4 Investigates: Out-of-state housing game squeezes mobile home owners 

Young people pay attention this is your future. Better change things now. Don’t let corporate America bully you

$730 per month for lot rent is outrageous.

Rents will never go back down. Investors and rental companies are going after our money like rabid dogs. It's all perfectly legal and supported by our government.

This is a problem all over the country no one is safe.

These out of State Investors are Greedy and Do Not Care About Anything But Profits!

Make out of state ownership of these parks illegal for starters.

This isnt just mobile homes, this is all housing and it's getting out of control.

My elderly parents are in a mobile home community . Thankfully, it's a co-op where you jointly own the land under you along with ALL your neighbors. All 77 homes would have to agree to sell to some outside buyer.

I owned a doublewide in a park in Virginia owned by Lautrec Ltd., when I first moved in the lot rent was $330., it included nothing at all, just the lot with the water, sewage and electric connections, you paid for all of it, you cut your grass and raked your leaves 6x each fall, if they felt it needed more their maintenance man did it half way and charged you $65., you could count on the lot rent going up each year, by the time I sold my home10 years later, at a great loss, the lot rent was $822. a month, still nothing included, they had two small playgrounds for kids, no club house, pool or amenities, it was located in a small town just outside of a city, when the housing market went up so did they, it was pure unadulterated greed.

Buy an RV and live on the street in front of the wealthy houses.

Happening all across the country. Trailer parks have sold off to corporations. Its disgusting.

They doubled my lot rent, I had a 20 amp breaker, wood stove and oil furnace, my trailer was too old to move anywhere, they have an age limit. It was a 1962 10x52, I rebuilt it from the frame up in 1997, it burned down, was built better than most houses. I had to tear it down, when the landlord noticed I was demoing it, he said, "Well I would buy it from you". I said," Well I wouldn't sell it to YOU." Fkn Californians! This was in Idaho, I was struggling with a recent diagnosis of Epilepsy after having Fungal Meningitis that was misdiagnosed as a sinus infection, so it did permanent damage to my brain. I was in no shape to fight for my home, couldn't work enough to pay the lot rent. Thank God for my sister and brother in law, probably saved my life as I was considering giving up. There is no love here on this Earth, just specks of it in some people.

Greed is out of control in this country!! Why doesn’t every state have rent controls? Here is Oregon, Landlords are only able to raise rent a certain percentage every year and that rate is set by the state. Currently, it’s about 10%.

Thank you for exposing this scam! I'm 60 and was hoping in a couple of years to move to a mobile home park but not now!! No way!

Heartless greed wins until the residents organize and formulate a defense.

Very sad for seniors. Owners, go visit your properties, and meet these PEOPLE. Yes, the PEOPLE, and stop looking at your assets. Do you have food, clothing, & shelter? You are blessed. Learn what LIFE is really about...caring for others.

Just another example of Corporate GREED! Retired people that worked all their life and wanted to live in peace, screwed over by money hungry executives, profit over people, how much money do they need

This is going on all over the country. Mobile home parks used to be locally owned but the local owners started dying off then these out-of state corporations started buying them up and jacking the rent up into the stratosphere. State legislatures need to step in at this point and cap the amount lot rent can be raised. This business of jacking the rent up 30, 40, 50% every year is total b.s. It needs to be put a stop to.

IMO states should not allow out of state or country land investors.

Tiny home lovers pay attention cuz this is your future! It's one thing to pay property taxes forever. BUT this new renting housing and basic necessities that the whole economy and the world is heading towards is going to come crumbling down in a few decades😢

Sad...it`s happening everywhere. My apartment lease went up $50. I already plan on working till I die, because social security isn`t enough. Oh Lord, be with us all. Amen

When Legacy tried to buy our over 55 park in Massachusetts from the family business that started and ran the park for over 40 years, the residents were able to buy the park. It is now a resident owned community with significant increase in property values. MA law allows the residents the first right of refusal to buy the park over the investor Legacy. There is a non profit that helps communities buy their parks with legal and financial support. We had to take Legacy to court to kill the deal with the owner and it took over 18 months but we got it done. Our state in this case created a good law. We had other parks that did not take advantage of this law and they are are up the creek with Legacy as owners.

