These situations seldom cost much money to solve. We have an attorney call the city attorney and work it out over the phone for around $500 to $1,000. If they can’t work it out, we push it back on to the seller to fix before we close (although we’ve still not had a case where they have to litigate). We would never buy a park without this question decided before we actually close – we have no interest in walking into litigation. But the fact is that city hall caves in really quickly these days because there is so much case law on the topic, and the park owner has won every time in every state Supreme Court to date.
If it’s not something you want to get involved in, then don’t do it. But most of our best deals are in markets in which the city has high housing prices and hates the ideas of more trailer park residents. In poor markets with nothing going on, city hall would never fight you because they’re desperate for anything that brings in $20. But in the type of markets where SF median is $200,000 ands apartment rents are $1,400 per month, you better expect to get some type of fight.
The economics of this deal are tremendous. Probably to the tune of seven figures of increased equity within 12-24 months. We would still do this deal even if the moratorium was valid and the age restriction was real. In any event, we aren’t worried about the moratorium. A federal judge solved that for us and the seller provided that paperwork for us. The city is merely bluffing us here on that issue. The age of homes is merely an inconvenience, but I think we can also work this out as well. I’ll keep this post updated as we move through this on the home age issue. Our goal is to form a solution with the city that works for both of us. They’ve expressed interest in working with us and we certainly want to reciprocate. At the end of the day, they want what we want. A nice, safe, quiet community.
I agree with Brian_Z. As long as its a legit park and the home is 1976 or newer, the home should be to code. Therefore should be allowed in the park. I do know that alot of cities wont allow a mobile home within the city limits on private property that are older without prior approval from the city councel and the permits and such.