{"id":46131,"date":"2021-06-22T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/renters-become-owners-of-durango-mobile-home-park\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:29:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:29:52","slug":"renters-become-owners-of-durango-mobile-home-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/renters-become-owners-of-durango-mobile-home-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Renters become owners of Durango mobile home park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"More
More than 50 residents of River View mobile home park gather Saturday to celebrate their purchase of the park. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Residents at River View, a mobile home park in Durango, celebrated a victory this week: They now own the land underneath their homes.<\/p>\n

Strive Communities, River View\u2019s former owner, announced the mobile home park was for sale in December 2020. Residents then embarked on a monthslong process, outlined in 2020 state legislation, to take over ownership.<\/p>\n

The real estate deal closed Monday, making River View the first community in the state to gain ownership under the 2020 law.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really relieved knowing that we are coming to the end of this portion of the journey. I keep saying, this is not the end, this is just the beginning,\u201d said John Egan, president of the Animas View Mobile Home Park Co-Op. \u201cNow, we have to continue to run our new business, which is the mobile home park.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 14.5-acre mobile home park sold for $14 million, Egan said. In 2018, Strive Communities bought the property for about $9 million. MHP Funds bought it in 2015 for about $7.7 million from Wilma and Ted Cooper, who owned it for 35 years.<\/p>\n

More than 100,000 Coloradans live in manufactured housing, including mobile homes, which are effective ways to meet Colorado\u2019s affordable housing needs, according to the legislation.<\/p>\n

Residents own or rent their homes, but not the land underneath \u2013 which can be a tense setup with landlords.<\/p>\n

Residents wanted to buy the park<\/a> to stabilize their monthly lot rent. Under corporate ownership, the average lot rent increased from $350 per month in 2015 to about $730 in March, according to the co-op.<\/p>\n

In February, residents believed ownership could come with another increase: $300 on top of their current lot rent. Some members of the 116 households living at River View said they would be priced out and would have to move, the co-op board said.<\/p>\n

Egan said he would pay about $900 if the lot rent increased by $300.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of Sunday, we were able to report to our residents that lot rent will increase by less than $100 over what they\u2019re paying currently \u2013 which is borderline miraculous,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had so much support from the community and so many people who showed an interest in seeing us achieve this. Without that support, I\u2019m not sure we would\u2019ve been able to get it that low.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Perri
Perri MacLaurin, left, and Nancy Landry, residents of River View mobile home park, gather Saturday to celebrate their purchase of the park. River View residents are the first in the state to take over ownership using a 2020 law. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Animas View MHP Co-op was able to secure financial assistance from multiple sources, including the HomesFund, a mortgage assistance nonprofit, and the city of Durango.<\/p>\n

HomesFund committed to providing a $500,000, low-interest mortgage loan. Durango City Council provided a $500,000 mission-driven grant<\/a>, managed by HomesFund, to the mobile home community.<\/p>\n

The co-op held a community picnic Saturday to celebrate the closure of the real estate deal. When they announced rent would increase by less than $100, people started applauding and cheering, Egan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enthusiasm is just unbridled,\u201d he said. \u201cAt this point, I don\u2019t know of anyone who\u2019s going to leave because of a rent increase.\u201d<\/p>\n

The increased rent will begin in September. After that, it is set until the end of 2021. Once the co-op approves its 2022 budget, it could change slightly depending on budgetary needs and contractual obligations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be a matter of dollars,\u201d Egan said, adding the board is looking for ways to make it less expensive.<\/p>\n

The Animas View MHP Co-op might also try to equalize rent, which currently ranges from $675 to $745, because residents are paying for the same infrastructure and maintenance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve realized that it\u2019s a shift in our thinking. Now, we have to shift toward how to operate the park and do that in a fiscally responsible manner,\u201d said Dan Hunt, operations manager for the co-op.<\/p>\n

The park also faces a balloon payment in 2031 that could increase lot rent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect the park will have plenty of equity, and we will have the expertise and experience that a lender would for us to refinance,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cI don\u2019t see that being an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sheila
Sheila Lucero gathers with fellow residents of River View mobile home park Saturday. Residents, represented by the Animas View Mobile Home Park Co-op, will be able to set their own lot rent in the future. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In the meantime, mobile home park residents have formed a stronger sense of community through their collective efforts, said co-op board members in previous interviews with The Durango Herald<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That community was apparent Saturday as residents chatted with hot dogs in hand and live music in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so nice because people just wanted to hang out and talk to each other, which really speaks to this idea of building a sense of community,\u201d Egan said.<\/p>\n

smullane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents close on $14 million real estate deal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1020,507,28,453],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-46131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-city-council","tag-durango-city-officials","tag-headlines","tag-housing-and-urban-planning"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86763,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46131\/revisions\/86763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46131"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=46131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}