RESIDENTS WHO LIVE at this Country Hills Estates mobile home park in La Center are celebrating after the La Center Planning Commission approved a zone change on Tues., May 12. The change will take away park’s improper ‘condominium’ designation and help homeowners finance, sell their mobile homes.
Residents of La Center’s only mobile home park, a 55-and-older park called Country Hills Estates are thanking city planners for solving a bone of contention that dates back to the park’s beginnings.
According to Larry Lewton, who sits on the Country Hills Estates Board of Directors, the problem started years ago, when the mobile home park first built.
“At the time, it was outside the city, and from what I understand, the builder applied for a mobile home lot permit, but the county said, ‘they’re too small, why don’t we just call it a condo (complex)?’” Lewton said.
That was all fine and good until a few years ago, after the housing market crash. After that, many homeowners inside the mobile home park had trouble selling their homes. The trouble? Because the park was listed as a condominium complex, many finance institutions and title companies assumed the homeowners did not own their land.
“Did we own the land or not? That was the bone of contention,” Lewton said. “It seemed like the word condo pushed 97 percent of the banks and lending institutions away. There was even a cash sale that didn’t go through. A cash sale! Having the word ‘condo’ removed will help homeowners when they want to sell their property.”
Edye Ross also is on the Country Hills Estates Board of Directors. She has lived in the La Center mobile home park for eight years and agreed that people were having trouble selling their homes because of the misperceptions surrounding the word “condo.”
“The title companies wouldn’t take care of it. They were saying that, because we were in condos, we didn’t own the land,” Ross said. “I had my home on the market and had three good offers, one in cash, and couldn’t any title companies to take it.”
Rezoning the park as a mobile home park, which is what it is, instead of a condominium complex, should help prospective buyers find financing, Lewton said.
“The banks are leery with condos,” he said. “I guess because the property value goes up and the home, or condo, value goes down … but we own our land, so it should be easier to get financing.”
On Tues., May 12, the La Center Planning Commission held a public hearing to consider rezoning the mobile home park as a medium density residential district, which would allow for the type of mobile home park – not condo complex – that exists inside Country Hills Estates.
In a report to the Planning Commission, La Center’s planning consultant, Eric Eisemann recommended adding a “manufactured single-family detached manufactured home subdivision” section to the city’s medium density residential district.
Commissioners approved the zone change, which applies to manufactured home parks or subdivisions created prior to Dec. 31, 2015, and stipulates a host of code requirements – the homes can be no taller than 25 feet; must have 5-foot front, side and street setbacks; and must be on lots that are a minimum of 20 feet wide and 60 feet long.
Lewton, who often attends the city council’s twice-monthly meetings and follows city politics closely, says the city of La Center did a great job working with homeowners and trying to help them solve their issues while still meeting city code.
“It was a smooth process,” Lewton said. “The city has been really good to work with on this. We need to send them a thank you letter.”