The same here. We had a very nice senior noble park and then some California company purchased it. Rent for lots goes up every single year.

I live in a mobile park here in Illinois. The rent has been going up every year by $10 Now it's $20 a year! I've been putting money away to buy an acre of land land in my town, but some greedy investors are buying up all the land and building Gated communities so they can charge a Hoa fee's!!

Out of state, more like out of our country. Many are foreign investor groups.

Greed is so bad in America we made sports betting legal and advertise it on tv. Just saw on today they did a bit on all the bets you can make during the super bowl. Yes greed is destroying America.

This isn't new. Its been happening for the last 20 yrs. What all the states need to do is offer an assisted co-op buy out for the residence as a buy first plan before the Wall sters come in and buy it out.

The worse thing you can do is plant a trailer on someone else's land

Love this. The mobile home rental here went from $300 dollars a month to $1500 a month here. Crazy.

Corporate Greed is really bad. Its just everywhere

What's the point of reporting it if you guys are not going to help elderly people.😊

Greed will ruin America!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm looking for Land.Whenever I see leased Land I legit laugh. This just proves my point

This is a problem happening all over , here in Minnesota it started about 10 years ago , what some of these companies are doing is raising rent as much as they can , cut maintenance costs and bank the profits . The profits are kept for the plans to remove the Mobile Homes and develop the land , so basically you are paying for the development they will eventually build . Over the years there has been lots of talk about States making laws about Ownership in cases like this but as soon as talks start the Corporate Money starts flying and Lawmakers no longer have time to talk about it . This problem has started happening with Corporate owned permanent placed homes also , that is why it is getting hard for a person to find an affordable home , The Corporations out bid regular home buyers because they look at it as a profitable business rather than a Living Necessity . The States will not do anything about it because it means more Tax Income for them.

They’re doing this to our family of five here in Sea Air Village in Rehoboth Beach Delaware They have been taking peoples homes because they’re old and tearing them down at a rate of about 4 a month This place used to be the only family (kid) friendly in the area that’s affordable. Now they’re driving long time residents to replace them with tourist owned new single wides that they’re selling for 140k

Higher rent sucks. But the worst is yet to come for these folks. This is happening all over the country. And rampant here in Florida. It’s unreal and an absolute nightmare that these actions are happening to our elderly. There are soo many beautiful lake front mobile home communities here in Florida that have been bought out… rent immediately raised among other fees and were immediate crossed with empty promises. I know specifically because this happened to my mother(84)who is disabled and sister(64) disabled and retired law enforcement. Where some company hiding under a shell LLC based out of Canada bought the property and stated that they were gonna do such grand things for the community all while raising rent. (Palm Gardens - Tavares FL) Several months after nothing being fixed the rent is raised again. Same instance as this , everyone privately owns their mobile home - pays lot rent and utilities. Well after about a year and change the Canadian shell LLC decided that they were gonna change the lands usage and could legally evict everyone in which they did. Wasn’t a thing anyone could do. People petitioned the county board, contacted news and media outlets, even reaching out to Florida Gov DeSantis. Nothing..nada ..no one cared. It’s an all too common occurrence and as long as they do everything legally. And they sneakily get away with illegal stuff like harassing the tenants..turning their water off and on. Sewer issues. Etc. over 150 residents forced out. Sure they were legally given 6 months to prepare. And offered $1500 for their mobile homes take it or leave it. However at the end of covid and costs across the board that have risen. They luckily was able to find another place but at 3X the cost where they were. They had been there for nearly 20 years. Some of those people had been there since the 60s & 70s. My sister paid $12k for the trailer 15-20 years ago. Put another $24k into it over the years. Had everything from new floors to a new bathroom and kitchen etc. It had a decent value however the original base was from the 70s. The wheels and ankles were completely rusted and shot so there was no way in moving it unless everything was replaced and welded in among the moving cost $10k+ easy that they did not have. I can go on and on how horrible this situation was for us. And some others had it so much worse. Like the lady said…how much is enough..seriously..how much..are you willing to sell your soul and condemn another for something that is losing its value each and every day in this nation. We should be taking care of the sick and elderly. Not making them suffer…worry and go without the last remaining years of their lives.

