Behind the Wall Part 2...Trashing Your Home 101

This is the lot directly across the street from the previous post. (Behind the Wall...part 1)  Late last year the residents who lived here were evicted but before they left, they trashed the home which I believe was around 30 years old.  They stripped some aluminum siding, walls, doors and Lord knows what else.

The awning over the carport collapsed, the door to the water heater was gone and some of the siding was missing on the back of the home.

Siding was stripped from this side of the home exposing framework and insulation.

This home remained like this for months and in my opinion not only was it an eyesore, it was a health and safety hazard.  Children play in our streets every day and it was amazing that no inquisitive little minds tried to explore these premises and get hurt.  Imagine though, trying to sell a home nearby and having prospective buyers see this in the park.  Do you think that would have created a loss in value or a busted sale?

The house was finally cleared and now all that remains is an empty dirt lot.  One eyesore among 12 and rising.

Behind the Wall - part 1

Many hopes, dreams and hearts have been shattered behind the walls of Upland Cascade Mobile Home Park.  Many of us have unwittingly placed our trust in individuals who ended up severely taking advantage of us.  Many of us could never have imagined that state and local officials would allow a business to prey upon the trust of individuals as Tatum Kaplan Financial Group has.  In this "Behind the Wall" series of our blog we will share some of the individual stories that have been and are still taking place in this nightmare of a park.  This first story involves an attempt to sell a mobile home in our park.

This is a 2002 Golden West mobile home that I believe was purchased in park  by its current owner in 2005.  A few month back, he put his home up for sale due to the "ridiculous rent" in the park.  The terms were to be take over payments with an approximate balance of $59,000.  A few days ago I passed by his home and found these sign showing a reduced asking price of $15,000! (Double click on the pictures for a larger view.)

 This is a 7 year old mobile home but still the owner has a problem selling it even for $15,000.  Don't let our management fool you.  This is not because of our nation's current economic situation.  The problem here is that of excessive rents, deteriorating park conditions and greedy park owners.

Runnin' on Empty

This is what you see when you first enter the Upland Cascade Mobile Home Park.  Notice that the waterfall is now trickling slowly rather than running freely as it had in the past.  Is the well running dry?  Perhaps a metaphor as to what is going on behind the walls at our park.

According to my figures the park currently has 12 empty dirt lots and approximately 11 vacant mobile homes out of 188 total spaces.  In my opinion, many of these empty lots and empty mobile homes are the direct result of evictions or 'walk aways' brought about by residents being priced out of their homes via uncontrollable rents and the unconscionable terms of the park's leasing contract.  Is all this now coming back to bite the Tatum Kaplan gang in the butt???  Maybe a little bit.

OK...in our park, the rents range from approximately $600.00 a month to $1300.00+ a month.  The median rent in our park would then be $950.00.  Since we have 23 lots homes that are not collecting rent at the present time then the park is not collecting approximately $21,850.00 in revenues each month.   That would be approximately $260,000.00 a year of lost revenues due to Tatum Kaplan's exorbitant rents. 

I chose to use median rents rather than average rents because I don't have the actual rents charged for each space but if we calculate the above using a low guesstimate of what the average rent might be then this would be what we find.  Lets guesstimate that the average allowable rents at this time for the 23 empty spaces would be $800.00 per month.  Then $800.00 X 23 vacant spaces would be $18,400.00.  The annual loss would be $220,800.00.  Still, with the low estimate, that is a considerable chunk of change. 

