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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2019)
MARCH 15, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE D1 Park owner has history of bad-faith dealings GROUND ZERO Rising rents at Keizer mobile home park are one way residents are feeling the squeeze of rent burdens By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes Editor’s note: Residents of Wildwood Mobile Villa spoke with the Keizertimes, but requested that we not use their names in out of concern of reprisal. When it comes to growth in Keizer, spac- es like Wildwood Mobile Villa are where the rubber will hit the road. Residents fear that it’s already happening. “We used to fall into that low income [space]. It is not anymore,” said one resident of the se- nior manufactured home community. Since 2008, rent at the park located in north Keizer skyrocketed from $395 to $675. The new owner, Investment Property Group is in- creasing it another $50 this May. [For more on IPG and its owner, Brian Fitterer, see sidebar]. In addition to the rent increase, new residents will shoulder the costs of sewer, water, garbage and stormwater bills, all bills that were once in- cluded in the space rental. According to a local manufactured home sales agent, Wildwood is now the most costly mobile home park in all of Salem-Keizer. “The fi rst thing I ask a client is if they’ve checked into the rates here. It’s hard to fi nd cli- ents who will stick with a purchase after they fi nd out about the rent,” the sales agent said. The increases in the cost to live in Wildwood put residents between the proverbial rock and hard place. Many own their homes, but the spaces where they are located are owned and rented out by IPG. They can attempt to sell their homes, but there are already six others in the park on the market with rental rates scaring off buyers. Even if a willing buyer appears, they can leverage the cost of rent over the price they are will to pay for the home on it – even though they are owned by two different entities. The other option is moving the home to an- other park, which exposes the fallacy of calling manufactured homes “mobile homes.” “The majority of houses in Wildwood are 40 years and older. If you found a space on private By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes The owner of Wildwood Mobile Villa is no stranger to many residents of manufac- tured home parks in Keizer and Salem. Irvine, Calif.-based Invest- ment Property Group also owns Briarwood Estates and McNary Oaks Mobile Villa in Keizer and fi ve others in Sa- lem. Brian Fitterer is the prin- cipal owner of IPG. In 2005, the executive di- rector of the Manufactured Home Owners of Oregon (MHOO), told Keizertimes that Fitterer is “the poster boy for why our organization ex- ists.” MHOO fought for man- ufactured home owners in the state, but has since become the Manufactured Housing Ore- gon State Tenants Association (MH/OSTA). Keizertimes began looking into Fitterer in 2004 when he sent notices to two dozen residents in Iris Village, anoth- er manufactured home park he owned at the time, notify- ing them that they had three months to come up with at least $50,000 each to purchase the land their manufactured homes were sitting on or risk having it sold out from under them. Fitterer took advantage of changes put in place by the Oregon Legislature in 2003 to allow manufactured home Please see OWNER, Page D2 property some place else, most cities will not “It is self-funded by the park owner and pro- allow you to bring one in more than 10 years vides a 10 percent rent discount to any resident old. The prejudice on manufactured homes is who is struggling to make ends meet. The dis- very widespread,” said the sales agent. count never has to be repaid and our residents A resident said there are only about eight can continue to renew it annually if their fi - homes that are less than nancial situation does not 10 years old in the park. improve,” Monte said. Moving one to a new park Monte said the ame- would also cost at least nities make Wildwood $10,000 by most estimates. “superior” to other parks “The people can’t move in the area and justify the the homes and they are go- high rental rate. ing to take a beating when “The prior owner in- they shut this park,” said vested over $700,000 in one long-time resident. new water lines, new side- Amber Monte, presi- walks and other improve- dent of IPG, said the com- ments for the community pany has no plans to shut- just before the sale oc- ter the park. — Wildwood resident curred,” Monte said. One of the residents “We are long term Keizertimes talked to said community operators and there are no plans to close this community. In the largest part of those improvements went fact, we’ve never closed a single community in into fi xing leaky water lines throughout the our company history and have no plans to do so park that added to the owner’s expenses. anywhere,” Monte said. “That should have lowered the rent, but it Fitterer also offers a discount for current res- increased,” he said. idents struggling to pay the rent. Please see ZERO, Page D2 “The people can’t move the homes and they are going to take a beating when they shut this park.”
