Homeowners in Spruce Valley Mobile Home Park in Danville have purchased their 35-unit manufactured-home park, making it New Hampshire’s 141st resident-owned community (ROC).
In recent years, resident groups have had to compete with the wealth of private equity firms when attempting to buy the parks they live in.
That was the case in the Spruce Valley purchase. An out-of-state company had offered $1.7 million for the park last summer. Using training and technical assistance from the Community Loan Fund’s ROC-NH™ team, the homeowners organized Spruce Valley Cooperative in August, matched the offer, and purchased the park March 1, 2022 with financing from the Community Loan Fund.
Michelle Supry of ROC-NH, along with Spruce Valley Secretary Pam LaPrell and President Casey Wright at the co-op's loan closing. |
Pam LaPrell, a homeowner in the park and an active participant throughout the process, said, “Having gone through my own financial hardship 20 years ago as a single mother, I understand how important affordable housing is. Seeing the ever-increasing cost of local real estate and property taxes, it feels amazing to know we are helping the residents control their rent, which in turn helps keep their housing affordable.”
“I moved to Spruce Valley MHP in 1996. I raised my children there. I have always loved the rural, peaceful location. Knowing that the land our home sits on is now secure from being sold is a huge relief,” she said. “I'm excited for the future of our small park!”
Now that Spruce Valley Cooperative is resident-owned, homeowners there are eligible for products and services, like real mortgages, which 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.
“We’re happy that Spruce Valley will now be owned by the people who care most about the community’s future—its residents,” said Tara Reardon, the Community Loan Fund’s Vice President of ROC-NH. “Because they own it, they now control the rents and rules. They’re in charge.”
Spruce Valley is Rockingham County's 28th ROC. Those communities contain 1,693 affordable homes.
For 38 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 childcare, and become more economically stable.
The more-than-8,500 homeowners in N.H.’s ROCs have access to fair home financing, as well as an annual leadership training in which they earn college credit, and management guidance.
View the full list of ROCs in N.H.
