‘WE JUST WANT TO … LIVE IN PEACE’

Elaine Therriault, 62, West Village Mobile Home Park, Monmouth

Monthly lot rent: $300

Park owner: Residents (under contract)

Elaine Therriault was shocked to learn that West Village park, the manufactured home community she’s lived in for the last seven years, would be going up for sale.

She feared the worst could happen if the park was bought by an out-of-state investor: Rents that could double or even triple, more restrictive rules, possibly even the park shutting down.

Therriault, who is on disability, moved to West Village in 2018 when the mortgage for her Poland home became too expensive to afford and the house too difficult to maintain. She did her research and settled on the Monmouth Park. It’s on the smaller side, with 42 lots and, most importantly, the lot rent was low, just $200 a month.

She bought her mobile home for $47,000 with the proceeds from her house.

“I was able to buy this and be assured that I’m going to at least have this home until the end of my life,” she said.

Her lot rent has increased to $300, but it’s still manageable. Therriault, who lives with her grandson, said she’s not rich, but she can afford her car repairs or to have her furnace serviced.

But she worried that could change. And if it became too expensive, sure, she could sell her home — probably for significantly more than she paid for it — but where else would she go?

“We’re not living here because we’re millionaires. We’re living here because it’s what we can afford,” she said.

When the park came up for sale in November, it was good timing. The residents in Brunswick had just closed on their park, and the Bangor homeowners had just submitted their bid. Following their lead, Therriault and a group of neighbors scrambled to form a co-op and get an offer together.

The $1.9 million offer was accepted, and now they have until May to get the financing together.

Once the sale goes through, there’s plenty to do, like hiring a property manager, but Therriault said there’s an immense feeling of relief that the park could be owned by a nonprofit that cares about the health of the park and won’t institute overbearing rules and fees.

“We just want to be able to live in peace,” she said.

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‘I’M JUST DOING THIS BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE WANTED TO’

Jerry Highfill, 79, Mountain View Estates, Bowdoin

Monthly lot rent: $525

Park owner: Philips International

Jerry Highfill doesn’t consider himself an activist, and he’s no “political guru,” but in a matter of months, he’s found himself petitioning the town of Bowdoin for rent stabilization and rallying fellow mobile homeowners to support state legislation.

Now retired, Highfill paid off his home years ago and put his “coupon book to rest.” But the rent increases keep coming and Highfill can’t increase his income. He’s not hurting financially, he said, but he knows others in his park — and beyond — are.

“I’m just doing this because nobody else wanted to do it and I said, well, something needs to be done, and it’s just kind of exploded from there.”

His Facebook page, “Maine Mobile Home Owners Fed Up With Excessive Lot Rent Increases,” started as a page for his park, but it gained traction and now has close to 200 members representing parks across the state.

Highfill tried to pass a rent stabilization ordinance in Bowdoin but was told last month that parts of it were “illegal.”

“I’m not a lawyer, I didn’t use a lawyer. If I could afford a lawyer, I wouldn’t be living in a mobile home park,” Highfill said. “I did my best. My legal knowledge just failed. That’s the gist of it.”

He’s disappointed but, for now, is putting his energy behind supporting legislative efforts by Rep. Cheryl Golek, D-Harpswell, and Rep. Cassie Julia’s, D-Waterville, to institute rent control for parks.

If the state legislation passes, it would supersede any local effort anyway, he said. If not, he might consider trying to write another ordinance.

He’s optimistic that there’s now enough support for the legislation.

“This is a state problem and not just a little crappy town in the middle of nowhere,” he said.

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‘THIS ISN’T RIGHT’

Theresa Kim, 42, Pine Tree Estates, Standish 

Monthly lot rent: $645

Park owner: RHP Properties

Theresa Kim feels like she’s watching affordable housing slipping away.

She and her husband moved from Portland to Standish in 2022 and took out a mortgage on their $135,000 mobile home. At the time, the lot rent was an additional $539 a month.

Three years later, the fee has gone up by more than $100 — between her mortgage and lot rent, she’s spending about $2,000 a month.

“It’s not as affordable as they’re projecting,” she said.

For new people moving into Pine Tree Estates, it’s even more expensive. New residents pay just shy of $900 a month, not including a mortgage.

“This isn’t right,” Kim said. “This is supposed to be affordable, and it’s getting not to be.”

The uncertainty is difficult. There’s nothing stopping the park’s owner, RHP, from increasing everybody’s rent to $890.

She’s trying to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Kim is working with the town of Standish to pass a rent control ordinance, capping annual rent increases at 5% for any rental in the town with more than a $500 base rent, not just mobile homes.

She’s particularly concerned about the older adults on fixed incomes, who she said are “stressed and scared about losing their homes.”

For the most part, she’s happy with their home. It’s spacious enough for their three kids and Jack Russell terrier, and they have a nice patio and backyard (they wanted to put in a deck but weren’t allowed).

Lot rent is part of life in a mobile home park, but she said it’s challenging to deal with the uncertainty of rent increases on top of her mortgage, plus the threat of fines for small infractions like grass that’s too long or a bike that’s left on the lawn, especially when there aren’t any corresponding improvements to the park.

“There’s a lot more cons than pros at times on that side of things, like the freedom to live and breathe and have fun with your family,” she said.

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‘I WOULD DO IT AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT’

Janet Fournier, 64, Linnhaven Mobile Home Center, Brunswick 

Monthly lot rent: $630

Park owner: Residents

Janet Fournier always said she would never live in a mobile home, and she would definitely never live in a mobile home park. Now she owns one.

Fournier moved to Brunswicks’ Linnhaven Mobile Home Center in August 2023 in search of affordable housing. She sold her South Paris three-bedroom home, but the proceeds wouldn’t cover the cost of another house. She wasn’t interested in taking out another mortgage, and any senior housing had four- or five-year waitlists. Market-rate apartments were out of the question.

She bought her house and settled in, surprised at how much she loved the park. She paid $150,000 and her lot rent is now $630.

But shortly after, she learned the Scarponi family, the longtime owners of the park, planned to sell and had a $26 million offer on the table.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I just bought here. Am I going to have to leave? What’s going to happen?’ We didn’t know if that developer was going to kick us all out and put some more high-rises here,” she said.

Fournier and a group of her neighbors connected with the Cooperative Development Institute to form the Blueberry Fields Cooperative, make an offer and gather financing. Their offer was accepted in October.

“It was a lot of hard work getting to that point, and it continues to be a lot of hard work,” said Fournier, who is the president of the board.

They’ve had to hire a property manager and there are 13 vacant lots they want to fill. There’s an empty house on the property, the Scarponi family’s old office, that they’re trying to form a plan for. The infrastructure is 70 years old, so they’re planning for eventual upgrades and are looking into how they could move away from septic systems and connect to the city’s sewer.

“There’s a lot going on here. It’s not just getting up in the morning and saying, ‘Hey, everybody, pay your rent, everything’s good,'” she said.

Running a $27 million business is time-consuming and, now that she’s back to work, Fournier feels she’s burning the candle at both ends. But she wholeheartedly encourages any park that’s able to at least explore the opportunity.

“The alternative, to be at the mercy of some out-of-state buyer that’s only looking to make a buck, does not make sense,” she said. “I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

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