Jeffrey Kaplan recently wrote a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.  In his letter, Kaplan cites a 21 year old article that states that "land-lease parks represents over 4% of California's housing stock and...is clearly one of the most efficient forms of housing when measured by the cost per square foot and the quality of shelter."  ("Legal-Economic Analysis of Rent Controls in the Mobile Hom Context: Placement Values and Vacancy Decontrol" Hirsch and Hirsch)  Kaplan then adds, "Yet, this market is currently underserved by lenders at all levels--from the park owners who are unable to refinance their existing loans to developers who would build more affordable housing spaces to potential new tenants who wish to buy new and used mobilehomes. Of course, I believe what Kaplan is getting at here is to have the government free up more money so it can go into his own wallet.  It is my belief that not much ink flows from Jeffrey Kaplan's pen that does not serve to support his own greedy self-interest. The problem with Tatum and Kaplan owned parks is not that loans are not available for refinancing or the purchase of new and used mobilehomes.  It is my opinion that the problem with Tatum Kaplan owned parks reaches back much further than this nation's current economic situation and the core of this problem is that no one now wants to buy into one of their parks because the word is out...the rents are too high, the conditions in their parks are deteriorating and the owners and management cannot be trusted.  It's that simple!

Rapacious Rats

Hello friends.  Good news!  Once again I am as right as rain and ready to roll with rebellious rants regarding those rapacious rats relentlessly robbing residents with ridiculous rents and no remorse.  After an unexpected lengthy respite my doctor finally signed my papers allowing me to return home from the asylum and I am excited about getting back to it so let's get it on!!!


I see that during my absence, my designated bloggers fell a bit short of my high expectations however, they have done a lot of research that will provide me with much to blog about.  I am looking forward to your visits, comments and e-mails but remember that I am not here to provide legal advice and I will make no attempt to do so.  The information/documentation I share here is truthful and accurate to the best of my knowledge and the statements I make regarding this documentation are my opinions.  Read, investigate and then you be the judge.  When you review the material on this blog, I am sure you will be convinced that there is something terribly wrong with what is going on in the Tatum Kaplan owned mobile home parks.

What others are saying about Tatum-Kaplan and Mobile Community Management (part 2)

From Yahoo city guide

08/21/2007

Del Prado Mobile Park is a JOKE. They have park managers who are ignorant. DOn't move into any of the Del Prado Moblie Parks. You have been warned. They replace park mangers like i change my son's diapers.
They are very shady. Del Prado has one of the highest lot rents in OC. Some tenants are paying $1,500.00 a month for rent.
They raise your RENT 10% EVERY YEAR.....

Swan Lake Reviews found as of January 28, 2009

hey I was a owner there for 3 yrs it was a drug haven for meth and I seen a lot of good kids turned into dope fiends with gangs and dealers roaming freely with a security team who would hang out with them, if they did a better job with security and sherrif comunications and maintnence it would be a lovely place to live it is a awsom park

In Mira Loma, Kaplan and Tatum were accused of operating a ‘slumlike’ mobile home park.

“…more than 100 residents at Swan Lake have accused the partners in court of allowing their property to deteriorate. Park residents contend… that owners and managers neglected the Swan Lake electrical system, which caused blackouts."

“They also said the park had an inadequate septic system that allowed raw sewage to back up into homes…”

December 02, 2008

Google search Kaplan + Tatum + mobile +home and you will learn the truth about the owners of swan lake. they own almost 20 parks in california and almost every single one has higher than average space rent, lower than average maintenance, and lots of empty homes and lots. They treat people like scum and even sued the estate of a dead man for back rent. A deaf woman was raped in Swan Lake a couple of years ago but because she literally has no voice, no one knows and nothing has been done. Anyone can walk into that park and commit any sort of crime against any of its residents and no one cares. I do not know who you idiots are posting in defense of the place but you really have no clue. Swan Lake is one of the slummiest mobile home parks in So Cal.

October 14, 2008 by

cars are stolen from here a lot.

sure it looks nice when you see the gate but it is not a true gated comunity as down on the southwestern corner there is a very large area where anyone who pleases can enter at will.

just look for the big crowd of shopping carts left by the residents who just don't care.

a year or two ago someone was nearly raped near my home.

management doesn't care. they pretend to be concerned but all that matters is that you pay your space rent on time, so they do not have the hassle of having you booted.

August 03, 2007