Behind the Wall - part 4...A Heartbreak of the Worst Kind

Two years ago, a five year old child was killed in the streets of Upland Cascade Mobilehome Park.  He was riding on a skateboard  and his brothers watched as he was struck by a car.  A small memorial of candles, pictures and messages was left near where the boy died and it remained there until recently.  Now there is just a pile of rocks and yet each day that empty pile of rocks reminds of the tragedy that occurred there.


Of course, the family was devastated.  They remained in the park for a couple of months following the accident and then moved out and understandably so...how long and painful those last months here must have felt to them.  The home has now been vacant for nearly two years.


For weeks after the accident there was much finger pointing as to who was to blame.  The parents, the driver or the park???  I honestly cannot say who was to blame but one fact that I can stand by is that this happened in the streets of Upland Cascade Mobilehome Park.  With that in mind, I have come to the conclusion that the streets in this park are not a safe place for our children to play...period!!!

Behind the Wall - part 3...Rent Increases and Walkaways

It is not uncommon in this park to hear that someone is getting a 20%, 30% or 40% annual rent increase but how about a 72% annual rent increase.  Yes, that's right, even though the City of Upland has a rent control ordinance a resident at our park last year received a notice from the park stating that their rent would be increase from $749.00 to $1293.00 per month...that's over 72%!!!  I guess they decided not to pay this outrageous rent increase because their home is now empty and has a for sale sign in the window.

I am not sure how old the home is but it appears to be approximately 9 or 10 years old.  This for sale sign in the window is asking $39,000 cash.

Double click on the image to enlarge.

This is another example of how many of our residents have been priced out of their homes in this park.

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!