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Terrence Thudium, pictured here Wednesday, May 30, 2012, has spent more than $75,000 in upgrades to his home in the Mountain View community in Henderson and fears losing it because of rent increases he cannot afford.
Saturday, June 9, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Terrence Thudium sits at a bluish-gray “almost-granite” countertop in his recently refurbished kitchen. He speaks with a combination of fear and fight. The disabled Vietnam War veteran uses words such as “extortion,” “ridiculous” and “exhausted.”
Thudium lives in Mountain View Community, a manufactured housing park for seniors in Henderson. He signed a 20-year lease for land there and settled in a manufactured home he purchased for $75,000. Over the next five years, he spent another $75,000 transforming it into his home. He tore down a hall wall for circulation, added ceramic tiles in the kitchen and redesigned just about every feature to make it perfect.
Thudium is proud of the investment but faces a dilemma. The rent for the land his house sits on has jumped from $680 to $747 in four years. He pays almost the same amount in land rent as his neighbors pay to rent land and a home.
When Thudium settled in Mountain View, park owner Hometown America Communities allowed only homeowners to rent land. When Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc., took over the park earlier this year, they opened it up to renters.
Thudium can move his home off the lot, but that would cost him more than $5,000. For a 67-year-old, that’s not practical.
“If you try and pay $1,000 per month in mortgages and $800 in rent, you got no money,” Thudium said. “It’s ridiculous. It shouldn’t be this bad. It’s not like renting the house and the land ... which is going for the same dollar figure I’m paying for land. Isn’t that extortion?”
Thudium’s lease dictates that park owners can raise the land rent a minimum of 3.5 percent as long as they give 90 days notice. Thudium signed the lease believing that would only happen in inflation emergencies. He was wrong.
Equity Lifestyle Properties agreed to freeze land rent for the next two years. But there is nothing preventing the company from increasing rent afterward.
So Thudium is trapped at the mercy of the park owners, hoping his rent doesn’t extend beyond what his disabled veterans benefits and social security income can afford. He has already been forced to put off any vacations or trips home to Chicago. He dreads the day rent creeps above $900, the maximum he can afford.
“Look at all I got invested,” Thudium said. “I’m 67, I can’t do this crap again another time. I’m exhausted, and I’m not done with (fixing the house).”
Equity Lifestyle Properties did not comment.
For the past 13 legislative sessions, the Nevada Association of Manufactured Homeowners (NAMH), which represents manufactured home owners, has proposed a rent justification bill to help homeowners like Thudium.
The bill would require park owners to justify raises in rent to a board if rent is increased more than a certain percentage. Each time, it failed.
Doris Green, president of the NAMH, said land rent at many manufactured home parks in Clark County has skyrocketed since the recession.
If owners, often seniors, become sick or lose a spouse, many are forced to move out. That opens the door for the park to take ownership of the homes and rent them new tenants. Green said she sees it frequently at Cabana Park, where she lives.
“Now what we have in our own park is people who have moved out or abandoned their home, and now (the park owners) are renting it (out),” Green said. “We have about one-third of the park out to renters.”
Pat McHugh, 74, has lived in Mountain View for the past 14 years. As the economy faltered and rent increased, she watched friends leave the mobile home park as their savings dried up. McHugh, who runs Pat’s Sunshine Shuttle service for her neighbors but barely breaks even with the business, fears that when her lease is up, she will suffer a similar fate.
“I am very fearful that in another four years I will not be able to afford to live here,” McHugh said. “I love living here, but I may not be able to afford it.”
Still, not everyone in Mountain View worries about rent. Joanne Miller, 78, said she has had no issues but also knows she’s lucky to continue to work.
A rent justification bill could help allay residents’ fears. Bob Varallo, a consultant for the NAMH since 1997, said members will try again to get the bill passed. He has little hope they’ll succeed.
Outside Thudium’s home, a moat of red rocks surrounds the walkway. Visitors are forced to trek up his driveway and around the corner of his house to ring his doorbell.
He wants to put eight cement steps in place to make access easier, but paying $1,200 for it makes no sense to him.
Improving the land around his house is pointless, Thudium said. If he decides to move his home to a new lot, it won’t go with him. If he abandons the home, it only will make it a more attractive property for the park to rent out.
Thudium sees no way out of his predicament. He has tried writing letters to park owners, but they just scan back the page of the lease he signed agreeing to accept land rent increases.
Thudium beamed with pride the day he signed those documents. Now, he’s not so sure.
“First time I owned a house,” Thudium said. “Boy did I get stuck.”
