching rental contracts by nearly doubling bills for tenants at a trailer park in Austin, Texas.

Wed, May 6, 2015 – Last month, the City Council set the stage for the park's imminent closure when it tentatively approved a 2014 decision by hearing officer Craig Labadie, affirming the adequacy of the relocation-benefit package being offered by the Jissers to the residents.

Sun, May 3, 2015 – If you don’t like this or you think you can do better, here’s a list of all the other parks in Grapevine and a list of the owners,” he said in the letter. “Go ahead, call them if you want to move. How many customers do you think we lost? Zero. Where were they going to go?

Fri, May 1, 2015 – Representing the park owners, Brad Yusim, of Chicago-based Jenner & Block Law, argued that most mobile home communities in California do not offer rent control. He argued that by keeping rent determinately low, mobile home owners can sell their lots at a premium, causing new owners to pay more early in order to reap a cheaper-than-market rent over time – a suggestion that elicited guffaws from mobile home owners at the meeting.

Wed, Apr 22, 2015 – Some residents of California's expensive Malibu seaside community have turned mobile homes into luxury dwellings that, because they are technically vehicles, are not assessed for property taxes. A bill advancing in the state legislature seeks to close that loophole. "They have been able to avoid taxation by pretending it's a mobile home when it's not," said Los Angeles County Tax Assessor Jeffrey Prang. "It's wrong." The bill, which unanimously passed a state Senate committee on Tuesday, would require mobile home owners who build foundations around their trailers to register them as personal property rather than as vehicles. The requirement would only apply to new construction.

Wed, Apr 22, 2015 – Attorneys for the residents association and the Jisser family also took turns debating the adequacy of a relocation assistance package the mobile home park owner is required to provide. While the council agreed that the package was more or less adequate, it ordered another appraisal of the mobile homes that takes into account the value of the city's vaunted schools and safety. Another tweak would see the Jisser family boost the rent subsidy for residents moving out of homes that were modified, illegally or otherwise, to have more than one bedroom. The original relocation assistance package provided a rent subsidy for a one-bedroom apartment. Eviction notices could be distributed as soon as the decision becomes final, according to Jisser family attorney Margaret Ecker Nanda.

Fri, Apr 10, 2015 – In Escondido, city council members heard arguments about a separate mobile home park, Sundance Mobile Home Park. On March 25, the city approved a rent increase of about $15 per space per month. In October 2013, the council approved a monthly rent increase of $124 per space. Oceanside mobile home residents have also had issues lately. In February, mobile home residents complained of park management obstructing home sales, which is illegal in California. City Attorney John Mullen met with residents, park owners and other interested parties to establish if unfair and illegal treatment was going on. The report was supposed to go in front of city council within 60 days but Mullen said it took longer getting all the required documents.

Tue, Mar 24, 2015 – The effort to prevent the closure of Buena Vista Mobile Home Park has spread well beyond the city's borders in recent weeks, with state Sen. Jerry Hill, state Assemblyman Rich Gordon and U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo all joining the drive to raise money for the park's preservation.

Wed, Mar 18, 2015 – Within the past decade, 4,972 mobile home lots in California dropped off the map to make way for new development, according to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development. Mountain View lost more than any one city—307 units in the past 20 years. Sunnyvale has lost five since 1991 and since passed an ordinance to protect the remaining few. The future of Palo Alto's only mobile home park remains uncertain. Santa Clara County and the city mustered up $16 million to preserve it, but the deal depends on the landlord's final approval.

Wed, Mar 11, 2015 – In some cases, entire mobile home parks have been sold and then shuttered. In other instances, mobile home residents were gradually pushed out. For example, residents of Mission Valley Village in San Diego, a mobile home park for seniors, were slowly pushed out due to rising rent and decaying conditions according to a San Diego Reader article in 2010. Either way, the number of mobile home lots available for lower-income Californians has continued to shrink.

Thu, Feb 26, 2015 – Douglas Danny, first vice president investments in Marcus & Millichap’s San Diego office, along with Octavian Paul, associate in the firm’s Phoenix office, represented the seller, Kort & Scott Financial Group. The buyer is a family trust.