"COURT ORDERS TENANT TO PAY MOBILEHOME PARK $100,000 IN ATTORNEYS' FEES"

O.K. neighbors. Check out page 4 of this month's Upland Cascade Mobile Home Park Magazine.

"COURT ORDERS TENANT TO PAY MOBILEHOME PARK $100,000 IN ATTORNEYS' FEES"

In my opinion, this is nothing more than an editorial attempting to portray a factual article in order to make some of us cower like frightened mice. There are no names mentioned in the editorial other than it's apparent author, Diane Medina, Esq. and Mobile Community Management Company. No dates or locations (other than California) are cited. This editorial doesn't even mention what court ordered the tenant to pay $100,000 or which mobilehome park was involved.

So did Mobile Home Park Magazine research and write this editorial. In my opinion, probably not. As per the magazine's editorial policies "Each magazine must have an editor. The Editor takes responsibility for gathering information and sending it to us in a form they want." So who is our park's editor?

You may go here to read the Mobile Home Park Magazine's editorial policies.

Another paragraph from these policies states, "For Management, the magazines offers a way to communicate with all park residents at the same time, saving time and money. The magazine also acts as a non-threatening reminder to residents of existing or potential problems within the community."

The last paragraph of the "Court Orders Tenant to Pay..." editorial states, "Tenants should educate themselves first as to possible consequences and adverse effects when filing a lawsuit or joining in on a lawsuit against a mobilehome park owner. Advice given by a well-meaning friend or neighbor, or even an attorney, may not be the right advice. This harmful advice could put the tenant's personal well-being and financial well-being at risk."

So if any resident at Upland Cascade Mobilehome Park ever considers a lawsuit against it's management should they interpret this editorial as A NON-THREATENING REMINDER?

Landlords Funding Prop. 98 Have History of Mistreating Tenants

Now who do you suppose this article could be about? Follow the link for a not so big surprise.
Landlords Funding Prop. 98 Have History of Mistreating Tenants

MCM Flyer

On March 26th Mobile Community Management Co issued a flyer to all Upland Cascade residents regarding the anonymous flyer mailed to residents in February that alleged "lies, deceit, and trickery" involving long term leases. Of course, MCM states that "nothing could be further from the truth" in the anonymous flyer. The MCM flyer then goes on to describe the samples, forms. statements, supplements etc. that are provided to homeowners to help them make "an informed choice as to what type of lease to select."

We should all feel so much better now after reading MCM's flyer. In this flyer, they have shown us that they are the pillars of our community and the paragon of fair business practice in a "well-regulated industry."Upland Cascades owners and their agents are veritable saints and we should be able to sleep well tonight knowing we are now cradled safely in their protective arms.

Sleep well, neighbors.
*TIC*

The Loophole

The following excerpts are from the 1996 “Immobile Homes” article I’ve mentioned before. A 12 year-old article...need I say more???

“A loophole in San Jose's mobilehome rent-control ordinance, which exempts long-term leases from rent restrictions, has allowed Kaplan and Tatum to jack up rents and then seize the mobile homes when the owners can't meet the payments.”

“A list of debtors at Kaplan and Tatum-owned parks in California reveals that hundreds more families have fallen prey to high rents throughout the state.”

"If 120 families were run out their homes by a natural disaster like a flood or a hurricane, you guys in the media would be up here in a second to cover it," Cushman says. "Well, with this lease deal, 120 families have lost their homes in just four years, and no one knows about it. It's so complicated that it's hard to get people's attention."

“As a result of the space rents rising beyond their financial means, most families, like the Camachos, abandon the mobile home. If the home has been paid for in full, Kaplan and Tatum get to keep it outright in lieu of the back rent. If there is a mortgage, the bank pays the space rent and usually ends up dumping the home to Kaplan and Tatum at a fraction of the original cost.”

“Once Kaplan and Tatum buy a home from the bank, as they have in the past, they can resell it for well below market price, because they've paid almost nothing for it. This fact makes it almost impossible for anyone else in the park to escape the rising rents by selling their own home.”

THANK YOU!!!

I would like to thank those of you who have posted and/or e-mailed information, advice and encouragement. I particularly enjoy looking at information that I have missed in my research regarding the Tatum/Kaplan operations. Please keep it coming!!!

I would also like to remind you that I have configured this blog so that any comments you make are made anonymously and if you ever send me information via e-mail your personal information will remain confidential unless you request otherwise.

Contact Us

Know your park owners...

Jeffrey A. Kaplan
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The following excerpts are from a 1996 L.A. Times article:

After studying accounting at USC and earning a law degree at UC Berkeley, Kaplan went to work in Los Angeles as a real estate lawyer in the early 1970s. But soon, after getting acquainted with the mobile home business, he and Tatum began acquiring parks in Southern California and Santa Clara County.

Some park owners have learned the art of defusing tensions by dealing diplomatically with tenants and charging moderate rent increases. But by all accounts, Kaplan--short, wiry and engaging yet hot-tempered--has never taken that tack.

No matter how well business was going, however, Kaplan never was willing to stand pat. Impatient with the political moderates within the dominant lobbying group for California park owners--the Western Mobilehome Parkowners Assn.--Kaplan founded a hard-line breakaway group, the California Mobilehome Parkowners' Alliance, in 1988.

Kaplan is disliked even by some park landlords who support Prop. 199; they privately blame Kaplan's tactics for inspiring many communities to adopt profit-shrinking rent-control ordinances in the first place.

"In this industry, there's room to gouge," said a Prop. 199 supporter who asked not to be identified. "People can't take their house and walk away. Jeff pushed the limit in his parks, more than most of us think is right."

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As of 2005....

Jeffrey Kaplan and Thomas T.Tatum, the sponsors, have a

combined 50-plus years of real estate experience.

They currently own 20 manufactured housing communities

throughout California totaling 4,846 pads.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT. The property manager of the Casa
Del Lago Mobile Home Park is Mobile Community Management,
a subsidiary of Tatum-Kaplan Financial Group and
an affiliate of the borrower.



More to come.

Do we still have a Home Owners Association?

We haven't had a meeting since November(?). The HOA needs to meet a little more often than that in my humble opinion. And....at the next meeting they need to start putting in place committees that will get some things done around here. It's time for us to stop whining about our own individual problems and band together to begin some productive action.

Proposition 98

If you are not aware of Proposition 98, "The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act" you need to click on this link and read what it will do if it is enacted.

Another link with great information and references regarding the possible impact of Prop. 98.

And..... an in depth analysis of the potential effect of Prop. 98.

"The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act" seeks this objective:
"Government may not set the price at which property owners sell or lease their property."
Since rent control is a principle provision in the measure and it is not summarized in the title as required by law, a law suit was recently filed to correct this.