lot rent increases

[maggiemae]

I have lived in a manufactured housing community since May of 1998. Every year since I have moved in, there have been substantial yearly increases in our lot rent. With the current economy in the U.S. and here in Michigan, the last thing we expected was a 2009 increase, but the increase letter just arrived. The increases have done nothing to improve the park or increase amneities, etc., Many other residents are also at their wits end with this park.However, we do not know what we can do to get proper attention of the corporate office. Do you have any advice on what we can organize or do or who to contact???

[David Oxhandler]

Unfortunately the cost of homeownership to goes up annually. Taxes and insurance are as good a guaranteed to jump every year. Additionally the cost of any amenities the park provides continue to rise. Regardless if your community has golf or just streetlights the cost of it all continues to increase.

You dont expect the park owners to operate without a profit. Every time the cost of your home being on their land increases, they have no choice but to pass those expenses to you... See The 2009 Michigan Manufactured Home Community Rent Survey Summary to see how the rent in your community compares to the rest of your state.

[marinermark]

The big "gotcha" is buying a home in a rental park without a rent guarantee of some sort, or at least a tie to some benchmark (like the CPI). Park owners know you can't move your home or just pack up and leave; so you have to pay, sell, or lose your investment. See if they are offering lower rents to (attract) new residents. If they are you might have an issue to get them to lower existing rents.

[David Oxhandler]

Mark I understand your thinking.... but the the rent trap story line is a popular myth. In many states parks are rent controlled. Yet the same resentment continues. Landlords are consistently facing higher taxes, insurance and maintenance costs.

These expenses never stop going up. The park owners have no choice but to raise rents to keep up with these and other expenses. The reality of park ownership at the moment is very grim in many parts of the country. There seem to be a lot more parks for sale at this time then any time in the last ten years.

"The tenant controls the rent that the landlord needs; that's always what's involved in a contract: each party has a value the other wants, and they trade their values to mutual advantage. Neither party has a right to the other's values: landlords have no divine right to a customer or to certain levels of rent (they're free to lower their offers or invest their money elsewhere), and tenants have no right to demand,,," anything they did not negotiate for when they signed on.

(Source: http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer? ... nt_control)

[chris1361]

I've been getting a space increase for the past 6yrs I've been at the villa Montclair in California. Its been raised anywhere's from $7 to the lastest $21 and its not a rent increase as we have rent control in this park. The space rents go up due to higher cost to the owner and improvements done in the par. It hadn't bothered me until this past year 2008 when the economy went into shambles.I hope they don't increase again in 2010, but then again that is wishful thinking. What happens to the elderly who are in fixed incomes?

[David Oxhandler]

Increases of $7 to $21 per year are not unreasonable. The real-estate tax on my privately owned manufactured home and lot have gone up considerable more over the past years. The cost of gas for my lawn mower has quadrupled over ten years and my maintenance and landscape costs have also jumped considerably

We are all seeing increased costs to home ownership it sounds like yours are fairly mild.

[brattsgirl]

wow I wish I lived in Michigan with those rents. Seriously a lot also depends on where you live. There are mobile homes selling up to a million in California and rent on a mobile home lot goes up just like apartment rent etc.

I live in a very nice (newer homes) generally well kept park between Baltimore, Md and Washington D.C my rent is $586 a month. That includes trash pick up once a week, my share of tax on the property ($40) and not much else. I pay for my own water etc. The only thing that really bothers me is I think they should cover maintaing the lawns, like cutting etc., after all it's their lot I'm just borrowing it. When I moved here 9/07 my property had big sections of dirt and crabgrass almost 2 feet wide and not a flower to be found unless you count the dandelions. Even though I am disabled with a back injury and don't go out much it depressed me just looking at it. I invested in some equipment (mostly off of freecycle & craigslist) did the weed and feed thing and then started planting bulbs and perennials little by little as much as I could physically handle. The lawn was finally coming in with real grass and the weed thing was getting under control, but not fast enough for me so I hired TruGreen to help me out. They are not as expensive as I thought, there is no contract, I can quit whenever I want or even skip a treatment, none are over $40. The only expensive one I had was in the fall the core aeration and overseeding for $100 and you should see the thick lush green lawn I have now. I planted 300 bulbs on the left side and front of the house in the fall and I'm just now finishing the right side with gardenias, blue hydrangea, pink dianthus, pinky muhly grass and a blueberry bush and I'm loving it. All my neighbors comment on it all the time. Although I am benefitting now from my hard work and expense, the owner of the park benefits more and will continue to long after I'm gone.The only problem is my neighbors on either side of me have yards full of invasive bermuda grass and weeds and more weeds but they do keep them cut. My point is if the park took care of those things it would be a much nicer looking park. As much as I think $586 is riduculous it's what the market will bear and there are a lot of other parks around here whose rents are only a little lower and they look like dumps, old homes falling apart, cars up on cement blocks etc.

My first and only so far increase was last year and it was $20. As high as my rent is already that increase was hardly noticable.

All things are relative.
Jen