My friends here in Californi recently told me that their space rent has gone up to $550 a month. Since the value of each "lot" is likely less than $20,000, one would think that $250 would be more than enough for the owners to make a nice profit. I'm sure that park owners will quickly point out the cost of operating clubhouses, pools, security and other ameneties. Note to people looking to move in to a park, All of those extra features will cost you. Unless a pool or clubhouse is important to you, keep looking.
The only viable answer is to find a manufactured home park where the homeowner owns the lot not the park landlords. They will continue to raise space rents until they achieve their real goal which is to develop the land for something else.
The perils of having a mobile home in a rented park space are legend by now. You really own nothing in this kind of situation. The vulnerability of seniors and other low income people in this situation is clear. Parks have been used by landlords for land speculation, making empty promises on trust, for many years. Owners can use the rent payments to cover the cost of holding the land, and then sell to a developer when the time is right making a killing on the property. There simply is no security, the more a renter has tied up in his home, the more he stands to lose.
A Renter is A Renter, subject to the whims and Morals of the Landlord. Since many Landlords are now Corporations where there is only the next quarters financial reports for CEO bonuses. Who cares about the residents and neighborhood stability.
Many moved into Seniors Only communities that now Rent Furnished Homes to much younger people at less than the Lot Rent Older Seniors are being charged. The know many Seniors are Stuck and using them as a Cash Cow with no Consumer protection for the Nevada Legislature or even Local Politicians. These Corporation Property assets should be Taxed at rates comparable to the Highest Rates they Charge.
Never buy a Mobile Home and set it on a Rented Space - A House is Much Better and over the long, run and generally has a much lower total cost of ownership.
"Thudium sees no way out of his predicament. He has tried writing letters to park owners, but they just scan back the page of the lease he signed agreeing to accept land rent increases."
Nordli -- good article, and balanced.
Essentially what happened here is this self-proclaimed victim signed a contract without first carefully reading and considering its terms. Now he wants out of it while keeping the benefits to the other party's detriment.
What's missing in this Discussion is government cannot lawfully intervene due to the Constitutional prohibition against passing any law "impairing the obligation of contracts." See that @ http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Const/NVConst...
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Isaac H Tiffany (1819)
Sounds like some very poor financial decisions by this gentleman. The big advantage to renting is no maintenance and you can easily move, the big advantage to owning is a stable monthly cost and asset appreciation (usually!). In this situation he enjoys NEITHER benefit.
Besides, who buys a manufactured home for $75k that they have to put another $75k into?
I have in the past considered a mobile or manufactured home, but NEVER if I didn't own the land also.
@ KillerB:
Honestly, you're absolutely right. This man signed the paperwork and thus agreed to every term that was contained therein. Whenever you sign paperwork of this magnitude one should always read it, and also contact a lawyer to interpret for you those items that you do not understand. And of course just as importantly one should ALWAYS examine those terms such as these and assume the worst case scenario to see how that can affect you. And I'm pretty sure that on that aspect we can agree.
Something to consider however in instances such as this as well as the Housing Crisis caused by falsified documents as well as Adjustable Rate Mortgages that let to this entire boondoggle are the people who did indeed give that extra push to get people like this man to sign those contracts. Whenever people sign, the agents were always telling people the cheeriest scenarios and reassuring the people who sign that those worst case scenarios would never happen to them. Rather than an independent lawyer, these people were relying upon salespeople to interpret the terms for them. THAT is where things went wrong.
Yes, you sign those papers and it is your entire responsibility in doing so. However I do believe that it is also very wrong for a salesperson or any sort of company representative who stands to profit from the sale to offer advice. Even when you see commercials that advertise investments or attorneys, they have to give disclaimers regarding performance not being guaranteed and how no attorney is even certified as an expert. Why are these consumer protections not in place for homebuyers?
We say all the time that consumers are responsible for the paperwork that they sign. Why do we not have laws and regulations in place that ensure noninterference from sales people? We know that it's up to the parties entering into a contract to ensure they understand what they are signing, but why are we not stopping said parties from offering unofficial and misleading interpretations in order to obtain a contract under false pretenses with no legal repercussions?
This guy has no clue, he apparently did not read or fully understand the lease agreement. Unfortunately there are millions like him but they have only themselves to blame.
I cannot really feel sorry for Mr. T because I just don't understand why people live in a mobile home part, the land rent is as much as some upscale condominium complexs HOAs in the Las Vegas area. I think the rent justification bill is way overdue. Mr. T's lot rent is 5 times more than my property tax. With townhome and condo price so low, why doesn't Mr. T try and sell and find a condo, he will save a great deal of money and still get less work than owning a home.
"Sounds like some very poor financial decisions by this gentleman. . . . .Unfortunately there are millions like him but they have only themselves to blame."
stopthebs -- one of the fundamentals of our republic is the individual's liberty to make and enforce contracts. Having just turned 60, I'm constantly peeved by many of my peers' lack of maturity. It's like they've learned nothing from decades of experience. Thudium implying he's a victim definitely puts him in this category. As you posted, he has only himself to blame.
