Moving......

[LucyImHome]

The RV/trailer park I'm in has a new owner. A lawyer with no experience with a park. I've been here a yr now, been okay. Nice to have FHU, convenient location. BUT... nearly $500 per mo(with elec) is too much as it is. With the new owner, new restrictions. Rent up $25 per mo 1st of the yr. NOTHING allowed outside, even folding chairs, propane tanks covered. No pets now over 25#. Mo to mo lease, whereas now is mo to mo with no lease, no deposit, no notice to move. No more security either, which is very needed here. He says call cops, but it's private property, so cops don't come unless it's a crime in progress. No on-site manager either. The meet and greet on the 29th should be interesting. I'll learn then how much time I have.
I'm so looking forward to stealth/boondocking.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

lawyer...thats enough to send me packin right there

 

[highdesertranger]

boy lucy, that's to bad. good luck, you will find a better place. highdesertranger

 

[LucyImHome]

I know there are some good lawyers that care about people. No, seriously. But what is leaking out from the previous owner/manager does not bode well. I don't know if everything the new guy is doing or planning to do is legal, but hey, he's a lawyer. He must know this stuff, right? lol
We'll ride it out as long as we can stand it. The meet & greet, like I said, should be amusing. It says come by for pizza and pop for 15 minutes. He doesn't think many people will show. From what I'm hearing, most of the park will be there. Just the dog size restriction alone will mean about a fourth of the park will have to move. Most of the tenants are in mobile homes, most owner occupied. I guess he thinks this is like the high price town he's from. When he was told the tweekers will come in to case homes, steal stuff from porches and yards, his response was that they shouldn't have anything out there anyway. The park is the shortcut through for the ne'er do wells. Not really safe to walk at night. Now, without security....
I've been doing a lot of self analysis of late. I find myself back in the trappings of domesticated civilization. It sneaks up on you. All of a sudden you realize you're stuck in the muck again. This is the wake up and pull your head out call. I was born into a travel trailer, literally, of a wanderlust mom and a dreamer dad. Raised in motels and hotels all over SoCal since they were managers. 46 schools by the time I graduated from high school. It's in my blood, part of my DNA, the desire..... the draw of the road. I can ignore it's call no more than I can ignore the need to breathe. A better place? I think I've finally realized there isn't better or worse. It's something else. Insatiable curiosity of what's around the bend, over the hill. I guess I'm a collector. A collector of experiences.
Wow, that got deep. Anyway, time to move on!

 

[sassypickins]

@LucyImHome ~ Wow, 46 schools! And I thought my 13 was crazy. Good for superficial social interaction and lots of adventures, not so great on deep friendships and stability, but hey, bend to the curve of the road, hang on, and enjoy the ride, right?

 

[offroad]

Interesting note about cops not going on private property unless crime in progress. Must remember that.

 

[LeeRevell]

I can relate to the need to move. My prior home was a singlewide in a small group, down in a hidden nook on the edge of the National Forest. Nice and quiet. Landlord was an odd duck, a bit 'slow' but well-meaning. Rent was dirt cheap - $150 a month. He told me early on, "No cats". Then a couple years later he's trying to give away some kittens and offers me one.....
I went deer hunting with him one season up in Georgia, his Granny's place. As we were cleaning our rifles he tells me about his being declared 'anti-social' and 'psychotic' by the Army and got his discharge...... oh..... kay..... 8-0
Anyhoo, all goes along pretty well, til Lester decides to sell the property to his sister, the "Landlord From Hell"! She immediately jumps the rent to $400 a month, insists on inspecting each home, and in the interest of 'improving' the only road in has it so buggered up that it becomes impassable during a heavy rain. Oh yeah, this bimbo knows what she's doing......
So three of us UA'd the AO quickly. I took the usual option of finally buying my own property, just a half mile down the road - I do like the area. I hunt and use the range in this forest.
So dealing with idiotic landlords is something many of us dealt with before.
Now retired, I got my big Van and am looking at the real possibility of one day selling this property and hitting road. But I can do it in my own time, rather than rushed by a Hellish nincompoop with a greedy streak.

