The packet for her park outlines acceptable patio material, prohibits trees and vegetable gardens and requires motorcycles and other two-wheel vehicles to drive the most direct route between the entrance of the park and the resident's home. It is a type of living that creates its own set of specific problems, says Steve Gullage, president of Golden State Mobile Homeowners League. It's a monopoly, and they've pretty much got residents captive. But despite any problems inherent to mobile-home living, Gullage says it's attractiveness is on the rise because of the relatively low costs. And since no new parks are being built, competition is tightening for limited spaces.
Most parks report zero vacancy with waiting lists, and mobile home manufacturers report brisk sales.
But less fashionable mobile-home parks still survive, parks with a few scraggly trees, broken furniture piled up on sloped porches, and dented and crooked siding on the homes. And I have to admit, I did have some of those ideas. His conversion came when he moved to California, and now he proudly strolls through his community's tidy clubhouse and serves as president of the Western Mobile Homeowners Association. The stereotyping he still encounters is rooted in ignorance, he says. But it's the old way of thinking, to look down on the homes.