Elevate commercial of San Diego, California. Did the same thing, they raised our lot rent 43% here in Ohio. Plus, charging us pet fees parking fees and "fines us" for anything that is wrong. I can understand if we're renting the structure but we're just renting a piece of dirt with a water/sewer line. GREED

It’s not about greed, it’s about making money while they drive them out…. Sell the land to a developer and cash out.

Gas prices go back down , prices ease everywhere except Rent , Rent stays stagnant and goes Up Up Up when the economy improves

Right around 2021 alot of new management took over everywhere by young buyers who are looking to get rich quick. And they don't care about maintenance or up keep, just charging more to put the most in their pockets.

Most of the developers and investors don't have to deal with the tenants face to face and even if they did I suspect they would not care.

Wow, investors did that in my region (SF/Oakland Bay Area) and now it's considered one the most expensive. It's also created a crime wave as everything becomes unaffordable.

This resembles the situation of what occurred at 1208 san Pedro ne when Otter bought the storage building at that location. Otter jacked up prices and the facility fell to the predation of homeless burglars.

We need a report like this in the HOA and Condominium Board too, they charge its resident to the roof.

It'll only be a problem when it starts affecting Amazon's, Walmart's, or any other large corporation's bottom line. If housing costs go up, consumer spending power goes down, which in turn, drops Amazon's and Walmart's profits. The fact that you're starting to see these movements suggests, to me, that special interest groups are funding campaigns against rent price gouging.

SUE THEM FOR ' ELDERLY ABUSE'. 100 % GUILTY.

Harmony real estate buys mobile home parks and does very unethical thing once they own them terrible things happen to the unfortunate people living there.

This can be stopped by your legislatures Talk to them.

So, basically, the parks are being bought by inexperienced, "took a seminar" opportunists who think they're going to suddenly move up in the world by exploiting their newfound, pre-existing, consumer base. 🤔 It's VERY profitable...for the people selling the seminars.

We just got 80 increases in Colorado We are buying land and moving or just selling and moving out of state

Need to change state laws everywhere!! International investors also buying properties. Govt must stop cirporate greed!!! Already millions of elderly homeless.

This game is nationwide for seniors

Same in Wisconsin. Moved in a park in 2016 at $250 a month. Owned by a local person. He sold out to a company in California and rent has gone up $10 a year ever since. This past December, we get a notice it's going up $20. $310 is still cheap for a park, I know, but where is it going to stop? When it hits $800 a month? It's pathetic, the greed in this country is out of control. Especially for retired/senior people.

A private equity firm, bought out my grandfather's company in Hanover ,PA and Holy $hit, this is the same company!!! The lot rent went from $470, 2 years ago. Now this new lease is $690. The say they are located in FL and have an office off of Tatum Blvd in Phoenix, AZ. Thank you for shining line on this! This should be illegal!

Stop calling it a "Housing Crisis" it's called GREED !!

I think real estate investors are looking for any square inch in this country to drop their money. Plus, there are housing companies willing to take their money also.

Welcome to the land of Entrapment

Happening here in VA. Company showing NC base but all contacts in NY purchased 2 yrs ago, lot rent went from 230/mo to 265 to 385 in these 2 yrs. Promised to make improvements, put sign up front & that's it. Giant potholes in drive. Mail box rack collapsing. Trying to find legal recourse. I'm 74, most in park are older or young families trying to get a start. Googled company when they purchased park from local owner, all reviews negative & that they were greedy, only cared about money and didn't give a crap about residents. As a former business owner, i know you need to make a profit, but if this isn't illegal, it's highly immoral..

