If Jim Settle had had the money, he might have stayed in Redondo Beach. But he didn't, so he decided to buy a single-wide in Village Mobile Home Park in Gardena, where rent was cheap.
For about $357 a month for 19 years, Settle had a quiet community, a decent-sized lawn and eventually cable TV. And at the end of this year, he and his neighbors will have an even bigger luxury -- the deed to their three-acre park.
After holding on to Village Mobile Home Park on Gramercy Place for 20 years, Gardena will transfer title to the park's 50 resident families by the end of this year. Ownership comes after $2.8 million in monthly payments to the city by the mostly low-income senior citizens.
Now "we have control over the rent and how the place is run," said Settle, who serves as vice president of the park's board of directors.
"We don't have somebody like in other parks, like a landlord or something, that controls the rent and how much you have to pay. That's the best part about it. If we want to adjust the rent, raise it or lower it or keep it the same, we can do that," he said.
Until now, the bulk of the rent from the park's 50 mobile homes went to Gardena, which bought the park in 1985.
The city's arrangement with Village Mobile Home Park is unique. Though municipalities sometimes buy and manage mobile home parks or provide financial assistance to low-income residents seeking to purchase their parks, cities rarely buy them outright, and even more rarely deed them to the tenants, said Gerald Gibbs, a San Clemente lawyer who specializes in resident-owned parks.
Nonprofit organizations also have sprung up to buy mobile home parks or broker purchases for residents, generally charging fees for their role.
Statewide, about half a dozen parks have been sold this way or are in the process of being purchased.
Gardena made no money on the transaction. "The city was willing to take a risk and go with people with zero credit," said Clinton F. Lau, president of Hermosa Beach-based Les Frame Management, which manages the park. "It ended up a good investment for the city, and the residents got what they wanted."
Risky ventures have caused trouble for Gardena. A municipal insurance company and a first-time home buyers program, both created in the 1990s, left the city owing $26 million to Japanese banks.
