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What happens when investment firms acquire trailer parks

newyorker.com

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Re: What happens when investment firms acquire trailer parks

#31

Post by mywittyname »

I spent my early years living in a trailer park, and to be honest, it wasn't bad at all (at least back then). We knew most of our neighbors and most people looked out for each other (like helping out people suffering from food insecurity). That place had some of the most generous people I'd ever met.

I have pretty fond memories of living there.

I got my first bike from a really, really nice single mom who noticed that I didn't have one. I mean, it was a crappy garage sale find that was rusted and had weird 1970s-stylee handle bars, but she got it specifically for me.

Re: What happens when investment firms acquire trailer parks

#32

Post by pm90 »

Shacklz wrote: post #14

The US are such a weird country... on one hand, Silicon valley et al, producing the coolest tech & the shiniest toys, and on the other hand... people who can only afford to live in trailer parks, even with a full time job. It never ceases to amaze & depress me simultaneously.

Where to start? Lol.

The US is a vast country with a vast population and its economy has been geared towards high end services. Those with the relevant education are able to thrive while those without education or wealth get cast aside. Urban centers thrive in this economy while rural ones fade away and decay; most people don’t want/ can’t move to where the opportunities are.

There’s also a multitude of socio political issues. From the relative independence of States to set social benefits policies, to the phenomenon of convincing people to vote against their own interests when race or culture war is involved.

Re: What happens when investment firms acquire trailer parks

#33

Post by FooHentai »

phkahler wrote: post #18

Housing can not be both affordable AND an investment. Interest rates need to rise, and soon.

I'm not sure you're entirely correct. A lot of people plan on downsizing their housing when they reach retirement age - Move somewhere smaller because you don't need to accommodate the kids any more, and further out of an urban center because you don't need to commute any more.

This is a net positive - It frees up more valuable real estate in urban centers for working-age citizens to utilize, and extracts capital from the property for retirement-age citizens to finance their retirement.

In this way, housing has been a stable and reliable investment for many for some time, and in a way that's beneficial to society as a whole. Quite different to what we're seeing here, an evolving dynamic which also threatens this model and puts people's retirement prospects in peril.

Re: What happens when investment firms acquire trailer parks

#34

Post by blackrock »

black_puppydog wrote: post #10

> The financial industry[...] is undermining one of the country’s largest sources of affordable housing. 1. Yeah, I made an opinionated omission there. Sue me :D 2. That last part (the country’s largest sources of affordable housing) is even more damning than the rest. :( In a country that big, and that rich, with a frontier ethos like that, how the f*k does anyone think this is acceptable?

The fox is guarding the henhouse.

The politicians themselves are benefitting from the situation. So why would they change it?

Re: What happens when investment firms acquire trailer parks

#35

Post by DaedPsyker »

dylan604 wrote: post #21
WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same reason those same Silicon Valley companies hire security guard companies at $15/hr and have the security guards take the food to the dumpster, and lock it. That security guy probably could use that food more than the dumpster.

At $15/hour, that security guard is probably close to double the income people living in trailer parks earn.

But the security guard lives in SF, which increases his living costs.

Re: What happens when investment firms acquire trailer parks

#36

Post by dtwest »

Having spent a decent amount of time in one of these myself, I much prefer the term "trailer park" to "mobile-home community". The article uses the term interchangeably, but they explain this important detail themselves:

"The homes in the park are not as portable as its name implies; they’ve been placed on foundations, and their hitches have been removed."

In my experience, in older parks especially, there is no way to economically move the trailer. Which means you don't really own a "mobile home", you own a slot in the park with a worthless trailer on it. This allows the park to have the negotiating power. I just wanted to point out this key detail to people who may not be aware of the situation.

Re: What happens when investment firms acquire trailer parks

#37

Post by keiferski »

Shacklz wrote: post #14

The US are such a weird country... on one hand, Silicon valley et al, producing the coolest tech & the shiniest toys, and on the other hand... people who can only afford to live in trailer parks, even with a full time job. It never ceases to amaze & depress me simultaneously.

The oddest part about it is how much of a mess the Bay Area is. Typically you’d expect centers of wealth to be excessively clean, filled with expensive architecture and monuments, etc. to the point of being boring. Dubai, for instance.

Somehow SV just decided to not bother with that at all.

Re: What happens when investment firms acquire trailer parks

#38

Post by smabie »

Shacklz wrote: post #14

The US are such a weird country... on one hand, Silicon valley et al, producing the coolest tech & the shiniest toys, and on the other hand... people who can only afford to live in trailer parks, even with a full time job. It never ceases to amaze & depress me simultaneously.

I visited my friend a couple years ago who lived in a shipping container in a trailer park. tbqh it was super nice and everyone was super friendly. Seemed like a really solid place to live. My friend loved it to: he made a good salary as a software engineer but just really loved the trailer park vibe.

Re: What happens when investment firms acquire trailer parks

#39

Post by Afton »

CalRobert wrote: post #23
black_puppydog wrote: post #10

> The financial industry[...] is undermining one of the country’s largest sources of affordable housing. 1. Yeah, I made an opinionated omission there. Sue me :D 2. That last part (the country’s largest sources of affordable housing) is even more damning than the rest. :( In a country that big, and that rich, with a frontier ethos like that, how the f*k does anyone think this is acceptable?

Building a basic house is pretty simple. Larry Haun put out a great book with Habitat for Humanity to do it for about $40,000, and irishvernacular.com/ outlines how to do it for €25,000. But we induce scarcity in the housing market because if everyone had a comfortable, decent home, they might not work so hard, would they? Imagine how much less value would be created for assetholders, how much less stuff we would mak…

Is this really how you view it? Like, you think that people are plotting how to induce scarcity in the market so that they will work harder?

That doesn't seem like a useful framing of the problem.

Re: What happens when investment firms acquire trailer parks

#40

Post by celticninja »

mywittyname wrote: post #31

I spent my early years living in a trailer park, and to be honest, it wasn't bad at all (at least back then). We knew most of our neighbors and most people looked out for each other (like helping out people suffering from food insecurity). That place had some of the most generous people I'd ever met. I have pretty fond memories of living there. I got my first bike from a really, really nice single mom who noticed tha…

Would you live there by choice?
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