Mobile homeowners got 120 days to raise $44.5 million to buy the land under their houses, a countdown now on hold

Tim Fritsch opened his living room in Loveland, Colorado, to his neighbors, and many of them took notes. It was part strategy session and part pep talk, an update on lenders, petitions, and calls to local officials about buying the place they live.

Fritsch lives in Sunset Park, a Loveland neighborhood with 164 double-wide houses on 24 acres. In April, residents learned the park was listed for sale for $44.5 million. That night at his house, his message was steady. They were still in the ballpark, he said, and had not struck out.

The stakes are plain, and they are large. Residents here own their houses but not the land beneath them. They pay a monthly fee for their lot, and if an outside buyer purchases the land, that fee can rise or the land can be redeveloped. Corporate buyers have spent tens of billions of dollars buying mobile home parks around the country, and Sunset Park could be next.

Colorado gives residents in that position a fighting chance. When a mobile home park is put up for sale, state law lets residents submit a competing bid within 120 days. At Sunset Park, a committee gathered signatures from a majority of residents, as the state requires, and started piecing together a loan. Fritsch said lenders so far have been hesitant, and the big issue seems to be the price. Coming up with $44.5 million is, as he put it with a laugh, a lot of money for residents to find.

Most of his neighbors are seniors or retirees. Ben McGuire, who has lived in the park for 20 years, said his fear is that a developer will take over and he will lose his house. Bonnie Berry, 78, came to the meeting in her work uniform. She said she returned to work delivering medical supplies to afford the nearly $1,200 monthly charge for the plot her house sits on. She said she feels sure rent would rise under a new owner, though the reporting notes there is only some evidence to support that belief. As heard at the meeting, one resident said, "I should be retired by now, but I can't."

There is some research behind that worry. Kelly Giraud, who teaches economics of land and housing at the University of New Hampshire, has found that monthly payments are generally smaller in parks owned by residents than in parks owned by investors. Giraud has also heard about rocky transitions when neighbors become property managers, with residents reporting drama. One resident compared it to any neighborhood or condominium association, where different personalities have to get along.

Fritsch said his neighbors are willing to take that risk. They want to stay, he said, and joked, "Everybody is too old to go anywhere." Since the meeting, they have gotten breathing room. The state is considering their complaint that the listing price is inflated, which has stopped the 120-day countdown, so that deadline is now on hold while residents try to raise the money.