"Something to consider however in instances such as this as well as the Housing Crisis caused by falsified documents as well as Adjustable Rate Mortgages that let to this entire boondoggle are the people who did indeed give that extra push to get people like this man to sign those contracts."
DMCVegas -- apples and oranges. Notes and mortgages are financial instruments controlled by an entirely different set of laws. If Thudium at his age couldn't tell he was being hustled, he made a choice, then a commitment, now he has to perform his obligation or take the consequence. If he has a legitimate consumer complaint that's another thing.
"The individual...is entitled to carry on his private business in his own way. His power to contract is unlimited...His rights are such as existed by the law of the land long antecedent to the organization of the State, and can only be taken from him by due process of law, and in accordance with the Constitution." -- Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43, 74 (1906)
Why is it that landlords increase the financial burden on those living on a fixed income when a recession hits this hard? Yes, I think this is a blatant attempt to force out the older folks in favor of younger ones. WHY? Older folks have a better sense of financial responsibility than the younger folks do, and are more likely to remain on that property for a considerable amount of time and keeping it in good repair. Greedy trolls, the lot of them, for taking advantage of the elderly like that.
This is why you don't buy mobile homes. I tried to warn a friend off the purchase of one and he bought one anyway. His rent is going up too. He now pays more than I do for a 1 bedroom apartment and he has to maintain the grounds and do all his maintenace out of his pocket. My resoning is this "investors" losing money on other investments need to make it back here somehow, so along with the mobile home park purchases and apts they bought they have to make back money they are losing. So they look for sources that can't fight back. Apartment renters can move out for a low cost and usually recover because of the incentives offered to sign a new lease at a new apt community. But a mobile home owner is going to find all the mobile home parks are doing the same thing because all these mobile park investors are comparing notes.
And renters think property tax increases don't affect them!
Well, I guess it does, huh!
I saw Sam Zell on CNBC. Maria Bartolome was giving him a softball interview, like she does all the power people on wall street. I believe he is the major owner of ELP. He is giving millions to Romney. Why? He wants to get rid of rent control and tenants rights. The elderly, the poor and Veterans will suffer greatly under a Romney administration. Social Security and Medicare will be eliminated. The poor will face courts stacked in favor of the rich. Rights of renters and working people will be eliminated as they are kept out of the court system. Class action suits will be eliminated and so will rent control.
If Romney is elected, people like those in this mobile home part will end up on the streets.
If a 3.5% increase is killing you, the problem is the income side not the expenses side. You cut it too close.
If you sign a contract on a property without reading it that means yuo = moron.
If you own your first home at 67 that means yuo = loser.
I thought Thudium was a radioactive element, not a person's name.
Got the name of the company wrong, it is ELS Equity lifestyle properties. Zell has thrown seniors on the street all over the country. In Florida, in California.
Romney is truly a uncaring corporate monster who wants to bring back the guilded age. And Romeny claims to be for the Veterans and the Seniors and struggling families?
http://www.campaignforcommunities.org/pa...
Caveat Emptor. Seniors, especially -- need to keep their finances in order. This fellow should have purchased a site for his manufactured home and paid cash for it. Then and only then begin the upgrades. Sorry, but seniors, years ago, should have positioned themselves not to have to pay rent or still have a mortgage when retirement rolled around.
Looks like the same haters that said: "let them die" at the Republican debate, now say "let them go homeless" The Ron Paul/Romney people embrace the Aryan Rand sociopath philosophy. Let us hope you don't end up becoming a victim of the wealthy people you carry the water for.
Let's see, now a man who fixes up his property and makes it better is part of the problem, and not the Oligarch who makes it his business to bilk the poor so he can add to his $5 billion dollar net worth?
Too bad. He fought for the freedom of a corporation to make as large a profit as it can, and now he is complaining that a corporation is doing what he put his life on the line for. He may have known it at the time, but the "people" he fought (and 50,000 of his buddies died) for, were corporations.
Welcome back to Conservative America.
A mobile home is not an investment, it's a depreciating asset. 75k in upgrades? That's sounds fishy. One in a million stories. Good luck
"Looks like the same haters that said: "let them die" at the Republican debate, now say "let them go homeless" The Ron Paul/Romney people embrace the Aryan Rand sociopath philosophy. Let us hope you don't end up becoming a victim of the wealthy people you carry the water for.
Let's see, now a man who fixes up his property and makes it better is part of the problem, and not the Oligarch who makes it his business to bilk the poor so he can add to his $5 billion dollar net worth?"
Cheers mred, well put!
Comment removed by moderator. Inappropriate