By: Dale Strom
Dale Strom is a second generation Manufactured Home Community landlord. He is a Board Member, past President and current Treasurer of MHCO.
This is the fourth of a multiple part series on a private owner of a Manufactured Home Community willingly attempting to sell that Community to an Association of tenants within that Community. Riverbend MHP is a 39 space community located within the city limits of Clatskanie, OR.
In the third part, the meeting with the tenants is held in Clatskanie, OR. The turnout of the tenants was overwhelming to the author, as well as the enthusiasm of those in the Clatskanie PUD board room. The Author ends this day feeling that this purchase will, more than likely, have a good chance to occur.
In this fourth part, the author now awaits hearing from CASA the Association is formed and learning about the steps being taken during the due diligence, fund acquisition and appraisal periods. Soon, the closing date, November 1, will be here.
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Now that I'm home, and just spoken with my onsite manager about what occurred at the meeting, unknowingly, I am entering the Michael Collins phase. Who is Michael Collins you ask? The end of part 3 of this series will give you a hint. I will bring the Michael Collins analogy full circle later in this article.
The meeting at the Clatskanie PUD with the tenants was on June 26, a Tuesday. Other than my manager, I get no feedback from anyone at the meeting. It was either that Thursday or Friday that I call the phone number of the Development Director. No answer; so a message is left on the voice mail. The purpose of my call was to get a summary of what occurred after I exited the meeting.
No response to my message. I'm not going to send another message or phone call. Maybe I'm not to know what went on. Maybe there are things in flux where the information that I'm looking for is not solid. I will wait.
On July 5, nine days after the meeting with the tenants, I get an email from First American Title that a Title Report will be sent to me for my review and approval. I am given a gesture of a happy closing from the Escrow Officer. I guess this purchase is going through.
In a sale to a tenant group in order to form a cooperative, all homes must be owned by the occupants. There can be no park owned homes in a cooperative. OK, this is a small part of this process that I wasn't aware of. Not that it is a problem; but my manager lives in one home and another tenant that is on Section 8 assistance lives in another home that I both own. The home that my manager lives in shouldn't be a problem. I can finance that home to her and her husband, change the ownership documents to their names and I will become a lienholder.
The other home may be an issue. How do you sell a home to a person that doesn't have the proverbial pot to pee in"? To sell Riverbend