I live in Fl and one of the snow birds I know has a very, very very small mobile home that she owns and the park has no frills....no pool, no club house....just basically a place to park your mobile home in a fairly small space. She pays in the range of $700 a month (plus utilities) all year even though she is only here for about 5 months. She is not allowed to rent it out if she is not staying in it. And her house insurance costs have risen so much that she is not paying for any house insurance on it anymore. And the owner of this park is local....not out of state.

Everyone should ban together and stop paying rent !! They can’t evict you if own your own . Cost of removing the trailer would take years and media coverage would be great .

Yea in cloudcroft n.m. 2004 paid 350.00 month 400 square feet studio apt by 2013 485.00 month it is now a 585.00 a week cottage I was the first tenant there when they opened up that was on 101osha trail glad I got me a old r.v to live in rent rate freeze needed now!

New Mexico has got so expensive everywhere. 1 bedroom apt are 1k -2k

WOW. 730.00 LOT RENTAL ? WHAT A SCAM ...

Never enough

You allowed the government to force andlords to not be able to collect rent or evict someone for almost two years so they couldn't pay the bills and had to sell to investors, what did you think would happen? How's all that "free" stuff feeling now? 😕

Will higher income people who can afford these ridiculous rents really want to move into these rundown rv parks with old units from the 1980's? They might be interested in a higher quality place to live.

Unfortunately taxes, insurance, materials and labor have all skyrocketed so the increase is passed on to the residents. There is never any security in renting a home or a MH lot. All the years they paid lot rental doesn't give them any ownership, just old MH's that are expensive to move if they are even legal to move to another park.

America is not a country. It is a business.

Studio apartments going for 1600 in Santa fe

"Greed is not a sustainable idea"

Oregon passed legislation to make it harder for parks to take people's homes, esp. w/o fair market rate compensation. It was so bad way back in the 90s that 100% of the homes in some parks were owned by the park, who jacked up the space rents sky high - knowing people esp. those of fixed incomes couldn't afford them, added a hundreds to thousands of dollars in fees, filed to evict then used the courts to either force auction sale of newer mobiles (which they snapped up cheap) or flat out give them older ones made before 1977.

Also in the Big City rents go up and fixtures go down the forgotten lists, its a sham everywhere

I feel sorry for these people but I also feel sorry for all of us. Everyone's rent is skyrocketing. Food is 2x as expensive as it was a year ago. I own my home but my tax and homeowner's insurance have went up $3,500 this year so I'm paying an extra $300/month. If the greedy narcissists that own all these companies want to jack up prices then they have to increase wages too otherwise they won't have any customers. They can't have it both ways. You can't charge 2024 prices while paying 1994 wages. Case in point I was just quoted $45,000 to do some landscaping and driveway work. I did the calculations. They're only paying their employees $22/hour and at that rate their labor costs are only about $3,000. Materials for this job are negligible, around $4,000. Where's the extra $38,000 going? Into the greedy narcissist's pocket. I understand they have other business expenses but come on. The greed is just fricking ridiculous.

In Greed We Trust 💰 🛐

My lot rent went higher than my SS income, and there nowhere to put my trailer, let alone pay to move it. I too was in a 55+ park, so WRONG. I'm now living in my car. HUD housing has waiting lists years long.

Not creating *potential* social problems, creating *REAL* social problems. Not sure why one needs to be beating about the bush on this - it's pretty obvious and clear.

Lawmakers are supposed to stop stuff like this in its tracks but they’ve been bought and paid for 😢

We got new owners in Florida my lot rent went from $400 to $600

It is NOT just your state, but sadly, All states. This "out of state" owners is Really Out of Country Owners who Buy a Name/License for a company and have a front agency to oversee it. Our Country is being SOLD from under us all! This Should NOT BE Allowed for any company/person that is NOT a Citizen of the country they want to buy land/property in! That Includes Americans doing this on=verseas, I believe in China you Lease NOT Buy the land--Same should go for America! But NO Foreigner should be allowed to KEEP the Citizens from buying/renting a place to LIVE because the foreingner or company keeps RAISING the COST and Making Americans Homeless. Our Government Should, like wise, TAKE CARE OF OUR CITIZENS_ ESPECIALLY THE VETERANS BEFORE ILLEGALS!!

