For manufactured home community residents in Dover Point, New Hampshire, Christmas came early.

According to Co-Operative News, those residents created the Dover Point Cooperative, elected a board, and engaged the Resident Owned Communities team (ROC) at the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (NHCLF) to guide them through the $3.125 million purchase of Polly Ann Park.

 

The co-op signed the deal for the community right before Christmas, and became owners.

The journey began last February when Polly Ann Park residents received a letter from the owners at the time, Frank and Ann Torr.

The couple wanted to sell the community. And they were very keen on the residents buying it.

As Daily Business News readers are aware, New Hampshire laws on manufactured home communities are some of the strictest in the nation, and require residents be given the first opportunity to buy.

With the Torrs’ wanting the community to go to the residents, they approached NHCLF about making the sale to the residents before telling the residents.

“We can’t thank Frank and Ann Torr enough for coming to us about buying the park [sic],” said Steve Sheehan, community resident and the first president of the co-op’s charter board.

“When we started this process, my wife and I told everyone we would have a cookout when we had a signed purchase and sales agreement.”

Sheehan also shared that the process of getting to the point of ownership was challenging, yet rewarding.

“This was a nine-month process with a lot of ups and downs,” said Sheehan.

“Knowing that our future is secure is a great feeling. Once we renovate the garage into our meeting hall, we are going to have another celebration for the community.”

With the standards set by New Hampshire, the state encourages these transitions, which are becoming the rule as opposed to the exception: 120 other manufactured home communities have converted from private ownership to a member-owned co-op, which represents 22 percent of the total communities in the state.

For Steve Sheehan, and the residents at Polly Ann Park, they are grateful for what the state, and others have done.

“I know I can speak for everyone on the board in saying we couldn’t thank ROC and the Community Loan Fund enough for all their work and guidance throughout this process. We couldn’t have done this without them,” said Sheehan.

For more on New Hampshire resident owned communities, including the case of Lakemont Cooperative-owned Briarcrest Estates potential sale to Hometown America, click here. ##

(Image credits are as shown above.)

Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.