Homeowners in Rancourt Mobile Home Park in Derry, N.H. recently purchased their 38-unit manufactured-home park, making it New Hampshire’s 134th resident-owned community (ROC).
Using training and technical assistance from the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund’s ROC-NH™ team, homeowners organized and formed Granite Estates Cooperative, Inc. in June 2020. The cooperative then negotiated with the park’s owner, Claude Rancourt, reached a $1.85 million purchase price, and finalized the deal Dec. 31 with a mortgage from the Community Loan Fund.
“What a journey it has been!” said Granite Estates Secretary Linda Allen. The co-op’s board of directors met weekly through the pandemic to prepare to buy the park. At one point its members voted not to purchase it because of the cost of needed repairs.
In mid-December, though, Rancourt agreed to the co-op’s final offer, but with the stipulation that the closing be held before the new year, Allen said.
“The rush was on; emails, texts, faxes, and phone calls. Our dream of becoming a resident-owned community was at our fingertips,” Allen said. “We have many challenges ahead of us, but to be a part of a community that we fought so hard to purchase is so gratifying. We are very proud to have accomplished the unimaginable …”
Co-op president Lisa Melanson Buxton said, “As a 20-year resident of my community, I have witnessed the former owner unfairly and inequitably charge fees and enforce rules. Some people live here because it is the housing they can afford and felt powerless to speak up. To purchase our community and be a cooperative is a relief. We are a community that works together to make Granite Estates a great place to live. Now we have control and a vote.”
Now that the community is resident-owned, homeowners there are eligible for products and services, like real mortgages, that haven’t been available to them. Studies show that the availability of home financing, when the land is secure, improve the home’s value, the owner’s ability to make improvements and overall housing affordability.
For 37 years, the Community Loan Fund has worked in towns and cities across N.H. to connect people, families and business owners with the loans, training and advice that allow them to have affordable homes, secure jobs and quality child care, and become more economically stable.
The Community Loan Fund helped homeowners in Meredith create convert N.H.’s first co-op park in 1984. Today, nearly 8,250 homeowners in ROCs in every county in the state have access to home financing, as well as an annual leadership training in which they earn college credit, a biennial training conference, and management guidance for cooperatives.
