Residents of Apache Mobile Home Park face a new challenge in their effort to buy the land beneath their homes.
They have spent the past several months preparing a counteroffer after learning in November that their landlord planned to accept a $5.28 million offer for the park. When the deal fell through, the property was relisted in February – this time at a higher asking price.
Now, residents must raise an additional $1 million to compete with buyers willing to pay the new $6.25 million listing price.
“It just seems dodgy – seems like they’re just trying to be greedy, really,” said Natalie Going, a homeowner at Apache MHP.
Apache MHP is one of four mobile home parks in Durango, all owned by the same majority owner, who is attempting to sell the parks as a bundle.
Residents of the three other parks – Junction Creek, Falfa and Valley West mobile home parks – have so far been unable to gain the same momentum as Apache to purchase their land.
The 48-lot Apache Mobile Home Park, located along Arroyo Drive in west Durango, provides affordable housing in a town where the median home price was $928,500 in 2024.
In November, Apache residents began organizing to form a co-op and obtained assistance from Thistle ROC, a nonprofit that helps mobile home owners secure financing to purchase their land.
The Colorado Mobile Home Park Act provides legal protections for mobile home residents and requires park owners to give them a chance to purchase the property before selling.
Under the law, park owners must provide written notice before accepting an offer. Residents then have 90 days to submit a counteroffer.
Although the collapse of the original sale and the price increase have raised concerns about forming a resident-owned community, the new listing has reset the 90-day window.
Residents now have until June 14 to submit a purchase offer, giving them more time to organize and raise money, Going said.
While some residents worry the price increase could be a barrier, Tim Townsend, program director for Thistle ROC, is confident in their chances.
He said Thistle ROC has helped 12 parks in Colorado buy their land and has a 98% success rate. Obtaining funds is challenging, but the nonprofit has direct access to organizations that specialize in financing resident-owned communities.
Thistle has raised money for purchases as high as $19 million, Townsend said. If Apache residents are committed to submitting an offer, he expressed optimism about securing financing.
In addition to the financial challenge, residents are concerned about the attempt to bundle all four parks into a single sale.
The parks are managed by Impact Communities, which owns and operates manufactured housing communities across North America. Dave Reynolds, majority owner of Apache MHP LLC, has a significant stake in the company along with his business partner, Frank Rolfe.
This has caused confusion and concern among Apache homeowners, Going said. Residents are unsure whether the bundled sale will require them to submit an offer for all four parks, which could cost more than $30 million, she said.
A spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs was unavailable for comment, but an employee with the DOLA agreed to speak to The Durango Herald on the condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Referring to the Mobile Home Park Act, the employee said, “There’s not really specific legal verbiage prohibiting the bundling.”
They said bundling multiple mobile home parks into one sale has been a reoccurring concern within the department.
There have been several instances of owners refusing to accept offers on a single park included in a bundle, which could conflict with the requirement that terms be “universal and applicable to all buyers,” they said.
The vague language has created ambiguity around bundling, leaving it in a legal gray area, the employee said.
Going said the Apache community has a viable path to purchase the property. But if they are required to collaborate with other parks – some of which are not interested in a co-op – it could become an insurmountable barrier.
Resident-owned communities are not a one-size-fits-all solution for affordable housing, Townsend said.
“I don’t think everybody could really jump into it,” Townsend said. “I think the resident ownership model, it’s going to be really great if your community is engaged. … We call it a forever endeavor, and if you don’t have that, then it’s not going to be very easy.”
But Justin Holman, a senior manager at Thistle ROC, said residents should be able to submit an offer for a single park, even if the owner wants to sell all four together. Colorado law requires property owners to consider such offers in good faith, he said.
Going said her community has tried to confirm whether they can submit an offer for only their park, but they have not yet received clarification.
Efforts to reach Impact Communities for comment were unsuccessful.
Thistle ROC will host a meeting for Apache park residents in April. Residents will elect board members to represent the co-op and discuss the rent increase that would accompany the park’s purchase.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to buy this park,” Going said. “If we don’t buy it, our rents are going to go up – and they’re just going to increase every year.”
jbowman@durangoherald.com
