OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine — Renters at two mobile home parks here are in a race to form a tenants cooperative, secure a loan and then outbid an unknown, out-of-state entity which has already offered $40.5 million for the property their houses sit on.
And the tenants — who own their mobile homes but not the land — have less than a month to get it done.
If they don’t make it, the mostly retired tenants at Old Orchard Village and Atlantic Village fear their now-affordable rents will go up beyond their ability to pay. Or worse, they suspect their tidy, quiet neighborhood a mile from the beach will be transformed into a more lucrative array of short-term rentals aimed at vacationers, weekend partiers and snowbirds.
“The kinds of corporations with enough money to buy parks like this are profit-driven,” said tenant Barbara Huntress-Rather, 73. “They’re going to want to make their money back.”
Local company Seagate Limited Partnership has owned twin mobile home parks, both on Smithwheel Road, since at least the mid-1990s. But at the start of February, tenants received a letter informing them Seagate was selling.
Huntress-Rather and a handful of other residents immediately organized a meeting at a nearby restaurant. Almost 100 people attended. The group then contacted Massachusetts-based nonprofit Cooperative Development Institute, which has helped over 50 New England mobile home parks organize into official entities known as resident-owned communities. Ten are in Maine.
The Development Institute informed the tenant group of its rights. Under Maine law, 51 percent of renters must vote to form the official community, then they must secure financial backing and make a counter offer on the property within 60 days.
It’s a tall order.
Karen Kitonis, 54, bought her single-wide at Old Orchard Village in July. Kitonis then set about remodeling the kitchen, making the space more of a home for herself, her dog Heath and cat Louie. With her modest-but-tidy home paid for, Kitonis appreciated the $525 per month lot fee, one of the only affordable rents available anywhere in southern Maine.
Kitonis is optimistic about organizing her neighbors, especially with the Development Institute’s help. But she also fears her rent will go up, no matter what, even though the park’s current owners have assured tenants the intended buyer will not raise fees.
A call to Seagate Limited Partnership was not immediately returned.
“Once they sell it, it’s out of their hands. The new owners can do anything they want,” Kitonis said. “And if we’re successful, we’ll have a $40 million mortgage. That will likely push my monthly rent to at least $900.”
Both Kitonis and Huntress-Rather said potential rent increases will especially burden their older neighbors on fixed incomes.
“We have people living here on a pittance,” Huntress-Rather said. “My neighbor is an 85-year-old widower without children. He doesn’t have other options.”
Alex MacPhail’s retired mother, Diane Gilholm, 78, lives on her own at Old Orchard Village.
“She’s scared,” said MacPhail. “Her social security won’t cover rent anywhere else.”
Even before any sale goes through, Seagate sent word last month that everyone’s monthly lot rent was going up $75 beginning in June. Huntress-Rather said that was far higher than the usual $15 or $20 annual increase.
Even if the organizing and fundraising efforts are successful, there’s always the possibility the tenant group will simply be outbid for the property. As of this week, tenants have been unable to determine who they might be bidding against. Seagate is unwilling to reveal who it’s signed a purchase and sale agreement with.
“That’s a red flag,” said Huntress-Rather. “There are some horror stories out there about absentee, corporate park owners and their neglect.”