 

[LucyImHome]

For me, if the new owner can't be worked with, I can move. There are several other parks that would be okay. There's also the possibility of parking it on someone's property. What is really bad are the people that don't get to do that. The ones in the older mobile homes that can't afford to move them or are too old to make it worth moving. The people with 4 legged family members that will probably have to get rid of them 'cuz they can't afford to move. Sorry kids but Fido's gotta go, 'cuz the new owner says he's too big? Joe will have to put his 12 yr old Lab down, since no one would adopt her? Also....There's a lot of people here that live in an extended family type situation for financial reasons. So Mom, Dad, and adult child with spouse, maybe Grandma, 4? cars. Even though they have ample parking, they have to now juggle work schedules and share 2 cars in an area that isn't mass transit friendly?
I'm not shocked or surprised by any of this. It's just a sad statement, that some people are so far removed from how other people live.

 

[LeeRevell]

And you can bet, being a Legal Beagle, he will stand up for his 'legal' changes, no matter how stupid and damaging the result.

 

[westriver]

Interesting note about cops not going on private property unless crime in progress. Must remember that.

Yea, it's a reality in many places, and most folks are totally unaware.
I built and sold homes in the Pocono Mts. in PA. I have totally blow home buyer's minds on occasion with that fact. During an open house I once had a customer say, "we love the house, to bad that it's not in a gated community, which we would really prefer" I then asked if she was aware that the largest gated community in the region is awash with gangs, guns, drugs and violence, all in a failed community that the police do not patrol? Or that many of the vacation communities suffer from lower property values, high crime and other issues specifically since they are private, and have no real police presence unless there are serious crimes taking place?

 

[Kevin H]

I heard a while back that investors are buying up MH parks.

Take a look at this: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...e-investors-pursuing-double-wide-returns.html

 

[Almost There]

Lucy - it wouldn't hurt to start now finding out what protection the tenants have - and that will depend hugely on where you are.

Some districts have virtually no protection in regards to landlord/tenant matters, others have a whole lot. Even such things as having pets and restricting their size may or may not be protected.

Here in Ontario, there was a recent case where a large property developer bought up an old mobile home park where the majority of the tenants were elderly and had lived there for 30 years or more.

At that age, not one of the homes could be safely moved even if there was some place to move them to and there wasn't.

The group of owners and several volunteer organizations that cared worked together and between them gathered enough media coverage that the city turned down the rezoning application that the new owners applied for. It ended up taking several years to work it's way through the court system.

In the end the courts ordered that the tenants be compensated for the loss of their homes.

Listen to what the new owner has to say but make sure that you all know what your rights are as well!

 

[LucyImHome]

I have been looking up what the landlord/tenant laws are here. There is a possibility that the existing pets are grandfathered in, maybe. As far as the folks in rvs, we all have a mo to mo without a written rental agreement. I didn't think about it when we moved in, since that's the way all the rv parks I've stayed in did it. But evidently that means he can give 30 days notice to comply with his new rules. He wants everyone to sign a written lease, which most everyone doesn't want. I don't want to have to give a 30 day notice if I want to move my rv. Defeats the purpose of an rv, the freedom to just go. Though I've been here a yr now.... uggg
My prediction is that everyone will be angry and complain, but ultimately do nothing. It takes money and time to accomplish anything. Tilting at windmills.
Time to get a camper van with a hightop or a step van. Be able to be off grid stealth. No more paying too much for a tiny little parking space to hook up to.

 

[LucyImHome]

We went to the meet and greet. Turns out, a lot of the terrible things that were going to happen, aren't. The pet issue... there was actually a no pet rule that was never enforced. Those of us with pets are grandfathered in, and new pets are under 25#. He wants everyone to sign a lease, but if you don't want to, he won't force it. Hmmmm He does want the vehicles at 2 per space, but it's not written in stone. It's aimed at the people that have 6+, including boats. He says if we see any suspicious characters, we should call the police. I don't see that being effective, since whoever was here would be long gone by the time the LEO arrive. He's insisting all board fences be taken down, replaced with 3-4' cyclone fence. You'd have 4-6 months to make it happen. Lots of unhappy folks with board fences.
So, it could have been much worse. I'm still very cautious, but looks like I'll have a bit more time to pull everything together.