55 and over Mobile Home Communities (Phoenix, Tucson: low income, rent, home builders)

[CLEOPATRAZEUS]

Anyone out there in the Phoenix area know of anyone who lives (or if you do yourself) in a 55 and over mobile home community? Could you please share your views or experiences. Any you could recommend? Thanks

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by CLEOPATRAZEUS

Anyone out there in the Phoenix area know of anyone who lives (or if you do yourself) in a 55 and over mobile home community? Could you please share your views or experiences. Any you could recommend? Thanks

Don't know anything about this place other than I've seen some really nice RVs in there and that Roy Rogers was involved with the opening or something like that.

Happy Trails Resort – Active Adult Community in Surprise, Arizona

[grmi66]

I used to sell replacement glass for RV's and have been inside quite a few 55+ parks. Some mobile home parks are geared towards snowbirds and are ghost towns most of the year, in some cases shut down completely over the summer. Others have year round residents. In other cases they are essentially low income housing.

One thing to watch for is many of the mobile home communities in the Phoenix metro area are family owned and operated affairs that were started back in the 50's & 60's. Passed down a generation or two and many of the current family members want to get out of the industry. Some are selling out to home builders who are kicking out the residents, razing everything and building new homes. Others are going totally corporate and by the book, raising fees and such.

My parents had the experience of being in a 55+ mobile home park owned by a family and they loved it. Then a large conglomerate of 55+ parks bought them and immediately went in to update the infrastructure. Had to tear out 50 year old gas lines and replace the entire park. They were without heat, hot water and stove for over a month. Replaced the lovable volunteer at the front gate with a hard headed professional security guard that interrogated everyone for a month or so until he began to recognize people. All of the upgrades came at a cost and it wasn't much, but to a pair of 70-somethings a $150 a month increase in lot rent was a big deal.

[4khansen]

I live in a 55+ community but have friends in a park model community like you mention in the Tucson area. They love it, they had been snowbirds for 10+ years but last year decided it was time to be fulltime in their community. My personal view from my standpoint is that it can be a great fit for many retirees. I would feel a little clastrophobic in the summer heat being in a very small space with my spouse, but really that would be my only real strong negative. Their community is owned by a family and could very well be sold at some point, but they seem to be updating all the time and have good facilities, pools, pickleball and tennis courts, etc. I don't believe their community has a golf course. A minor irritant for me would be the homes would require a ramp if you would become disabled as a normal stand alone park model has two or three steps to enter.

The community is at 4555 S. Mission in Tucson