I pay 750 just for lot rent on the Se side of Albuquerque 1000 per month they want. I don't even have a fridge or oven that works😢!

There should be a law that says if you own long term rental homes you have to live in the state those rental homes are in. Your tenants have to have some way of getting things taken care of and if there are relying on businesses that aren't doing their jobs then the owners need to be held completely responsible for what's happening

What about the apartments that are 3600 in Santa Fe and Los Alamos

Interest rates are higher, so investors are pass that increase along to their tenants. Especially Investors with commercial loans That have varying interest rates.

Trailer park rent is increasing to force residents out. Then they can resell the property for apartments. Since it's already zoned multiple family residential it doesn't need rezoned.

I bought a mobile home but mines sits on 1 acre of land that I own out in the country that’s the best way to own both land and a home

Lots of my family has already left new Mexico.

Santa Fe New Mexico is anywhere from 1600 to $3,000

My mortgage with escrow is currently $699/mo.

I live in a small 55+ MH community that has stayed in the same family since its inception nearly 60 years ago. 17 lots, 5 lots are owner occupied while the remaining 12 lots are rentals. City water-sewer-trash pickup. Everyone has a separate water meter. $250 a month for lot rent, probably the lowest in the region. Well maintained - we take care of our own yards. All caucasian residents. Next closest MH community has about 60 spaces, marginally maintained, predominately Mexican - Latin American residents with just the lot rents in the $600 range. Brand new 'starter homes' in this area are going for $350,000 plus.

It’s a merry go round from hell . Evictions , impossible rentals and sky high storage unit fees .

In some cities it makes more money for the park owner to see the land to a developer and build high rise apartments.

Great idea!! Add a lot of color to places that are primarily white or mostly white!! Great idea!! 😀

It’s like they see you have a extra dollar, so they find a way to get that extra dollar. How many people have more than ten grand in their bank account as ready cash? Not many of us can do more than live check to check.

We need legislation to help this people to move to a safe place. As rights of people with disabilities not to be abused.

Great report great information.

I tried to buy my first “home” recently; I wanted a trailer. I kept getting outbid. I’m currently renting a basement apartment. And probably will be forever because with the rent so high I’ll never be able to save enough for a bigger down payment.

This has to stop!!! These greedy criminals!!! There should be laws in place for rent control to protect home owners. Especially these poor seniors that have worked hard their entire lives to finally be able to live in peace before they pass 😢

This is Extremely True. There Needs to be Rent Control in All areas. No gouging

I live in Central Florida and purchased my mobile in 2012, thank God i own the land, my property taxes have risen slightly but i am homestead many of my neighbors are snowbirds, i cant inagine paying property tax and upkeep on a home you are in 3 months out of the year..guess they have a lot more cash lol. The area i am in has just gotten way too congested for my country girl ways, but if i sold this i really cant afford property elsewhere and i dont see that changing anytime soon. If your thinking of relocating to this area ..BEWARE there is no affordable housing! A room for rent with a shared bathroom is 700 dollars, and you better be retired and financially secure or your going to be working a couple of jobs..although the minimum wage in this area is about 13 dollars per hour the cost of living exceeds that by far . I know things are bad everywhere but do not be delusional and think your going to move to the sunshine state and have it any easier..there is no middle class your either rich and retired or your poor and taking care of the rich people, a perk they flash in front of everyone is if you work in this area your eligible to have your child attend the charter schools .still going to put up some major $$ even though your working 60 plus hours a week and you barely get to see your child..i will quit with my rant but the only people that arent feeling the economy an inflation are rich people that are screwing over poor people! Its discusting my heart goes out to these families that have done nothing wrong and are being treated worse than an illegal immigrant!

Modern corporate Greed it's to get rid of homeless, and low income folks; displaced from their homes.